Last fall A.J. and Lisa Demaree took a memory stick with family photos to the printing center at the Wal-Mart store in Peoria, Ariz. Some of the photos showed their three young girls, all under 5 years old, partially nude in the bathtub. The Demarees say these were innocent pictures that all families take. But a Wal-Mart employee felt otherwise and contacted the police who agreed that this was a child pornography situation.
The police report read, “The young girl appeared to be posed in a provocative manner.” A report issued by Peoria authorities described the photos as “child erotica” and “sex exploitation.”
Child Protective Services searched the Demaree home and took custody of the children for a month while the state investigated. The watched family videotapes and found a few in which the children were playing unclothed. Lisa was suspended from her school job for a year, and both of their names were placed on the sex offender registry. The couple spent $75,000 on legal bills.
The Demarees were eventually cleared of any charges and their daughters returned, but they are now suing the state and Wal-Mart for what they call unfair accusations.
More at The Mommy Files.
You know, in a country where Victoria’s Secret ads are all over the place and you could buy “How To Make Love Like A Porn Star” at most bookstores (not Wal-Mart, of course), this sort of nonsense seems especially absurd.
Semi-nude photos of children are not pornography, no more than those little urinating cherub fountains are.
We really need to get past the APE (American Puritan Ethic).
You know, normally I’d be up in arms over this as well (I think it’s pretty dumb), but imagine the outrage that would have ensued had a Wal-Mart employee not reported actual child pornography photos.
Excuse me Avelino, but when exactly did Wal-Mart become a law enforcement agency?
EVERYONE is a child’s keeper.
I actually agree with Ephraim, but I tend to get in trouble for telling other people’s children to behave themselves. 🙂
I guess that means you think it takes a village to raise a child.
So, Hillary was right, It Takes a Village.
Sadly, this sort of thing is not uncommon. See the documentary “Witch Hunt”, put out in 2008. It really doesn’t take much to get caught in a Hitchcockian nightmare when a group of zealots, political climbers in law enforcement, and yellow journalists get on your case.
Quite contrary to the idea of everyone being a child’s keeper, you run a great risk getting involved at all. Watch that video and you will see what I mean.
Ken, it depends on the state:
It’s an older article, but I imagine the above still applies.
I mean, as a photographer, I get pissed as it is when people at photo shops won’t print my photos because they think I’m not the photographer. And as a photographer I think this most of these cases are complete bullshit. And in this day in age, when any pedophile who isn’t a complete idiot has gone digital (you’d have to be a trying to go to jail to take actual child porn to a Wal-Mart to get prints), I think Wal-Mart employees should show some common sense.
But I do feel like children remain incredible susceptible to abuse out there, and many times all that it would take to stop a case of abuse was one person standing up and saying “This is wrong.”
You know, not too long ago, I sent a set of foam bathtime letters–the ones that stick to the tile when it’s wet–to Sophia, my step-grandaughter, and her mom sent me a photo of Sophia playing with them in the tub.
It was the most adorable photo, but I WOULD NOT DARE post it anywhere on line. I didn’t even email to my husband.
It sucks to always have to be afraid to do the most innocent things.
It also sucks to be abused as a child. When I was young, it happened just as often, but rarely was anything done about it. Everything just got swept under the rug.
Maybe all this hyper-vigilance has made it more difficult for pedophiles to hide and keep their secrets. I hope so, at any rate, otherwise it’s all cost and no benefit.
I have no answers.
Take a look at these photos. Specially the newborn section.
http://www.tracyraver.com/index2.php
Beauty!
You can thank the sickos, Jock Sturgess and David Hamilton for the crap that actually is child porno and is marketed as “art”. As a former bookseller, I actually had a woman ask me for one of these “photographic authors” and, because of “free speech”, we actually carried this schlock, and, when I found it on the top shelf, misfiled (I always did this on purpose.. lol!), I handed it to her and she then threw it at me, hitting me in the head, drawing blood. She then proceeded to scream that I was going to hell for having that on the shelf. Ugh. I agreed with her but it was a constitutional issue, per B&N.
What happened in WalMart was ridiculous and should never have happened. Please… kids in a bathtub!
I agree with Richard. Just one look at Maxim magazine is enough to make one gag. The commercials on TV are riddled with just-this-side-of-porn images.
However, I would never, never, never post anything to my FB, Twitter, or blog that was even slightly “provocative” because there are so many sickos out there
It does take a village and sometimes the village has sickos. It should be easier to discern the differences between child porn and kids in a bathtub playing.
Pffffttt…