Comedian Under Fire for Posting Bathtime Photo With Daughter
When Danish comedian Torben Chris posted a photo of bath time with his 2-year-old daughter on Facebook this week (above), he was doing so in reaction to other fathers being shamed or even labeled “pedophiles” when they shared pictures like this of them with their kids. “Nudity with your child’s not gross, but natural,” he said. Chris had no idea that his photo would go viral, inspiring over 6,000 shares and thousands of comments, both pro and con.
As is often the case, the angry commenters were the loudest, with one writing, “Why would any father want their daughter to not only sit in between his legs but see his private! Sick sick sick, very disturbing.” Perez Hilton experienced a similar pile-on this fall when he posted a pic from the bath with son, Mario, 2, and got comments like, “He’s another Michael Jackson” and “child abuse.”
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While Chris’s original photo post has been taken down, the comedian shared a video on Friday that explained more about the hubbub. He clarified that although many reports said that he was widely attacked for posting the photo, “the wide majority of people were on my side.” Like the commenter who wrote, “Bonding with your family is a good thing! Bathing together is not inappropriate. WONDERING would you have a different opinion if the picture was taken of a mother in tub with infant?”
Family therapist Dr. Paul Hokemeyer tells Yahoo Parenting that he understands both sides of this debate. “I can see why people find the photograph troubling,” he says. “It’s clearly a very private moment being displaying in a very public way.”
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But Hokemeyer notes that there’s nothing abnormal about a parent bathing with a 2-year-old. “It’s important to maintain boundaries so that both the parent and the child are comfortable with their bodies,” he says.
The issue, according to Hokemeyer, isn’t the bath but rather the sharing of the photo. “It feels creepy to turn a private family moment into a public spectacle,” he says. “As individuals, families, and a society, we are still negotiating what is appropriate and inappropriate for social media.”
So even if Chris was trying to make a larger point — having recently tackled the “prude attitudes” of Danes toward nudity in his one-man show Jydelogik — Hokemeyer suggests that he might have done it without such a personal post. “It seems that notions of privacy are being compromised for public consumption,” Hokemeyer says. “I would advise that we use social media cautiously as it relates to our families and children as opposed to liberally for self-promotion.”
Chris is standing his ground and reiterating his point in the recent video: “Nobody should find these pictures offensive; it’s a natural thing to be naked with your children,” he says. “It’s a natural thing to be naked period. You’re born that way.”
(Photo: Facebook/Torben Chris)
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