Uninsured...and Unequipped: Nude S.F. Art Installation Evokes Unintended Disturbing Message

How can I concentrate on health insurance with all these eunuchs distracting me?

By Joe Eskenazi

A bevy of nude bodies skulking about San Francisco is hardly cause for a news alert, but the several dozen naked folks planted in Justin Herman Plaza this week were an exception. Sure, they were nude. But they were... missing something.

Perhaps you may have noticed this art installation, sponsored by Blue Shield of California. Titled "Uncovered," its purpose is to draw attention to the state's 6.7 million uninsured folks (and, of course, Blue Shield). Roughly 40 naked metallic folks of all age groups depicted in humble and compromised positions make quite an impression; they really are uncovered and vulnerable in every way.

And yet, likely due to priggishness, the nude male bodies are equipped not with sexual organs but bumps reminiscent of a Ken doll. It appears these poor men and boys have lost a great deal more than their policies!

Perhaps Blue Shield felt that anatomically correct nude sculptures would distract from their message (or, even worse, give rise to zealot rantings that Blue Shield encourages deviancy and whatnot). And yet, contrasted with the striking nude bodies in George Segal's Lincoln Park Holocaust memorial, the castrations seem even more insulting. How can you ask people to cope with the stark realities of the Holocaust -- or, in this case, the plight of desperate folks without health care -- and not cope with the elementary reality that nude people have sexual organs?