Ethics Poll--Nude work

Nude photography for a public figure...good or bad?


  • Total voters
    29
Good thoughts, all. Too delve a bit deeper into this. The wife doesn't have a problem with whatever I shoot, per se. She's only worried about the repercussions in my professional life. So it's not that she's blowing smoke and trying to make me back away from nude work and using school as an excuse. We're open and honest enough to communicate about that sort of thing.

Right now it's all just a whim anyway, more of a mental exercise than an actual situation.

FWIW, I pretty much agree with the people here. In my eye and mind if it's artistic and legal, people should mind their business, but unfortunately that's not the world we live in today. :| Sad that people think it's not good enough to stifle their own lives and their families lives, but to have the gall to think they know what's best for me and my family too is ridiculous. :| :|
 
this is interesting. very very interesting.
i just bought a house in the town in which i teach. i will be living in a neighborhood infested with schoolage kids. i have 3 of my own. i intend to shoot fashion, nudes, portraits, landscapes, whatever i damn well feel like shooting in a professional venue. it's my opinion that no one has the right to dictate what i do on my off-time as long as it is legal.
i do, however, use a moniker, even now, though i use the same last name.
as for some busybody giving me trouble for it, i say bring it on. i will fight to my dying breath for the right to express myself artistically, and i will let no person and no institution censor me.
now, that said, i also believe in the integrity of a school system's reputation. we live and die by it, how well i know it. if i have, however, taken every precaution reasonable to keep the two lives separate, then any damage done is done because someone else made the connection and was personally offended. to such personal offense, i say f--- off and mind your own business if you don't like it. the connection between my two lives could only be made by an individual, unless i purposely mix the two, thereby inviting the connection to be made by the public at large. this last is something i would go to all lengths necessary to prevent.

i would, of course, make such artwork totally unaccessable to school age children, and in fact the public at large, via password protection, etc. i would want such gallery work to be viewable only by a select audience...

all that being said, i have no immediate plans to shoot nudes. but i damn well reserve the right to do so in the future.
can you guess which way i voted?
 
metroshane said:
Any intelligent person would see no problem with it. it's the unintelligent you have to watch out for.

in my opinion, any intelligent person will be slow to call someone unintelligent just because they disagree with them
 
I wouldn't do it. I understand you wanting to express yourself artistically and its your right to do so. But anything that could be construed as morally or sexually devient is a real hot button issue right now. As a teacer parents expect you to be a moral center for their kids, no matter how screwed up their own beliefs are. Its a lawsuit waiting to happen. It only takes one pyschopathic parent to "believe" that you are doing something wrong to ruin your career, whether you are guilty of something or not. i have seen pyscho parents run off and alert the media over trivial things, and if its even a half decent story then the media would love to cover it, and crucify you in the court of public opinion before you have a chance to say one word on your behalf. The media doesn't care about truth, they care about good ratings, and a way to get people to watch is to inform them of a new "danger" to their children.

There are alot of pyschopaths out there, especally "soccer mom" types who feel it is their job to police everything they can, whether its their business or not.

There has been such a crack down on anything that COULD be construed as immoral or obscene the you really have to watch what you do, and if you have any contact whatsoever with children then you must be doubley careful. We all can thank George Bush and his right wing agenda for that. LOL
 
When I first read the question, I thought...sure why not...It's just fine art nude phorography...but after reading some of the warnings, I'm not so sure about it.

All it would take is one self-righteous individual to take up the cause and try to bring you down like they are ridding the world of all evil...and you might be in big trouble.

Few things bother me more than the type of people who find out about something that they don't like (or were told that they shouldn't like) and suddenly make it their life's goal to do away it without understanding it. These people and their thinking are often more dangerous than the "evil" they are trying to dispose of. People protesting Eminem & Marlyn Manson are a good example. The point is...you don't want to become a target for these people.

But...with all that said...youy don't want to live your life in fear either. If you are not hurting anyone, do what you will but take every precaution to avoid a situation that would allow suspicion to hurt you & your family.
 
I think Manda had a good suggestion, about getting some feedback from your fellow teachers on this subject. Who knows, yhey might be able to clue you in with some little piece of information you don't already have.

I'm all for erring on the side of art (I voted art is art) but sometimes the cool hand of caution must prevail. If you think at some time in the future you really WOULD put your nude studies out there, it could become a problem.

What sux is that you even have to ponder this. :roll: But that aspect of it is out of your hands.
 
Havoc said:
I wouldn't do it. I understand you wanting to express yourself artistically and its your right to do so. But anything that could be construed as morally or sexually devient is a real hot button issue right now. As a teacer parents expect you to be a moral center for their kids, no matter how screwed up their own beliefs are. Its a lawsuit waiting to happen. It only takes one pyschopathic parent to "believe" that you are doing something wrong to ruin your career, whether you are guilty of something or not. i have seen pyscho parents run off and alert the media over trivial things, and if its even a half decent story then the media would love to cover it, and crucify you in the court of public opinion before you have a chance to say one word on your behalf. The media doesn't care about truth, they care about good ratings, and a way to get people to watch is to inform them of a new "danger" to their children.

There are alot of pyschopaths out there, especally "soccer mom" types who feel it is their job to police everything they can, whether its their business or not.

There has been such a crack down on anything that COULD be construed as immoral or obscene the you really have to watch what you do, and if you have any contact whatsoever with children then you must be doubley careful. We all can thank George Bush and his right wing agenda for that. LOL

I agree with everything you said 100% except for that last line. I don't think politics has anything to do with it at all. The rest pretty much sums it up though. :|
 
LOL, With the last line i was just suming things up that have come out of the current Bush administration. i.e. the Patriot act. Camp X-Ray in Cuba, (which is nothing more then a glorified concentration camp). The criminalization of some abortions. The repeal of the patients right to die in Oregon. (repealed by the supreme court) The raise in fines for T.V. and radio for "undecent material" If you haven't heard of the last one it stemmed from the Janet Jackson flashing at the Super Bowl. The maximum fine before the "incident" was $5000 per act. Now its up to like a half million per infraction. Then Howard Stern got dropped from 22 markets because one of his listeners called in and said Ni**er. Though Howard Stern is a pig, he has every right to express his opinions on the air. An should not be punished because one of his listeners happens to be racist.

My view is that we are losing our freedoms left and right. Your problem with doing nude photography fits into the catagory of lost rights as well. And as an american, the only way we can lose our freedom is by electing government that repeals our freedoms.
 
Being a teacher has its responsibilities.
I know when Im out being a lout, I often have in the back of my mind, "God, I hope there are no parents from school here".
I guess it depends on the town you live in also. I work a way away from where I live and even further again where I socialise.
One of my best friends however works in a small town and the parents, townspeople and everyone else knew everything that she did and it caused her a great deal of stress and pain.
She's since moved to a bigger place because of it.

I don't think John's quandry has much to do with politics. Its about responsibilities that come along with the career choice he has made in working with children. Its a vocation and a quite selfless one at that.

Its up to you John to figure out what is more important to you.

The sky turns green where I end and you begin...
 
america is so uptight about nudity. we have this idea in our heads that its some terribly perverted thing and we automatically associate it with sex. nudity is a natural state and nothing that someone should scoff at. the nude figure is commonly used in all mediums of art, so it's nothing out of the ordinary to use it, i wouldn't worry about it.
 
Someone once said...

"If God had wanted us to be naked, he would have sent us into the world that way"
 

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