Oh My Goodness, Boobies: USC Professor Defends Nude Web Photos

USC Women's Studies professor Diana York Blaine has outraged a few students by posting semi-nude photos of herself on her personal web page. The 45-year old feminist professor claims that the students simply dislike her and are only calling attention to the photos in an attempt to discredit her.

"The couple of conservative USC students who have dedicated themselves to attacking me clearly grew frustrated at my refusal to react to them, so they upped the ante and contacted the media about my nudie pics. One station bit, and voila, we have a scandal," Dr. Blaine wrote on her web site.

One station that bit was KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. Their report earlier this week was hardly damning. In fact, it bolstered Blaine's position by reporting that university policy guarantees that "the content of individual web pages is primarily a matter of free speech and academic freedom that must be protected in a university environment."

"No doubt this will have the opposite reaction that the tattlers hoped, causing many people to move further away from what looks to them like what it is, an attempt by conservative idealogues to shut down free speech by using sex as the shaming mechanism," Blaine said.

Dr. Blaine's web site, The Adventures of Dr. Diana, is by no means a porn site. There are only three photos that are causing all the ruckus. The rest of the content discusses personal and academic issues: an inside peek into the life and thoughts of a feminist theorist.

"(The photos) in and of themselves, they are not scandalous, for they have been there for months and nobody cared," Blaine said. "All of my friends and family know of them, colleagues and yes some students have as well. These kids were hoping to capitalize on our fundamental sense that we should be ashamed of something as banal as our own bodies."