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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think that you shouldn't put naked pictures of your kids on Facebook

182 replies

coralpig · 14/03/2016 18:05

I'm Facebook friends with a mother (we don't know each other in real life but our kids share an activity).
She has 3 kids of primary school age and has put up lots of photos of them completely nude with the way they are positioned obscuring their private parts. The children look really really smiley and relaxed in the photo and I think it's totally fine for them to enjoy being naked around each other. However I do think that it's massively inappropriate and quite unsafe to put these on Facebook. Mother in question has a private profile but hundreds of fb friends. What do you think? Is it my place to send her a message saying I think she should them down for the safety of the children? WWYD?

OP posts:
catgirl1976 · 14/03/2016 19:31

Primary is probably a bit old for naked pics, but meh.

They're not at risk. Apart from possible the risk of being embarrassed in later life which is hardly going to do serious damage. It's certainly not "abuse"

OhShutUpThomas · 14/03/2016 19:32

All those who are saying it's cute and there's nothing wrong with it - how would you feel if it were you?

If there were multiple fully naked pictures of you freely available on the Internet, shared there by your parents?

Of course this is wrong.

OhShutUpThomas · 14/03/2016 19:33

It's almost like a ridiculous competition of who can be most 'cool' about it.

Sharing pictures online of your naked children is wrong.

catgirl1976 · 14/03/2016 19:38

There are plenty of me "OhShutUp"

DM has become something of a silver surfer and scanned and posted lots of old childhood photos. Including naked, toddler me in the bath, in the paddling pool etc.

I'm not in the least bit bothered. It's me as a child, not me as an adult.

I personally wouldn't post a picture of DS (4) with his penis on view, but a bath shot with a toy covering his bits is fine and dandy.

I wouldn't raise an eyebrow if someone else chose to post naked pictures of their baby or toddler though.

That said I think the age of the children in the OP is a little bit too old for such things as primary school age children do often have a sense of modesty that babies and toddlers don't.

DisappointedOne · 14/03/2016 19:38

If there were multiple fully naked pictures of you freely available on the Internet, shared there by your parents?

As an under 10? Couldn't care less.

OhShutUpThomas · 14/03/2016 19:43

So you genuinely wouldn't mind naked photos of you under ten shared online for anyone to view? You wouldn't mind pictures of YOU, naked, potentially in the pictures file of the laptops of multiple paedophiles?
This isn't pearl clutching - this is what actually and really happens to photos of naked children shared online.

It's not some smiley photos in the bath, hard copies saved only in the family album on the shelf - it's photos shared online.

Surely you can see the difference?

Sparklingbrook · 14/03/2016 19:43

I don't know why the mother would think anyone would be that interested in seeing the pictures. Confused

I don't have FB. I send pics by email if at all.

wherethewildthingis · 14/03/2016 19:43

Hate to be the voice of doom and gloom but these pictures are commonly traded and even sold by paedophiles. Anyone can download and save, or scrrenshot, a picture from a friends Facebook. Often, if someone else likes or comments, it pops up on that persons timeline and is visible to all of their friends- potentially hundreds of people. And yes, actually, allowing a child to unwittingly become an image of child abuse for the titillation of sex offenders across the world is considered to be child abuse.

OSETmum · 14/03/2016 19:44

It is inappropriate because the image only has to be screen shotted by one person and the image is out there for all and sundry to do what they like with forever more. No, it might not directly harm the children, but it's still awful what could happen with the image. Plus it's a criminal offence to make and distribute indecent images of children even if they are your own and you mean it in a perfectly innocent way!

Original poster
coralpig · 14/03/2016 19:45

Okay so maybe the kids aren't in direct danger - on reflection that was a bit OTT of me. However, I stand by my comments that it is not an okay thing to do. Eldest child (friends with my own) is 11.

OP posts:
wherethewildthingis · 14/03/2016 19:47

Oh- and there are large units of police officers dedicated to tracking down children who appear in images of child abuse. They are quite successful. So potentially you're also looking at a knock at the door from the national crime agency

LaPharisienne · 14/03/2016 19:48

I have no problem with naked photos of children - it's normal and healthy to be naked.

I do have a massive issue with parents posting photos of their kids on the internet tho... I think it's a breach of their privacy and they are too little to consent.

I'm not on my own...
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/12179584/French-parents-could-be-jailed-for-posting-childrens-photos-online.html

Princesspeach1980 · 14/03/2016 19:49

11 is hugely inappropriate! Old enough to be hitting puberty, old enough to be be a prime candidate for grooming. I may have a cautious outlook because I deal with child sexual exploitation in my job, but seems very wrong to me. Cute toddler maybe, pre-teen nope!

Sparklingbrook · 14/03/2016 19:50

11? Shock

Redderred · 14/03/2016 19:59

Yanbu
A fb friend of mine was outraged when a similar photo of hers got reported.
So inappropriate.

DisappointedOne · 14/03/2016 20:15

So you genuinely wouldn't mind naked photos of you under ten shared online for anyone to view? You wouldn't mind pictures of YOU, naked, potentially in the pictures file of the laptops of multiple paedophiles?

No, I don't worry about it as far as I'm concerned. A) that child no longer exists and B) nothing anybody does to any photograph of me, thirty years ago or now, actually does anything to me. It's just my image, it's not me.

Paedophiles are just as likely to use the kids' clothes pages of the Next catalogue as anything they spot on FB.

SkafaceClaw · 14/03/2016 20:18

Did anybody see The Good Wife about resurfaced naked pics of children?

I feel sorry for this generation - some people post all these pictures of their children online - Where is the child's right to privacy?

Stanky · 14/03/2016 20:30

I was never one for photographing my dc's genitals. I just don't 'get' naked pictures of kids, even as babies. I always took pictures of them with clothes on, or above the waist if they were in the bath. I don't really want to look back on naked family photos, and I certainly wouldn't be posting them online.

Dovinia · 14/03/2016 20:36

I don't think it's unsafe, but it isn't ok.

My oldest is 5 and I have explained Facebook to him and I ask his permission now before I post any photos of him.

ConcernedParent88 · 14/03/2016 20:42

I'm completely missing something I think.

There's a picture of me in profile with my penis sticking out on a beach in summer - I'm about 3 at the time - and it's on the internet in a public place. I look cute. I'm 3 - why wouldn't I.

I was at the time of the photo and am now completely unaffected by this.

All boys have penises. All humans have naked bodies.

I think either you have all lost the plot or I'm completely missing something.

Sparklingbrook · 14/03/2016 20:46

I think either you have all lost the plot or I'm completely missing something

Not your penis it seems.

Princesspeach1980 · 14/03/2016 20:58

World of difference between 3 and 11!

mycatsloveeachother · 14/03/2016 20:59

all humans have naked bodies

So why don't we all walk around naked?

Because it goes against societal norms.

AliceThrewTheFookingGlass · 14/03/2016 21:16

My concern isn't about safety. If someone wants to get their kicks from photos of children then sadly there are 'better' places for them to see photos.

I just know that I would be incredibly embarrassed had my life been publicly documented the way some kids lives are. My 7 year old nephew got very embarrassed when I told him I used to change his nappies, imagine how mortified he would be if nakedness was plastered all over Facebook.

I have the choice of what I put on social media and I still go back and delete or hide certain things out of sheer embarrassment.

AliceThrewTheFookingGlass · 14/03/2016 21:19

If his nakedness*