Focus on this artwork and explain the General Hooker Entrance.
The statue stands in front of, and lends its name to, the main public entrance to the State House. The large sign reading "General Hooker Entrance" is often the source of double entendres, particularly from groups of schoolchildren on field trips. In 2011, for example, actor Kevin Bacon tweeted a photo of the entrance with the question, "Where do special hookers enter?" State Representative Michelle DuBois, a Democrat from Brockton, called for the name of the entrance to be changed in 2018, saying it is "tone deaf" and shows "disregard for the majority of women's feelings and dignity for the raising up and false-protection of a statue of a long-dead general". She said women who work in the State House face uncomfortable "good-old-boy, schoolyard jokes" because of the name. Governor Charlie Baker and other state officials rejected the notion of making changes to the sign.
Michelle DuBois Charlie Baker Democrat Kevin Bacon field trip double entendre Brockton