Sally Mann
Personally, I feel that Sally Mann was in the right by
making the photographs and by publishing them the way she did. Some people say
that her photos are ‘porn’ and she should have never photographed her children
in the way she did, but I disagree with that. Merriam Webster defines
pornography as “the
depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause
sexual excitement”. Therefore, for something to classify as porn it has to
intentionally be erotic and sexual, but that is clearly not the case in Sally
Mann’s photos. Her images depict little girls doing kid things, dancing around,
playing in the yard, or eating candy cigarettes. She also photographed her kids
with nose bleeds and black eyes, documenting them as they experienced things
all kids do. The images neither depict erotic behavior or are intended to be
sexually appealing and therefore cannot be considered porn. Her pictures are art because although some of
them include nudity of prepubescent girls, they are only for aesthetic appeal. This
makes her work hardly any different from roman art with nude boys or
renaissance era art with nude women. Sally Mann used her own children in her
photographs, as many mothers have naked pictures of their kids from when they
were little. Also, she never forced it onto her kids and only photographed them
if they were okay with it. The difference between her and most parents is that
she actually published the photos she took of her children whereas most do not.
Her town is in a rural area with a
unique culture. By publishing her photos she is sharing her culture in a way
that can only be done by photographs. The only way publishing her work would
not be okay is if her children did not want it to be done. They had no problem
with it, however, and after the work was published they made a small fortune
off of the prints that were ordered. In the end, her photographs were artwork and
did not deserve the controversy that they received. All of the children were
fine with the pictures being taken and everybody benefited from the
publications Sally Mann made.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pornography
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