Anatomy for beginners

Last night i watched the first installment of 'Anatomy for beginners' on Channel Four. It was quite unnerving. Seeing a human body being skinned from head to toe is probably one of the strangest things i have ever witnessed as accompanying the shedding of the skin, the life and soul were stripped also. The body transgressed from human to 'meat' before my eyes and all that was left was a large piece of young leather in the shape of a leotard. Very odd.
It was one of those programs that made me want to watch and yet turn off at the same time but i am glad i sat through it.

I always remember as a child the day i found out i had a skeleton inside me. It freaked me right out and i remember sitting in front of the mirror and pulling my mouth apart to expose my gums and teeth to help me imagine what was inside. I am sure everyone remembers equal fascination with their own bodies in youth and probably not just involving their skeletons ;)

I appreciate that there is alot of resistance to Dr Gunther von Hagens work, (or Herr Cutt as he is known in my house). I personally struggle to call him an artist as strategically placing an umbrella on a cadaver, (as seen in the 'Body Worlds' exhibition), hardly constitues art to me.
I felt that the 'art' of the exhibition was in him challenging the way you 'see' (John Berger), by revealing something that is usually hidden, rather than the work itself. There is obviously an art to surgery but does that make every surgeon an artist?

However, the debate as to whether the TV program 'Anatomy for Beginners' should have been made public, seems redundant to me. We all have a body and in a world where we are clandestine about very little, it seems to be strange to try and shelter the general public from learning more about 'themselves'.