My sister-in-law posted a link on Facebook today of a Huffington Post article. I usually don't spend too much time thinking about things I see on Facebook once I finish reading them. This article was different and really had me thinking, all day. I am not going to re-post the photos, article or names because if I did, I would be contributing to the further exploitation of this child; and really, that just contradicts everything that is about to follow. The article was about a photographer and his photos of his young daughter nude and semi-nude. The main idea was to artistically capture the innocence of a child.
Now that you have a brief background on the subject, I feel compelled to share my thoughts on it. I do not think this father/artist/photographer is sick or perverted or anything of the sort. I also do not find the photos to be pornographic, sexual or offensive to my eyes. I am not a sick pedophile, though. As I look at these photos, I start to think, maybe he is just clueless and unaware of the perversion and illness of some members of our society. Then I think, that can't be it. He has been pounded with negativity since people caught a glimpse of his photographs and he even made an entire art show featuring them!
As a mother, I look at the photos and I want to smile and cry!
Smile because it is truly "innocence of a child" that he has captured and it is remarkably beautiful. It's that extremely limited moment in time where children can be free; unashamed of what they were born with, and FREE from self-doubt and struggles with body image. I am so happy to have seen them and be reminded of this. I often wish I could feel that freedom without worrying about being self-conscious or judged. There is absolutely nothing wrong with allowing your children that freedom and it is lovely to encourage their self-confidence. I commend him for being able to capture it so beautifully on film.
Then comes the crying part. It is one thing to take these photos to capture these rare, innocent moments that you can look back on and cherish once your children are grown and no longer so comfortable and self-assured in their own skin; but another thing, entirely, to post them for the whole world to see. Though the photos and his children are breathtaking, I find myself thinking of all the sick, twisted people who love being able to find images like these so readily available. I have many, many photos of my boys running around in the nude or in the bathtub, being carefree and happy. They are mine and mine alone. I do not post them on Facebook, blogs, or anywhere, for that matter, where I cannot monitor who is seeing them. It is hard enough to be ok posting photos of my children fully clothed, knowing that once they are online, I no longer have control over who sees them.
It is our job as parents to protect and preserve our children's innocence as much as we can, knowing that it is fleeting. This display does not show a parent protecting and preserving his child's innocence; rather, exploiting it. The "wrong" part with this issue is not in having taken the photos. The wrong part is publicly displaying them, using these images to express his personal feelings (which I share) of the innocence of a child, at the expense of his child's innocence. Exploiting his child and putting her nude form out for everyone on the internet to see (including pedophiles) in the name of artistic expression saddens me.
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