Marilyn Monroe statue sparks controversy

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The Windy City’s “Forever Marilyn” statue is drawing ire from a bunch of critics. Sixty-six years later, Marilyn Monroe’s iconic “subway dress” moment from “The Seven-Year Itch” is still getting under people’s skin. Chicago’s new statue immortalizing the famous scene from the 1955 film has been branded as “sexist” by some as it offers tourists an intimate upskirt view of the blonde bombshell’s, USA Today reports. The 26-foot “Forever Marilyn” statue by artist Seward Johnson was unveiled in Chicago’s Pioneer Court along the Magnificent Mile on July 15, and features a larger-than-life recreation of Monroe’s white halter-top dress, which was recently sold at auction for a whopping $5.6 million. Though Chicago has no obvious links—yet its Windy City moniker is quite appropriate—to the film, which was set in New York. Tourists have rushed in to take views, prompting ChicagoNow art blogger Abraham Ritchie to blast it as “creepy and sexist.” “The statue caters to cheap titillation, titillation that is in itself pathetic,” Ritchie writes.