The photograph on Saturday Telegraph

[Joscurry]

I was horrified to see the photograph of a 7yr old girl sprawled on the back of a white horse. When I posted it to some friends they agreed wholeheartedly that it was just ''wrong'. I checked the photographer and she has a site with even more 'questionable' images. Look at www.ilonaszwarc.com/album/american-girls#2 and tell me these should be banned from public release.

I can't see the photo you are discussing but I find the others very interesting and would not want to ban them ,

Have now found the photo on the telegraph website. I have similar ones of my daughter on her pony.

www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/10076879/The-little-cowgirls.html?frame=2571514

That picture?

What's wrong with the photo?

Us country girls have been doing that on horses since they were first domesticated.

She's not wearing a hard hat, and as the pony is loose she would fall if it made a sudden movement. So not a great example of safety round horses.

If you go to her site www.ilonaszwarc.com/american-girls, although some of the images are disturbing, she rationalises them by explaining (and I quote):

"...American Girl dolls offer an illusion of choice and therefore an illusion of individuality. Yet they play a crucial role for girls at a time when they are forming their identities....The branding behind the doll perpetuations domesticity and traditional gender roles...Gender becomes a performance that is mirrored in the performance of my subjects for the camera.'

In other words, she's well aware that the images are objectionable, but she has produced them to highlight the objectionable influence of American Girl dolls on childhood and the identities of girls.

I accept it would not make a great healthy and safety poster, but banned from public view?

I think you are getting your knickers in a twist. 'Banned from public release' - really? We haven't had routine state censorship in this country since the whole Lady Chatterley ban was overturned. (Although you do occasionally get the odd copper who walks past an art gallery and comes over all unnecessary...)