Nude Photos of Children: Art or Porn?

[Selena_Kitt]

A mother taking pictures of her children...

she also happens to be an artist, and displayed them...

now the authorities are investigating...

Nude Photos of Children: Art or Porn?

 

[rgraham666]

Putting your child's naked pictures up for the world to see, for any sex predator to see, is not art," said Mesa's Debra Ward.

Lady? Why don't you mind your own fucking business?

 

[DesertPirate]

Like we don't show the baby's butt pic to boy/girlfriends or spouses later? Parents are supposed to embarrass their kids that way.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Lady? Why don't you mind your own fucking business?

Yeah.

 

[off2bed]

If the pictures give you a hard-on, they're porn.

If she sells them to a porn publisher, they're porn.

If someone steals them and puts them on a porn site, they're porn.

Anything you can think of, someone somewhere has a sexual fetish about it. You can't outlaw pictures of vegetables, can you?

 

[Anna_Malia75]

Lady? Why don't you mind your own fucking business?

There are far too many people in this world who mind their own fucking business, and end up ignoring abuse, whether it takes the form of child pornography or something else. We all take naked pictures of our kids; we don't all display them at an art museum.

I'm not suggesting any of these photographs are "bad"; the article doesn't show the pictures. But I don't think Ms. Ward's opinion is necessarily invalid. I may disagree with her. I may think she's completely off base. But there's obviously a line to be drawn somewhere along the spectrum of nude photography and I think this is a proper debate for the community to have.

 

[Elenia26]

I was totally OK with everything she was doing until she decided to display them at a museum. Jesus woman, keep it private. I would be mortified beyond belief if my mother did that. The kid is ten, she doesn't yet know if she wants that, she may think she does, but ten is the age kids start really growing away from their parents.

However, I do wish I had been told more that it was oK to look at myself nude when I was a kid. Not sexually, simply be familiar and comfortable with my naked body.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Seems like this question comes up somewhere in our excellent land about once a month, doesn't it?

 

[WRJames]

Here are some thoughts -- they don't exactly add up to a conclusion.

The distinction between "art" and pornography is very subjective and artificial. Really, I think it is a scam perpetuated by artists (and their audience) to allow creation and enjoyment of material that would otherwise not be socially acceptable. The ceilings of the Medici villas are covered in what can only be described as soft porn -- including a lot of naked little kids showing off their chubby little butts.

Is nudity always erotic? I love to run naked, to swim naked. I love the feel of sun and wind and water on my skin. It's not necessarily erotic. But there is nothing sillier than pretending that a nude beach is not a place for erotic display. "Nude but not lewd" is a great excuse to let us go naked, but it's a crock.

It seems like every era has some taboo that would have seemed puzzling to prior generations, and may be equally baffling in the future. One of ours is child sexuality. At the same time Britney Spears and then Hannah Montana have been inspiring elementary school girls to dress and gyrate like five dollar whores, we are in such denial that any hint of child sexuality needs to be suppressed. And, with that general revulsion, child pornography has become a stalking horse for those who would suppress pornography (or, more politely, erotica) completely.

So where does that leave us?

 

[TE999]

Hey Ms. Ward!

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the Kitchenette.

What a supercilious fool.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

A picture of a naked child laying on a bearskin rug...Porn or Art?

Child pornography refers to material depicting children being in a state of undress, engaged in erotic poses or sexual activity.

Sometimes people are so stupid, then again sometimes they are just stupid.

 

[Samandiriel]

What's that burning?? sniff....sniff......oh, another witch hunt.

 

[Tom Collins]

If I were to give the Bible-thumpers a quarter do you think they'd go buy a fucking life?

 

[jomar]

I had a nice little satire post going, but lost interest. So I'll just say bullshit.

 

[where]

We had all this with Sally Mann and I went through it with some pictures a friend has been taking of me and the devils since I first got pregnant. Lots of people complained when they were first exhibited but to my mind if someone finds them sexy, the perversity is in their mind not mine or the photographer's

 

[Stella_Omega]

We had all this with Sally Mann and I went through it with some pictures a friend has been taking of me and the devils since I first got pregnant. Lots of people complained when they were first exhibited but to my mind if someone finds them sexy, the perversity is in their mind not mine or the photographer's

I always figure that if I get turned on by some un-overtly sexual image-- that's my problem, not the creator's.


I do not think nudes of children are automatically child porn-- but I wouldn't exhibit my own work. It's a given that a gang of ignorant yahoos would come mosquito-ing around. It's an un-winnable battle, in the personal scheme of things.

 

[lushlucid]

wonder if photos of a preggers woman will eventually be considered child porn

ever hear of anne geddes people?

 

[lushlucid]

I was totally OK with everything she was doing until she decided to display them at a museum. Jesus woman, keep it private. I would be mortified beyond belief if my mother did that. The kid is ten, she doesn't yet know if she wants that, she may think she does, but ten is the age kids start really growing away from their parents.

However, I do wish I had been told more that it was oK to look at myself nude when I was a kid. Not sexually, simply be familiar and comfortable with my naked body.

Along with the article were dozens, if not hundreds of pictures that Schneider took of her children from birth until about the age of 5. Her daughter is now 10-years-old and her son is 6-years-old.

that implies the photos ended when they were 5.

However, a nude photo EVERY day to mark your childs development seems a bit much.

 

[pellso27]

Where are the pics

 

[Stella_Omega]

Where are the pics

You perve

 

[pellso27]

You perve

heheheheh yeah, I've been told!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Its porn of course.

 

[lushlucid]

http://images.google.com.au/imgres?...rev=/images?q=Betsy+Schneider&um=1&hl=en&sa=N

while some of the images i saw i did not think worthy of putting them in an art gallery, they did not look pornographic, however they may to a pedophile.

 

[desertslave]

We had all this with Sally Mann and I went through it with some pictures a friend has been taking of me and the devils since I first got pregnant. Lots of people complained when they were first exhibited but to my mind if someone finds them sexy, the perversity is in their mind not mine or the photographer's

I agree. I'm profoundly embarrassed to live nearby to these protesting nutjobs. I don't know if it's the water around here, or all those evil phallic-looking cacti, but we seem to have more than our fair share of crazies. This is the land where Victoria's Secret storefronts are protested.

I'm amused by the emphasis on "full frontal" photos. Would it truly be less offensive/erotic to have back or profile shots? Those inclined to perv, it seems, would perv on whatever they could get to see.