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The artist who drew the controversial cover of the latest Critic,  which were destroyed by Campus Watch staff, says it wasn't her intention to offend.

The proctor and University of Otago Campus Watch staff have destroyed hundreds of copies of the latest edition of Critic Te Arohi after receiving complaints from Dunedin Hospital and the Dunedin Public Library.

• 'Critic' editor angry, disappointed at uni censorship

The cover of this week's publication - the "Menstruation Issue'' - depicted a cartoon of a naked person menstruating.

Artist Saskia Rushton-Green said it's a confronting image that depicts how it feels to be bleeding in public.

But she says it wasn't intended to be sexual, or demeaning to women.

"Because there is a lot of taboo around menstruation, and my art puts everything out there blatantly and is usually grotesque, I wanted to put it out there in an almost ridiculous way to make a point I guess," she said.

Rushton-Green said the magazine's staff told her to be as confronting as she liked when designing the cover.

"For me it is a funny image that is also making a point. I didn't intent for it to be demeaning on a sexual basis so if people are viewing it as that, it was not my intention."

She said she wasn't entirely surprised the university had destroyed copies of the magazine.

"It is interesting the way that they went about it. I think it was pretty extreme rather than just removing them from the public view. It is just funny to watch it all take place, really."