When campaigners unveiled a sculpture in honour of Mary Wollstonecraft, they expressed hope that it would “start a conversation”. Unfortunately, the conversation revolved around why the sculptor, Maggi Hambling, had chosen to represent the “mother of feminism” as what one critic described as looking “like someone stuck a Barbie doll on top of a kebab”. To the horror of academics, Hambling produced a naked “Everywoman” with a model’s physique, standing atop a silvery mass. It prompted many to ask why famous men are never commemorated without their clothes. “Who on earth saw the design for this and thought, ‘Yes, the woman who wrote The Vindication of the Rights of Woman would love this’?” asked Dr Amanda Dillon of the University of East Anglia. “Have we ever, EVER had a statue of a major male thinker that looked a) nothing like them and b) like a Pornhub Christmas decoration?” said Dr Louise Raw, the historian. Read more: Review: This statue is a flimsy, Barbie-like embarrassment