It's a sad reality that there are disgusting perverts in our world today who will take something as seemingly harmless as a child's photo and will turn it into something that will haunt that child or his family for years. There are pedophiles out there who will see a picture innocently taken by an adoring parent and will see something sexual. That is the topic on this coming Monday's episode of TNT's hit series Raising the Bar. In a time when many are involved in several social networking sites, we need to be careful what we post. While a picture of our little prince or princess in the tub seems cute and innocent and is something we want to share with our friends and family it's also a danger. It's a danger a father from this week's episode finds himself immersed in. He's been arrested, his parental rites have been taken and he's fighting to be found innocent when a picture he posted on his own website is taken by a child pornography site. I know I try to be very aware of what pictures I post of my daughters. Just the thought that someone might look at them as a sexual object makes me sick to my stomach. So, where's the line? What constitutes a picture that is ok and what isn't ok? What are the pitfalls (both legal and personal) that can occur when you share photos online?
12 comments:
I used to worry about things like this. Then I thought about it a lot. People see my girls every time we go out in public and I can not control what they may be thinking. People may snap pictures of my kids while at a park, or at the grocery store with their telephone. Yea it's a sick scary world, but we can not let that keep us from living. You know what I mean?
I agree with that for the most part. I don't put my daughters in 2 piece swimsuits because of the sickos out there though. I figure, I will do what I can to protect them without really holding them back from having a carefree fun childhood.
I started thinking of ways to prevent pervs from looking at my girls that way. The problem is that so many have different tastes. It doesn't matter what you put on your child. The only way to protect them completely is to lock them up and never take their pictures. Kind of hard right! So I try to teach them modesty. I have fallen victim to buying a 2 piece for my 10 year old. But compared to the 1 pieces, it was an upgrade! The 1 pieces showed more skin! Scary!! So we compromised with a coverall.
I wish (not really...well, mostly not really) that I could keep my daughters inside and away from pervert's eyes all the time, but that would be a boring/way too sheltered life. But I like the idea of a coverall. I LOVE board shorts and hope beyond hope that they're cool again when my girls are older.
It doesn't matter what your child looks like or what they're wearing. Pedophiles get off on pictures of children - period - most of the time. I do try to stay away from the just underwear or just diaper shots of my kids, and I try to make sure I always watermark them. You do what you can, but people can get pics of your kids anywhere if they really want to unless you keep them holed up in their rooms at home.
Honestly I've stopped posting pictures of my daughter on public websites ever since an aquaintance had her pics stolen and put on a kiddie porn site.
I still have a private site where I post pics for family and i guess even that is vulnerable so what I do is not post any pictures where she is not fully clothed. Ie: no bath pics and no swimsuit pics.
I do agree with pp that perverts could get pictures anywhere.
I know I photograph my daughter a lot and often have my telephoto set up with tripod at the park and it would be really easy to photograph other people's kids.
I am sensitive to that though and usually go around and introduce myself to the other parents and hand out bus cards before I start taking pics.
I used to think about this a lot, but as some of the other people stated, I can't hide my girls from anything. There are always other parents taking pictures of their kids at the park, and my girls tend to get in the way... I would like to think that my girls aren't being viewed as sexual objects at 2.5 and 10 months, but it's a sick sick world we live in.
I have thought about this issue a lot--having a "mom blog," I post pics of my son. It would be a rather boring blog IMO if there were no pics to go along with it. I do worry about the sickos out there, so I don't post any bathtime pics, etc. It's really sad that we have to think about these types of things. Great post!
I addressed this on my blog, too. I even interviewed Mark-Paul Gosselaar. For me, it's a matter of walking a fine line. Each parent has to determine what they think is right or appropriate. I post pictures of my kids, but I do it carefully. I argue with myself about whether or not the photo is appropriate for the internet. I never post a picture of them in any state of undress.
I agree with a lot of what's been said. You can't control others thoughts and although I'd like to lock my daughter's up until they're 30 somehow I don't think that's the answer either. I also avoid naked/diaper/panty pictures and if I weren't so lazy I'd watermark my stuff.
I wish I knew how to watermark my stuff, I'd totally do it.
This topic is always so scary to even think about. I am very careful about posting any pics of my baby... even ones where she's fully clothed. Much as I do with my own photos, I try to hide her face in some way (sunglasses, hat, etc.) to maintain a certain amount of anonymity. I definitely would never post bath/swimsuit pics.
It's a bummer that we have to change OUR behavior because of the sickos out there.
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