People who think the Statue of Liberty is a man

[bandit957]

Anyone else ever meet anyone who thought this? In my day, there was a kid in the neighborhood who thought the Statue of Liberty was a man. This kid was a teenager at the time. We had a round jigsaw puzzle of the Statue of Liberty, and occasionally I put together this puzz. This kid saw the puzzle and said the Statue of Liberty was a man.

Also, one other time after we put this puzzle together, some younger kid (I don't even remember who) sat down on the completed puzzle and began rocking on his hands and knees. My mom was afraid the kid might "ruin" the puzzle.

[webny99]

I can't say I've ever given any thought at all to the gender of the Statue.

[Max Rockatansky]

No

[Ben114]

I can't say I've ever given any thought at all to the gender of the Statue.

I always thought it was a woman.

[webny99]

I can't say I've ever given any thought at all to the gender of the Statue.

I always thought it was a woman.

I guess I knew subconciously that she's a woman, but never had a reason to think about it explicitly.

[Max Rockatansky]

I can't say I've ever given any thought at all to the gender of the Statue.

I always thought it was a woman.

I guess I knew subconciously that she's a woman, but never had a reason to think about it explicitly.

You know...they do call the statue "Lady Liberty."

[Roadgeekteen]

I know it's a woman, but I've never really mentally assigned it a gender.

[Rothman]

You ever wonder what she's wearing under that dress?  She's French, you know.

[Max Rockatansky]

You ever wonder what she's wearing under that dress?  She's French, you know.

I wonder how many know that the Statue of Liberty is operated with an NES Advantage.  Good controller IMO, the turbo button was a nice feature. 

[hbelkins]

Doesn't the statue get to determine its own gender identity? Who are we to determine if it's male or female?

[jakeroot]

Doesn't the statue get to determine its own gender identity? Who are we to determine if it's male or female?

The statue was heavily inspired by Columbia, the female "personification" of America. Therefore I think it's very safe to assume that it identifies as a woman.

[SEWIGuy]

Doesn't the statue get to determine its own gender identity? Who are we to determine if it's male or female?

The statue was heavily inspired by Columbia, the female "personification" of America. Therefore I think it's very safe to assume that it identifies as a woman.

Or at least it did.  Gender is more fluid now so who knows?

[Scott5114]

U.S. coinage is required to include a "representation of Liberty". At the time the statue was created (and for pretty much all of the 19th century), the heads side of every coin had the artist's depiction of what was essentially a cartoon character meant to represent "Liberty". Usually this would be the artist's wife, daughter, or close friend dressed in flowing robes and carrying some combination of laurel wreaths, shields, arrows, or whatever, though some artists got a bit fanciful (the "Indian Head" penny, for example, is an attempt to depict Liberty in Native American regalia).

However, one thing that the representations all have in common is that Liberty is female. This may be because all of the artists allowed to produce coinage at the time were male, and thus they found sculpting a female Liberty a far more attractive task. There is no reason Liberty couldn't be male, it's just that traditionally the character is not, by consensus, and the statue was made as a part of that tradition.

Incidentally, once it was decided that presidents should go on U.S. coins, the mint decided it could get away with the word "Liberty" being the "representation of liberty".

[jakeroot]

Incidentally, once it was decided that presidents should go on U.S. coins, the mint decided it could get away with the word "Liberty" being the "representation of liberty".

That seems like a cop-out, if I've ever seen one.

Doesn't the statue get to determine its own gender identity? Who are we to determine if it's male or female?

The statue was heavily inspired by Columbia, the female "personification" of America. Therefore I think it's very safe to assume that it identifies as a woman.

Or at least it did.  Gender is more fluid now so who knows?

[Scott5114]

Incidentally, once it was decided that presidents should go on U.S. coins, the mint decided it could get away with the word "Liberty" being the "representation of liberty".

That seems like a cop-out, if I've ever seen one.

Oh, it absolutely is, but who's gonna sue the Mint over that? Who would even have standing?

[hbelkins]

Incidentally, once it was decided that presidents should go on U.S. coins, the mint decided it could get away with the word "Liberty" being the "representation of liberty".

That seems like a cop-out, if I've ever seen one.

Oh, it absolutely is, but who's gonna sue the Mint over that? Who would even have standing?

Doug from the LimuEmu commercials.