Do Goddesses Have Nipples?

Or, Women and Censorship in Publishing

I've been painting Goddesses for years--in fact, She's my favorite subject.

To me, human body is sacred. Breasts embody love and nurturing; we are all born needing love and sustenance. Vulvas are gateways, portals, doors to the deep internal, the core, the Mystery. Nudity reveals -- exposes all -- and thus often uncovers the fears we carry inside.

I have run into difficulties from time to time in painting nudes, more particularly, in painting breasts, and most particularly, in painting nipples on Goddesses. In several previous projects -- the '93 Goddess Calendar, for example--my publisher would not allow me to show exposed nipples.

Luckily, THE GODDESS ORACLE was not subject to such censorship.

On the other hand, even though the Communications Decency Act has been temporarily suspended by the Supreme Court, the fate of the Censorship on the Internet is more uncertain; the Rabid Right and their ilk are still stalking our freedoms. For this reason, and so as not to have anyone's access to my site marred by some self-righteous anti-porn crusader, I have voluntarily "toned down" some of my images... the ones marked with .

Rest assured, however, that The Goddess Oracle itself, and my Art Reprints are fully uncensored, in all their original glory!

Also, the prevalence of piracy on the Web has led me mark my images, both visibly and invisibly, with various Copyright marks (See ). Lifting a single image may not seem like a big deal, and it may not be, but I've seen much worse on the Web. This is my livelihood--all I do is create images, so I need to be compensated for their use. I appologize for some watermarks' visible degredation of these images; if you know of a better way of protecting my work, let me know!

My photo-quality prints and The Goddess Oracle itself are, of course, free of such additions.