New York, United States

The iconic statue of Marilyn Monroe in which her dress is flying up and the underwear is visible will now be moved after the locals complained that the kids can see her underwear and called the statue 'sexist'.

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The 26-foot statue which is standing at its plum spot in Palm Springs is the iconic pose of the actress from the 1955 movie The Seven Year Itch. 

The steamy statue is towering near a downtown park and its rear end has been facing the entrance of the Palm Springs Art Museum for the past three years.

The 17-tonne sculpture which has been named “Forever Marilyn” by Seward Johnson will be shifted to a less visible location which is in the 1.5-acre green space, reported the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday (Aug 6).

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“The City Council is very pleased to have found a satisfactory solution to this issue, which has divided so many within our community,” said the city’s mayor Jeffrey Bernstein, while speaking to the paper.

Marilyn Monroe's statue is 'too sexy sight' for kids, complain locals

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The statue's exact location in the park has not been determined as of now, the mayor said.

The tourist attraction, which is worth $1 million, depicts the white dress of Monroe blown up by a Manhattan subway grate. 

In 2014, the statue was first removed from the city and then brought back in 2021, which led to an uproar and a lawsuit.

The locals said that the statue is anti-feminist and the kids are being subjected to a too-sexy sight and it has also created parking problems.

The museum’s former executive director Louis Grachos earlier said that the late actress has been objectified as a sex symbol in the art. The actress died of a barbiturate overdose in 1962.

“You come out of the museum and the first thing you’re going to see is a 26-foot-tall Marilyn Monroe with her entire backside and underwear exposed,” Grachos said.

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Speaking to the city council in 2021, he said that the schoolchildren on field trips were forced to see the white panties of the Hollywood star.

“What message does that send to our young people, our visitors and community to present a statue that objectifies women, is sexually charged and disrespectful?” the director said, according to reports.

The museum's former director Elizabeth Armstrong also called the statue “a monument to misogyny” and said that this encouraged the practice of “up-skirting”.

(With inputs from agencies)