I had no idea that DailyBooth (“Your life in pictures”) had a division called NakedBooth. Until someone told me, that is. Amateurs of all genders having fun being sorta — or totally — naked, or being silly trying to cover up. Adorable! Now there’s a social networking startup I’ll stand behind. And ogle.
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I completely agree with you that young adults should not be punished for exploring, learning, and experimenting in a reasonable manner. However, the line can become blurred very quickly as to what is appropriate and what is not. And as more and more people are discovering, once it’s posted to the net, there’s no undoing it or the potential damage done.
Which brings me to my main concern with the site hosting images of underage persons. While none of the photos posted are lewd and a sane person would not classify most of them as anywhere near erotic, in the eyes of the law sometimes, possession of images of underage models can lead to huge consequences for the person holding them – especially if that person is over the age of 18 (and sometimes even under).
I believe that we need to review and evaluate the current laws regarding consent and what constitutes adulthood, but until that time, we must ensure that we are within the current boundaries set up. While not always the case when it comes to certain laws that may seem asinine or outdated, in the case of protecting minors and their future lives, it’s one area that I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all approach. It’s a sticky area (no pun intended) and for every 16 year old who is ready to be an adult, there’s one who is definitely a child at heart and not able to properly think of how their actions are going to impact their life further on. All I can do is raise my own children to know their boundaries, love themselves without shame, and to think of what consequences any actions they take may have. Hopefully more parents of my generation will do the same and we can move away from the way things are in a sometimes overly-reactive/Puritanical country.
I think this was something started for fun, though I’ll admit that I didn’t stalk the users enough to see that there were people (young people) pushing the edge of what might be seen as acceptable behavior in regard to self-expression, exhibitionism, potential legal questions and social mores. and clearly everyone’s having an innocently good time. the thing is, I honestly figured that DailyBooth, being a respectable mainstream site, knows what they’re doing here. however, now that it’s been brought to my attention I no longer feel comfortable keeping the image on my site or the link live. in the interest of transparency I’m going to leave the post and the comments up because it’s (of course) the right thing to do. but upon closer look and with the help of your very thorough examination and commentary, I no longer feel comfortable providing access through the context of my site. at the same time I’m deeply troubled because I don’t think that young adults should be punished or — as is the fashion these days — criminalized for exhibiting (or what’s likely in this instance, “trying on”) behaviors that could be perceived as age-inappropriate. I’m the kind of person who really believes that when it comes to young adults and sexuality that if they’re old enough to ask, they’re old enough to deserve an answer, you know?
anyway, I’m really glad for your time and comments. I’ve given this a lot of thought in the meantime. and your input means a lot. if you disagree with my decision, or have any feedback at all, please do let me know!
Just a quick follow-up to my rant above. That girl in the picture above? 16. She’s cute as hell. But is this toeing the line?
Cheers. Keep writing the awesome sauce you do.
Thanks for showing this off! On the surface, I think this is a really cool idea. There’s no actual genitals shown so it remains on the edge of amateur pornographic and just stays in the realm of fun. Kudos to the owner for running it that way.
But as I was browsing it something occured to me that made me put two and two together.
Using DailyBooth and watching its live view, I realized just how many kids are in what appear to be the dominant age demographic here. It made me feel a bit old using it (I’m 27). Most of these young people looked to be still in high school.
Then I blinked and stared at the NakedBooth page and realized that these people looked the same. Like most of them were still in highschool as well. Then I started following back to their profiles. Ages listed? 17. 16. 15? 14! These are the ages listed on those profiles by the kids themselves.
Ok. I get there’s no actual genitals being shown. But it’s still nudity. Is it child porn? I dunno. But it walks a very fine line. I thought I remember the verbiage “in provocative poses” being a part of the definition somewhere, but I need to do some more homework before you can quote me on that as part of my argument.
With all of the buzz around underage sexting, it seems to me that this is indicative of some problems as well.
And another thing: Twenty year old Danny, “theradioschizo”, the guy running it. I think we might safely assume he’s getting a lot of submissions from these minors that didn’t look to see how things are done – namely the covering part – that he can’t post. And when the profiles of these kids show their age outright, no one can really hide behind a plea of ignorance. I’m not saying Danny’s a pervert here; I genuinely believe this was started for fun.
But who’s asking the right questions? Who’s posing the hard questions?
Now if you’ll excuse me…I have a picture to submit.
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