Nekked Babies

I'm all in a tizzy today.

This morning, I'm feeding W (breastfeeding.  If that offends you, best leave now) and sitting on the downstairs sofa watching some animal movie with A.  Eventually N finds her way downstairs after she wakes up, and runs across the living room completely unclothed, diaper missing in action.  I, naturally, find this hilarious.  First instinct?  Grab the camera!

Second instinct?  Let's potty train, since she's so averse to diapers.

Clothing totally optional in N's universe.

Along with our day we go, potty breaks every twenty for two minute sits each.  An m and m for each successful patient sit.  We stayed dry too, by the way.  Not important.

At some point N finds her awesome orange stripy hat and her basketball armband, puts both on and is running about the house.  Again, so amusing I can't help but take a picture.  And the hat and armband are so cute I take a picture ABOVE the waist and slap it onto Facebook.  Why not?  You see pictures of babies in only diapers all the time.  I've put pictures of N up in just a diaper; this picture shows NOTHING more, since it doesn't include the diaper area at all.  The only way you know she's got no bottoms on?  I say so.


Some offhand remark about a wee nekkid babe.  It took no less than five minutes.

Pushing boundaries...oh...waaaiiit...yep she's got a diaper on.  

"You're picture has been reported.  Do you want to take action?"

Yeah, I sure do.  I want to know who finds a picture of a baby to be considered offensive nudity and I would like to ask what exactly is wrong with them.  So I take no Facebook action, opting instead to hold my ground.  This picture includes no offensive nudity, it is a sweet baby who dressed herself the best way she knew how and shows nothing below the belly button.

Does this make you uncomfortable?  If it does, there's something wrong with YOU, not the photo.

I see pictures almost daily of completely naked men with only a small obstacle hiding Sir Richard and the Twins.  I see profile pictures of chicks so scantily clothed I feel like I should be smoking a cigarette and basking in some afterglow.  How about memes and funny jokes that include images, sometimes drawn, of full nudity with only hands covering the bits considered indecent?  I've read status posts so detailed as to make me physically ill; but a naked baby?  My own baby.

"But, N wasn't wearing a shirt."

I know.  She's at such an age that she's so devel-...oh wait.  She's only two and anatomically indistinct from little boys starting at the waist up.  If I have to see pictures of your little boy without his shirt on, or even your not-so-little-boy without his shirt on, then how is my 2-year-old baby girl's top half any more offensive?

Oh, I suppose I ought not to delve into the gender discrepancy wars, because I'm afraid I'm already fired up enough.  As such, I will also steer clear of the pictures of women breastfeeding argument; Facebook allows those, for the most part.

Naturally, A is at an age where it would be most inappropriate to post such a picture.  I wouldn't.  I think after two, the time for half-naked babies on a public forum is toeing the line.  But what exactly is it about a baby without a shirt that would incite such discomfort?  Why can we erect billboards with gigantic exposed cleavages, but squirm at the sight of a baby's skin?  Why is it ok to go into public wearing clothes so tight and short and low-cut as to expose every inappropriate landmark save for the ones that would specifically get you arrested, but not ok to post images of your child for friends and family to giggle about along with you?

Or to fawn over.  Fresh and newly out, whoops, sorry, should've clothed her before I dared take a picture to show you.

It ended with Facebook deleting my picture and blocking me from my account until I looked through three to four pages of "how to socially network appropriately" training.  All over an innocent picture.  But please, make sure you share the pictures of your beach vay-cay including you in that brand new bikini that shows inch by inch 2 times what I had photographed and shared of my child.  Because we all want to see that.

SO much more appropriate!  Whew.  All this one is missing is her friend sporting a duckface and some fake tanned boobies.

Let me know if I should edit this post to add some black bars over all the offensive pictures of my children.  I'll get right on that.

Something is very, very wrong with our society, friends.  I am disturbed and concerned for where we are headed.