Porn flap in Florida over Michelangelo’s David
Michelangelo’s statue of David has been admired for centuries as an icon of Renaissance art … but it has cost a Florida principal herjob after a parent complained that showing sixth-grade students an image of the famous work amounted to exposing them to pornography.
According to the BBC, the complaint arose from a Renaissance art lesson, in which 11 and 12-year-old students were shown a picture of 5.17m statue, completed between 1501 and 1504, and depicting a naked David, the Biblical figure who kills the giant Goliath.
One parent complained that the image was pornographic and two others said they wanted to know about the class before it was taught.
Principal Hope Carrasquilla of Tallahassee Classical School said she resigned after she was given an ultimatum by the school board to resign or be fired.
The BBC reports that in an interview with US outlet Slate, the chair of the school’s board, Barney Bishop III, said that last year the principal sent a notice to parents warning them that students were going to see Michelangelo’s David, but that this wasn’t done this year. He called it an ‘egregious mistake’ and said that ‘parents are entitled to know anytime their child is being taught a controversial topic and picture’.
Bishop reportedly added: ‘We’re not going to show the full statue of David to kindergartners. We’re not going to show him to second graders. Showing the entire statue of David is appropriate at some age. We’re going to figure out when that is.’
On Thursday, Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, moved to expand a law that banned public schools from teaching sexual education and gender identity.
Teachers who violate the law face being suspended or losing their teaching licences.
