Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Mother puts her child's bathing pic for sale on ebay

WHAT on earth!!!! I also saw this story this morning. Can anyone be that ignorant or indeed stupid? (see story below)

Obviously so because only yesterday I saw pictures that someone downloaded of their kids on flickr, which I felt uncomfortable with. They were taken in a homemade studio setting and the child was lying down on her side looking at the camera over her shoulder and the picture was entitled 'curves'.

What would be an endearing portrait of your child on your own wall at home or in a photoalbum, can take a whole new angle in cyberland.

Now there wasn't anything indecent in the picture but still.... (I won't post a link) I would err on the side of extreme caution regarding anything like that.

I have downloaded pics of my daughter to flickr but I have marked them private where only invited people, family and friends can view them.

Whether we like it or not, we have to be so careful now, because we have to do everything to protect our children.

I am finding it so hard to try to explain to my own daughter that a lot of the rules we have, while a pain in the arse, are because she needs to be safe and I need to know that she is safe, that is the bottom line.

But for a parent to deliberately do something like that, while pleading ignorance of what could be the consequences of their actions, beggars belief.

I do not like to judge parents, it's too easy to believe you know best and we are far too easy to judge. But like my Mum always says 'you never know what goes on in a couple's bedroom' so I think it follows that we can never really understand, appreciate or indeed know the dynamics of someone else's family.

The reality is that parenting can be a very difficult job but in this case I have to say, oh my god, what were you thinking woman?

Mother defends putting kiddie pics on eBay 20/07/2005 - 11:13:08
From breakingnews .ie

A mum who sold photographs of her bathing children on eBay insisted today: “I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong.”

Emotional mother of four Sara Fox was paid just £5.50 (€7.90) in a bid to raise cash for a family holiday in the United States before the pictures were withdrawn from auction after a barrage of internet complaints.

At her home in Ballymena, Co Antrim, she said: “With hindsight, I suppose it was ignorance on my part. But they were put there for a genuine reason and I never imagined it would have caused such a fuss.”

One of the photographs showed her 11-month old daughter naked in the bath with her young brother and sister.

With her husband due to lose his job, the auction was an attempt to fund a holiday back to her home state of Wisconsin where a fourth child, her seven-year-old daughter, lives.

Mrs Fox, 24, said: “Mothers allow their babies to model nappies, bathtime products and baby foods where there is more showing, and nobody takes offence with that.“I respect people’s rights to do what they want, but I maintain I wasn’t doing wrong showing anything of my children which you can’t see in a photograph on a child’s bottle, a packet of nappies or whatever.

“The woman who bought the pictures didn’t even want them. She did so because she sympathised with my plight – £5.50 isn’t going to get me very far and the way it’s looking, I’ll probably not make it back home.“I just thought it was worth a try. It was like desperation and I don’t know how I’m going to tell my daughter.”

Mrs Fox said it never occurred to her that paedophiles might access the site.

She added: “Maybe that’s my shortfall, maybe that’s my ignorance. Nothing clicked in me. A kid in a bathtub is a kid in a bathtub. You see them on TV and that’s okay. What I was doing was personal, but I did take the pictures off the sale.

“If I had put more thought into it; if I had put more thought into the photographs I was posting…obviously it was the bathtub one which put everybody off. When I put them on, I never thought in those terms.

“I was thinking: ‘My kids look absolutely beautiful and they’re together’. I couldn’t see how people could take such offence and I still maintain they still show them better that those who advertise baby products.”

6 comments:

Fi said...

I saw the headline for this story on a tabloid yesterday and was gobsmacked! I then heard her tell her story on Morning Ireland this morning and my God she must be one incredibly stupid and shortsighted woman. How could she put her kids at risk like that and not recognise the potential danger? I also get annoyed and uncomfortable when I come across web sites or blogs featuring children. The pictures are cute but not everyone has cute in mind when they look at them. Sorry for the rant :}

Anonymous said...

Did you actaully see the auction on Ebay?? I think Not. U havent a clue wot ur talkin about. The pictures sara put up were NOT indecent. OK, she could have thought it through better, but if you had read the ad on Ebay you would understand her plight. The press have made a mountain out of this and turned her life upside down. People should shut thier mouths until they know all the facts. As for people accessing the site...Its Ebay for christs sake! Theres worse out there!

Anonymous said...

R u serious anonymous?

Anonymous said...

when is it ever acceptable to use your children for financial gain? What bothers me is who on earth did she think would be interested in pictures of her own children? I can only think of the obvious.
It's not as if she comes from Ulan Batur and might not be privy to the extensive media coverage on paedophiles and the danger of doing what she did. She's from Northern Ireland for Christsakes. Did she not have any clothes/ornaments/dodgy pictures of herself she could sell? This woman's motivation bothers me. What wll she sell next? a dayout with the youngsters?
Shame on you - ignorance is never a valid excuse when it comes to protecting children

Anonymous said...

To you who can only think of child pictures in one way... u need to go have a good look at yourself. MarieB...Wise up! you didnt see the pics so dont fuckin be quick to judge. havent you people got better shit to do with your lives. If you dont know the FACTS DONT comment on it.

Red Mum said...

I've had enough of your trolling, you are just boring me now. I know enough of the facts to be appalled at her behaviour.

As for what you said about our attitudes to pictures of children, that's where your problem lies, it's not about what I think or indeed MarieB thinks about pictures of children, it's what paedophiles think. That's the problem.

I am going to ignore you now.