A recent photo posted by actress Olivia Wilde of her 1-year-old son Otis on Instagram has stirred her followers into a frenzy.
The picture is innocent enough.
Captioned “Naked Cowboy”, little Otis is seen posing in a cowboy hat and nothing else during a family vacation in Hawaii.
However, the photograph was soon deemed inappropriate by many followers, going by their comments
www.instagram.com/p/_P9_x2shgg/?taken-by=oliviawilde
One follower says, “This is not a picture for social media, because unfortunately there are perverted people out there and these pictures could end up on child pornography websites.”
And another one added, “More people will ‘like’ that than you wish. Your naked child is nothing [to] upload [on] the World Wide Web, where it stays forever.”
www.instagram.com/p/_VEEzdshsA/?taken-by=oliviawilde
But others are not so offended and have rushed to the actress’s defence:
“The pure innocence of a child. This is a beautiful photo. Bravo for keeping it in your instagram.”
“Beautiful pic of an adorable little one communing with nature as nature would have it. Negative folks seriously need to get a life.”
“Please don’t listen to these ridiculous attacks. People should not be shaming you for this pic. They should be ashamed for thinking this pic is in any way sexual.”
The debate over the toddler’s photo follows another online debate last week about Danish comedian Torben Chris’ photo of him having a bath with his two-year-old daughter.
The comedian writes about the photo:
“I’ve never been more positive response to any joke than I made on nøgenhedsforskrækkelse [fear of nakedness] in my one man show ‘jydelogik’. It’s beautiful. But golly where there are also many scary foolish examples from people who have been accused of paedophilia or call for paedophilia from well-intentioned freaks.”
What do you think?
Is it a parent’s prerogative to post whatever picture they like of their children on social media, or should they be more cautious and aware of the consequences?
Should we even be judging other parents for what they choose to post on social media, or as fellow parents, are we under a moral obligation to point out situations where other people’s children may be in danger?
Tell us what you think in a comment below.