An erotic Madonna that owes little to our jiggly chameleon Ms. Ciccone pre-dates 1897; just take a look at the bare-breasted Mary rendered by Jean Fouquet in 1453-54.

(http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/fouquet/melun-diptych.jpg)

A sexually charged Madonna is nothing new, and is the result of neither progressive moral degeneration nor regression. Some would argue that the inclusion of Mary and her exulted place in Catholicism has more to do with the incorporation of aspects of goddess worship into the Christian tradition. Seems we can't keep a good goddess down.

In numerous ancient societies, goddess cults pre-date cults of male deities, and the images of these female supreme beings are both fecund and graceful. Woman might be mother, lover, dancer, warrior, and much more. It has been said that in the West, woman oscillates eternally between a pit and a pedestal in the popular psyche, by turns Holy Virgin and Magdalene. A male-dominated church has found the power of female sexuality threatening for centuries (we only need mention the Inquisition), so it is not surprising that Mary is relegated to the role of gentle and accepting mother with lowered eyes. And yet she is lover, also (but not, for goodness sake, before she bore the baby Jesus—that would be gauche!!!). What indeed, has the term ‘virgin' come to denote? As Ajit Mookerjee points out, possibilities such as ‘one-in-herself' (Esther Harding), and ‘belonging-to-no-man' (Nor Hall) have increasing meaning outside the patriarchal order. Belonging to no man. Well. That puts things in a powerfully different light.