The Write Queen
The Write Queen

The Write Queen Blog

The Write Rants: Art of vs. Sexualization of Children: A Response to Father. Photographer. Child Pornographer?

9/11/2014

0 Comments

 
Hello Write Queeners,

What better way to get back into blogging by writing a rant piece about a video I saw on UpWorthy. In a post titled, "
A Dad Took These Photos Of His Daughter. They're Raising Some Eyebrows," we find a video about how a dad, who is a photographer, took photos of his daughter while they were on a trip. She is nude in some of them. He posted some of his favorites on Instagram and it started a controversy that inspired his exhibit and video about the situation.

This man's name is
Wyatt Neumann. He is a pretty fantastic photographer. If you look at some of the photos on his site and in the video, you'll see that the moments he captures were ones where his child was carefree. Don't we all snap one or two of those ourselves of our children? Sometimes we post them. Sometimes we just send them to friends. As a photographer, he posted them because they were beautiful moments he wanted to share.

Then people started to say things about the photos, calling Wyatt sick and much more that you can hear in the video (I don't want to promote the negativity of it). Protesters of this even questioned the child which really is irksome. In one photograph where her hands are down her pants, do you think she is doing something? Why would you automatically think that? Kids do crazy things all the time. She may have ran outside like that and Dad said "Hun, look at the camera," and she may have been cold and decided to put her hands in her pants!

If we took a picture of our child taking a bath in the tub and they suddenly grabbed their crouch mid-shot, is it inappropriate? Or is it funny and innocent?


It's not like the man took his child and decided to pose her in 50 million provocative poses
. She was acting naturally. I've seen parents dress their little girls in clothing that doesn't look appropriate because it looks too "adult" off the bat and some people don't bat an idea because it's a kid's version (which obviously covers parts and so forth). Any different?

Take a look at the video before we continue. I have a few questions that I would love people to respond to and start a dialogue with (which you can in the comments).
This was so innocent. It's amazing what people turn things into.

Questions: Had this been a woman photographer, would this had happened? Had it been their son and not their daughter, would there have been a different response? Do we automatically demonize men in situations like this?

If the father of my children was a photographer, I would be okay with photos like this because it's innocent. I would know him and his love for his children and his art. If it was anything otherwise, I would kill him. The only thing I would want is for him to run it by me because I am their mother and if I don't think it should go up, then it shouldn't go up.

Which brings me to this point: If Wyatt's wife is okay with the photos, no one else should care. Parenting is between two people if there is such a partnership in the family unit.
If both parents feel that it's okay, why the grief?

They say that a child should have the right to consent to things like this as well. Which they should because it teaches them the freedom of choice. If they have been raised in a certain way, then their yes or no's will reflect on if they want something out there. If they have been taught to cover up or are scolded when they have been running around naked, then they may say "No." But if they haven't been taught that, then they may say "Yes" because they like the photo. They still may say "No" because they feel like it. But what parent is going to post pics if they actually ask their kid if it's okay and they say no? I'm sure if consent was present in the situation, he wouldn't have posted it based on what his daughter said.

His intention wasn't to take these photos and have this kind of exhibit; he was creating memories and wanted to share BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT ARTISTS DO!
This came about from the Internet's response and what happened to him. ALSO HIS RIGHT AS AN ARTIST AND A PARENT.

I don't like the fact that the person who posted this on Upworthy says that he can't decide what to think in the description on Facebook. You think something. You expressed it. "Some of the images definitely feel creepy; don't get me wrong. I definitely was shocked when I first saw a couple of them." You showing bias and expressing it to your viewers before they even get to watch this. Poor sharing and reporting on your part Joseph Lamour. At least save that opinion for later on in the post if you have to have it. But that's another issue for another time.

Wyatt, you are a great photographer and dad. I hope that as an artist, when I have kids, that I can turn negativity into something powerful like this!

Thoughts, comments? Share them! Let's talk.

Til next time!
0 Comments

13 Years - Until I Evaporate: 9/11 Anniversary Thoughts

9/11/2014

0 Comments

 
Your body knows when it's not home. 

Though I stood up until an ungodly hour of 4:30 in the morning today, I was up almost three hours later. Since I'm not working while I'm in school yet, I have been sleeping in on days I do this until at least 11. Not today. Though I'm now in Chicago and an hour behind, I woke up around the time of the attacks in New York time, thinking about it almost instantly as I woke up.

Even before I got here, people asked me if I would move out to Chicago permanently and where am I setting up my business. First of all, how would I know if I would move somewhere for seemingly forever if I have never lived there before? Second, where else would I set up my business? So far Chicago is great in so many ways, but I am a New Yorker. 

Your body knows something is wrong. 

I was only 15 when the attacks happens. I was in school. I was in school in Queens. I was safe, but my body knew things were not safe. I had such a headache that day. Around that time. I wish I could say I was psychic, but it was more of knowing something was happening when it happened. Not before. I didn't really hear about it, a full confirmation until about noon or whenever my last period of English was. Guess they didn't want to scare the school as a whole. I heard something during gym, but I still wasn't feeling well and I was in my own world. 

Right now I can remember sitting in gym and hearing hushed whispers, but not know the full urgency at the moment. I remember that the sun felt bright in that room. 

So many people never felt the warm of the sun shining briefly in a room again. Some didn't see the sky for days. 

Your body knows how loud quiet can be. 

I walked home from school since transportation had virtually stopped. I knew nothing was going to happen while I walked home, but I kept looking back. When you walk on Rockaway Blvd, you have a view of the Towers when you reach a certain point if you look straight towards them while crossing the street. You never know how empty a space feels until it's no longer there. In your head, you know there are sirens and cries happening an hour away from you. You feel life slowing down or completely stopping before you reach the zone of no return also known as Lower Manhattan that day. I didn't have to switch on a TV. It was on at home anyway, but just being a sensitive wishy washy person, I felt it. I felt in the lack of buses on the road. The echo of their absence. 

What's worst was that I lived near JFK. When buses are not coming to and from there because who the heck wants to or can take a plane on that day and days following, you feel their absence.

I still refuse to write about these feelings in poetry form till this day. I leave that for the more experienced, in language and in this life changing event.

Your body feels differently once this happens to you.

As I write this, I hear sirens in the distance. Do you know what sirens mean to a New Yorker on 9/11 of any year after 2001? Do you know what the city can be like? The extra security that's put in place. A certain feeling in the air. Try going to work on this day. Especially by the Freedom Tower (or One World Trade Center if you want to be official). Last year, I had to go into Jersey City since my job was relocated there due to Sandy. You don't know what sacred feels like until you are in that area. Walking to the PATH train means hearing the bells rung in memory of each heartbreaking moment. Going into Jersey City meant walking past the memorial with the names of people that were lost from the area. Riding the MTA to World Trade and Fulton Street meant seeing firefighters and officers, dressed up in their finest, going to the ceremony. 

I didn't lose anyone, but I know people who have. I was safe in Queens, but I know people who were in the area that day. You think what if this turned into more. What if more planes went out? What if more buildings were hit? What if they did more?

What if on an anniversary of 9/11, something else happens somewhere else? That's why I sit here trying to calm myself down after hearing sirens. Anything could happen on this day.

It did 13 years ago.

Though it could happen tomorrow, the next day, next year. Anytime. Something like this could happen again at anytime. No one is truly safe. One of the many reason why we have to live life. It's a scary thing to exist. The point of life is questionable at best when we are faced with natural and unnatural causes of death. But we do it anyway, for whatever reason drives us the most. We live. 

There are many who feel this day as strongly as I do. There are those who feel it more. Though it's hard, take a moment and do something that makes you feel alive. Do it for every single life that was taken that day. They woke up that morning, only knowing that they are waking up for another day. They lived their lives to the end. It's harder for those left behind because we can think about the what if and could have been. But we can't waste the seconds that they could have had today. We are lucky to wake up in the morning. It's okay to feel this, but remember to live. 

Your body only knows the flow of currents.
It doesn't know evaporation until it is gone.
0 Comments
    Picture

    Christina D. Rodriguez

    A Latinx poet and entrepreneur who blogs about poetry, music, writing, and life.


    Archives

    April 2019
    December 2017
    August 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    December 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    July 2010
    April 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    October 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    November 2008
    October 2008
    August 2008
    June 2008


    Categories

    All
    2011 Haiku Madness
    2011 Self Discovery Poems
    2011 Tanka Marathon
    Aros
    Awareness
    Books
    Dear Person Epistles
    Digging Deep
    Events
    Facing Self
    Fashion
    Film
    Fun Stuff
    January 2011 A River Of Stones
    Late Night Feelings
    Media
    Miscellaneous
    Music
    Nahaiwrimo 2013
    Napowrimo 2009
    Napowrimo 2010
    Napowrimo 2011
    Napowrimo 2012
    Napowrimo 2013
    NaPoWriMo 2014
    National Poetry Month
    Photography
    Poetry
    Politics
    Projects
    Prose
    Remembrance
    Site Updates
    Social Media
    Technology
    The Book Jumper
    The Write Discoveries
    The Write Journey
    The Write Poems
    The Write Rants
    The Write Recommendations
    The Write Web
    #theycalledherbravenewgirl
    Thoughts And Opinions
    Visual Art
    WQ Performances
    Writing Challenges

    RSS Feed

    Follow The Write Queen

    bloglovin

The Write Queen & Christina Rodriguez Online © All Rights Reserved 2008 - 2020.