Artistic freedom or overt sexism?

So recently there was a bit of a brouhaha about about an article on Gnome Stew. +Matthew Neagley noted that artwork in certain RPG products makes him uncomfortable. The usual suspects then came out in strident defense of artistic expression, including some of more notable and notorious when it comes to topics of risque art. This topic resurfaces every couple years and unfortunately, I'm about to step into the s#!t storm to provide another perspective.

The problem is that most comment posters and blog authors missed the mark when it came to the real, underlying issue.