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French ire as Apple bans book over nude cover

US tech giant Apple has infuriated French publishers after it reportedly barred the online sale of a novel because the front cover featured a nude woman. An irate worker at the publishers told The Local: “How can they ban this and not Fifty Shades of Grey”.

Published: 14 March 2014 15:34 CET
French ire as Apple bans book over nude cover
The cover of a French novel, featuring a naked woman, was deemed "inappropriate" by Apple and banned from its online store. Photo: screengrab. LeFigaro

A French publishing house reacted with anger on Friday after learning that US tech giant Apple had banned the one of its authors books its online store, because the cover was apparently too risqué.

The novel in question is La Femme (The woman) by French author Benedicte Martin, which contains the cover image of a naked woman shaped into a knife.

“The American company believes that the cover of Benedicte Martin’s book is ‘inappropriate’,” said Olivier Frébourg, the boss of publishers Les Editions des Equateurs.

Frébourg told The Local that "it's extraordinary in the year 2014" that this kind of "censorship" can happen. He was concerned over the economic impact that bans such as this can have on authors and publishers.

The company is so infuriated by what it sees as an “act of censorship which acts against the liberty of creation”, that it has called on France’s Minister of Culture to intervene.

A member of staff at Les Editions des Equateurs insisted that the image on the cover by the artist Stéphane Rozencwajg was not pornographic and "not even sexual".

“It’s an original creation. It's not even a real woman, she doesn’t exist. It’s not sexual, it’s a surrealist creation by an artist, to show perhaps that a woman can also be dangerous. The book itself is not pornographic either.  

“It’s ridiculous they ban this but not Fifty Shades of Grey, which contains vulgar and pornographic content."

“Obviously it’s the woman’s breasts that they see as inappropriate. But come on, we see them all the time. It's very puritanical and also show the power Apple has.”

Les Editions des Equateurs claim that it is not the first time the internet giant has banned the online sale of a book because of the cover.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

It is also not the first time that the French arts world and a US internet giant have clashed over nudity. 

In March last year The Local reported how French art-lovers were outraged when Facebook blocked the page of a Parisian art gallery for 24 hours after a photo-study of a nude posted there was deemed by the social network to be in violation of community standards.

That prompted a campaign by French Facebook users to bare all in protest at the site’s strict censorship. The “Day of Nude” protest was soon nipped in the bud when Facebook’s photo police took swift action.

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ART

African-born director’s new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

One of the rare African-born figures to head a German cultural institution, Bonaventure Ndikung is aiming to highlight post-colonial multiculturalism at a Berlin arts centre with its roots in Western hegemony.

Published: 8 July 2023 10:13 CEST
African-born director's new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

The “Haus der Kulturen der Welt” (House of World Cultures), or HKW, was built by the Americans in 1956 during the Cold War for propaganda purposes, at a time when Germany was still divided.

New director Ndikung said it had been located “strategically” so that people on the other side of the Berlin Wall, in the then-communist East, could see it.

This was “representing freedom” but “from the Western perspective”, the 46-year-old told AFP.

Now Ndikung, born in Cameroon before coming to study in Germany 26 years ago, wants to transform it into a place filled with “different cultures of the world”.

The centre, by the river Spree, is known locally as the “pregnant oyster” due to its sweeping, curved roof. It does not have its own collections but is home to exhibition rooms and a 1,000-seat auditorium.

It reopened in June after renovations, and Ndikung’s first project “Quilombismo” fits in with his aims of expanding the centre’s offerings.

The exhibition takes its name from the Brazilian term “Quilombo”, referring to the communities formed in the 17th century by African slaves, who fled to remote parts of the South American country.

Throughout the summer, there will also be performances, concerts, films, discussions and an exhibition of contemporary art from post-colonial societies across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.

‘Rethink the space’

“We have been trying to… rethink the space. We invited artists to paint walls… even the floor,” Ndikung said.

And part of the “Quilombismo” exhibition can be found glued to the floor -African braids laced together, a symbol of liberation for black people, which was created by Zimbabwean artist Nontsikelelo Mutiti.

According to Ndikung, African slaves on plantations sometimes plaited their hair in certain ways as a kind of coded message to those seeking to escape, showing them which direction to head.

READ ALSO: Germany hands back looted artefacts to Nigeria

His quest for aestheticism is reflected in his appearance: with a colourful suit and headgear, as well as huge rings on his fingers, he rarely goes unnoticed.

During his interview with AFP, Ndikung was wearing a green scarf and cap, a blue-ish jacket and big, sky-blue shoes.

With a doctorate in medical biology, he used to work as an engineer before devoting himself to art.

In 2010, he founded the Savvy Gallery in Berlin, bringing together art from the West and elsewhere, and in 2017 was one of the curators of Documenta, a prestigious contemporary art event in the German city of Kassel.

Convinced of the belief that history “has been written by a particular type of people, mostly white and men,” Ndikung has had all the rooms in the HKW renamed after women.

These are figures who have “done something important in the advancement of the world” but were “erased” from history, he added. Among them is Frenchwoman Paulette Nardal, born in Martinique in 1896.

She helped inspire the creation of the “negritude” movement, which aimed to develop black literary consciousness, and was the first black woman to study at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Reassessing history

Ndikung’s appointment at the HKW comes as awareness grows in Germany about its colonial past, which has long been overshadowed by the atrocities committed during the era of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.

Berlin has in recent years started returning looted objects to African countries which it occupied in the early 20th century — Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia and Cameroon.

“It’s long overdue,” said Ndikung.

He was born in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, into an anglophone family.

The country is majority francophone but also home to an anglophone minority and has faced deadly unrest in English-speaking areas, where armed insurgents are fighting to establish an independent homeland.

One of his dreams is to open a museum in Cameroon “bringing together historical and contemporary objects” from different countries, he said.

He would love to locate it in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s restive Northwest region.

“But there is a war in Bamenda, so I can’t,” he says.

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