Is this picture disgusting or beautiful?

[rug]

This photograph of a father holding his son in the shower has been shared tens of thousands of times on Facebook in the last fortnight. But over the same period it's also also been taken down by the social media platform more than once before ultimately being reinstated each time. Why?



20 May 2016
By BBC Trending

In some ways the picture appears to show a fairly everyday scene. A dad cradling his severely sick child in his arms. Except in this instance, they are in the shower and both naked. The picture was posted on social media by the photographer Heather Whitten who lives in Arizona in the US. It shows her son Fox and her husband, the boy's father Thomas Whitten.

For many viewers the image is a touching portrait of parental care and affection. The reason that father and son were naked was because Fox had Salmonella poisoning for which he would soon after be hospitalised.

"Thomas had spent hours in the shower with him, trying to keep his fever down and letting the vomit and diarrhea rinse off of them both as it came," Whitten wrote in her post accompanying the photo.

"He was so patient and so loving and so strong with our tiny son in his lap... I stepped out and grabbed my camera and came back to snap a few images of it and, of course shared them."

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-36322279

52 votes, 3 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Disgusting
	0 (0%)
	Beautiful
	52 (100%)
	3 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[oldandhappy]

1. one terrified parent and one sick child

Prayers for them.

[Rex]

2. Neither.

It is a simple picture of life, people need to stop making mountains out of mole hills.

[Scootaloo]

6. My thoughts as well

[bigwillq]

7. This.

[AgerolanAmerican]

9. Seconded

the word I would use is "mundane"

[enough]

14. Yes. Life is often far beyond the categories.

[GoCubsGo]

29. Yep.

[A HERETIC I AM]

3. Gorgeous and touching.

The people who are or would be offended by such an image need to do 2 things;

1) Get the hell over it
2) Stop being such a god damned busybody.

[malaise]

4. There are humans way sicker than Fox

Those are the ones who would find it disgusting. Every day of the fugging week parents bathe with their children - sick or well.
We are so afraid of our own nakedness - no wonder this planet is fucked up.

[mikehiggins]

5. On doctors orders I had to drench my naked kids in a bathtub when they ran dangerous fevers.

Didn't do them any harm and may have prevented brain damage.

The shame is that anyone could find a picture like that dubious. Says more about the critics than the parents.

[Oneironaut]

8. Something is mentally wrong with people who associate this pic with abuse.

If your mind instantly jumps to pedophilia, there's something wrong with you. I used to be naked as a child all of the time. Big deal.

I guess children must be clothed at all times now, since their fathers are raving sex maniac pedophiles waiting to strike at any moment.

[sarisataka]

10. Having experienced a bout

Of salmonella poisoning, I consider anyone willing to sit in the shower and care for you worthy of sainthood.

[JimDandy]

11. +1

[2naSalit]

12. I'd call it

compassionate and concerned parenting.

[herding cats]

13. It's beautiful due to the raw depiction of everyday life.

It shows the reality of human interaction. Which isn't always glamorous, or pretty. It's just life.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

15. K&R a 5th rec for publicity. The story is more beautiful than the photo

[liberal_at_heart]

16. salmonilla? Oh, that poor baby. What a great dad!

[Igel]

17. Beautiful.

But at the same time, inappropriate.

Some things are private and should stay private. Daddy did good, mommy (I assume) did vain.

[left-of-center2012]

18. Neither?

At that age, I don't see it as inappropriate.
But I don't find it beautiful either.

[Lurks Often]

19. It's the context that determines whether the picture is disgusting or beautiful

Because it is a parent taking care of his child who is sick with vomiting, diarrhea and a fever that makes it an inspiring picture.

On the other hand, if this picture had been found in the collection of someone who collects child porn, we would be angry and horrified.

[Binkie The Clown]

20. Other: In the eye of the beholder. People with a dirty mind will find it disturbing.

Not because of its content, but because of their own warped interpretation of the content.

[rug]

25. There's photo at the link of another child. There the parent was the mother.

In photos where a child appears naked with an adult there are additional complications and there may be evidence of something of a double standard. A nude man may appear more sinister to some than a woman without clothes.

Last month, an Australian woman Kelli Bannister posted a photograph - in a similar pose to Whitten's photo - cradling her daughter Summer. It was taken by her five-year-old son on a mobile phone. The reaction to that image was overwhelmingly positive.

[underthematrix]

26. Well babies come out of the vaginas of women

so I think peeps are okay with it from that perspective even though children enter families through adoption surrogacy etc.

[whistler162]

21. Nice photo of a father and his caring

about his child. Though self censoring as to what goes on social media is a problem many share with the parents.

Cool water, diarrhea, and vomit for hours. Yup... a caring father.

[MisterP]

22. back when the pedo scare was getting into swing in the early 90s paediatricians

were getting attacked by the self-righteous bluestocking brigades

[WillowTree]

23. Neither.

Not a photo that I would have taken and certainly not one that I would have shared publicly, but I tend to be a pretty private person, not to mention more than slightly old school when it comes to what I think is appropriate so it's likely I would qualify as being out of touch in that respect.

[Liberal_in_LA]

24. I hope the kidhas recovered

[rug]

28. I can't find any updates but I expect if he didn't recover it would have been mentioned.

Odd, isn't it, that the buzz is about the picture but not the child's health.

I'm glad you asked.

[underthematrix]

27. I don't like pics like this but I definitely hate this one

[rug]

30. Do you hate the picture or that it was put on social media?

[underthematrix]

31. I mostly hate that it was put on social media but naked hairy dude with A kid on his lap

ewww - How do we know it's his kid? just ewww

[Quackers]

36. How do you know it's not his kid? nt

[mikehiggins]

33. Either you forgot the "sarcasm" thingee, or you are a total asshole. The jury is out. n/t

[HOPNOSH]

35. Jury is in. Post was hidden.

4-3. I was told by one juror that it was alert abuse. Really?

[HOPNOSH]

34. That child is probably 2 maybe 3. Children that age take a shower with their parents quite often

A child that young should never take a shower alone. Ever. Baths at that age are supervised as well. Lapdance? You are twisted.

[LeftyMom]

37. I don't think anything is wrong with it, but I think sharing it is unwise.

I also don't know why anybody would want to keep a picture of a kid who's that sick, seems like an odd choice, but a harmless one if the picture had stayed in the family.