Older women simply can’t win. And despite the fact that Madonna is a veritable goddess of excellent pop campery, she is, to her detriment, also 53. Which is about the same age as my mum. Now, I’m not suggesting that my mum should start flashing people in Buckingham Waitrose, but that’s because she’s not a multimillion-dollar recording artist under pressure to keep things saucy. Madonna is, and if she chooses to flash her half-a-century-old nipples, by God, I defend her right to do it. Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett defends Madonna (and her nipples)

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• Nudity

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What is so maddening? She does what every serious male artists does. That is: she doesn’t apologize for her talent or for her influence. What comes across quite profoundly when one interviews her is that she is preoccupied with her work and her gifts – just as serious male artists are, who often seem self-absorbed. She has the egoless honesty of the serious artist that reads like ego, especially in women. Naomi Wolf argues that Madonna acts just like a serious male artist would – and people hate her for it

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