Being Provocative

Certainly a feature art used to aim for. And reading a little bit about Anne Sexton and how she was received, it surely worked the best when somebody was not intending to be provocative but rather told the truth.
My personal experience though is that the most harsh reaction to something perceived as being provocative I ever witnessed was when I was studying art and it was directed at the nun who was also studying art at the time. Especially one female person stated that she could not bear the looks of her and something about women being oppressed. Now the funny thing is that this person never talked to the nun, whereas I did and I found her a pretty realistic person who had just different priorities in her life. And why not btw?! Thus to conclude being true to yourself sometimes can be quite provocative ;).