Huckelberry, that was me, not Morley, engaging in such prurient speculation. Although I suspect you are well aware, especially since you wrote this:
"A new observation about the conversion force for 14 year old males."
Oh dear, an apology to both of you for my carelessness. I plead being struck by the implication. I looked past the joke about that early modern translation committee. I think male visual attention has changed little in the past 10 thousand years (dress customs might alter specifics I suppose).
Marcus, you pointed out what I am surprised I did not find obvious as the day is long. That leg is well, lovingly painted. The womans clothed pelvic region is the center of attention, the focal point of the whole painting. There is no escaping that the whole thing is sexually charged.
Oh dear, an apology to both of you for my carelessness. I plead being struck by the implication. I looked past the joke about that early modern translation committee. I think male visual attention has changed little in the past 10 thousand years (dress customs might alter specifics I suppose).
Marcus, you pointed out what I am surprised I did not find obvious as the day is long. That leg is well, lovingly painted. The womans clothed pelvic region is the center of attention, the focal point of the whole painting. There is no escaping that the whole thing is sexually charged.
I do not know if these observations go anywhere. I found myself with oddly contradictory thoughts. First being repelled a bit, awkwardly too sexual an image. That is linked to reacting to the problem of such strong masculine figures surrounding (protecting, dominating?) such demure females. Well the images are 1950s.
On the other hand I see a perfectly Mormon message of baptism starting a purity road leading to marriage and fruitful baby making. If people are surprised by that I think it may be that the LDS church has grown more puritanical. My very Mormon grandfather had a print of a Proudhon female nude, well nude above the waist, hanging on the wall in his bedroom. Proudhon classicism could look rather chaste but still have some sense of sexual attraction.
Song of Solomon is too explicit for Mormon taste but there are psalms celebrating the hope for fecundity. I think there is a connection very wide and long in human awareness between spiritual and sexual longings. There is perhaps a linked parallel involved.
I think there is a connection very wide and long in human awareness between spiritual and sexual longings.
I always considered the connection between spiritual and sexual longings to be deep and penetrative as well.
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"Clarity from Mormon God only comes in very critical instances like convincing Emma that Joseph needed to sleep with other women."
--drumdude, 02-28-2026
Everybody Wang Chung, I can definately see the connection you see. Both seem to be fishing from the same pool of the imagination. I enjoyed the Conan O'Brien image. That grotesque selection needed some humor.
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"Clarity from Mormon God only comes in very critical instances like convincing Emma that Joseph needed to sleep with other women."
--drumdude, 02-28-2026
Those Book of Mormon illustrations always remind me of Conan The Barbarian book covers.
Conspicuously missing are any scantily clad women.
"He disturbs the laws of his country, he forces himself upon women, and he puts men to death without trial.” ~Otanes on the monarch, Herodotus Histories 3.80.
Don’t worry about Everybody Wang Chung. He’s just not in touch with his feminine side.
"He disturbs the laws of his country, he forces himself upon women, and he puts men to death without trial.” ~Otanes on the monarch, Herodotus Histories 3.80.
Don’t worry about Everybody Wang Chung. He’s just not in touch with his feminine side.
I think Frazetta has a vivid visual imagination and a lot of artistic skill. He works hard to make his images grotesque. I checked google and to my surprise he has also made some cute lighthearted images for some movies and an album for Herman's Hermits. He could create in the style he intended it appears.
Shades, from somewhere in my memory this art voice appears. Frazetta has a truly exceptional ability to realize multiple complicated figures interacting in space. He can do so with clarity in shape and space. These are no mean feats.
I had no idea Mormon art was so subversive.
