Is it just me or are girls’ senior portraits and graduation invitations often looking more like invitations to an old-fashioned brothel? I believe, as we have moved away from traditional draped portraits and more to casual and personalized sessions, we have sometimes given photographers license to position and coach our girls to look sleazy in those photographs for which we often pay high dollar amounts. Before you go calling me a fanatic, a legalist, or, my all-time favorite “the modesty czar-ess”, take a look at a few senior portraits that are easily found online when you google images of senior portraits. Thankfully, there are still many pictures that are innocent and beautiful. But there are more and more pictures of girls that are sultry…even suggestive.
Now that you have taken a look, let me explain that I am not writing about any of the girls I love so much at West Huntsville. They have all made godly choices about their portraits. Secondly, I want to say that I am not judging the motives of the girls who allow themselves to be photographed in poses and/or with facial expressions that suggest sensuality. I know girls who have otherwise been shy and demure who somehow come out of senior photography sessions with a CD containing pictures that, at best, look like a photographer was reaching for an inviting, sexy look and, at worst, look like a trailer for a movie that’s rated R for sexual content. You can also see that am not merely writing about inappropriate clothing. Sometimes the clothing is sufficient, but it is the posture and mood that give the photo the raunchy look.
Moms, we really don’t want our girls to understand all the nuances of what it takes to look sexy. We want them to be pure in heart and, thus, when that talented photographer asks them to make a pouty look with their lips, cut their eyes in a certain direction or position themselves “chest-out” as they lie on a ledge (or all of this and more at one time), we really don’t expect them to know, in every case, that the picture is going to turn out to be eye candy for men who see it.
But we, as married women, know a seductive, come-on look when we see it. May I suggest that we, along with our husbands, let photographers know what we expect prior to putting our money down for that senior session? Could we also be the parents once our girls have those pictures in hand and be sure that those CDs are edited before pictures are posted, placed on invitations or even passed around? This is both protective of our girls and loving to the good boys who are fighting a constant battle to think on things that are pure (Phil. 4:8). We don’t have to put sultry images of our sweet girls out there. So why should we?
