Is it legal to make pictures of naked children?

On America's Funniest Home Videos yesterday I saw a clip of a little boy naked both in and out of the tub. It was full frontal view. He was somewhere about 2 yrs old although I could be wrong on the age. It didn't bother me, I don't have a problem with this but I thought it was against the law and that people could get in trouble just photographing their children with the genitals showing whether girl or boy. Anyone know the laws on this? It must not be illegal since it was on tv. I imagine this was a rerun although I had not seen this particular clip before Has anyone else seen this clip. It was on the same show where the little girl was putting her head under water at the same time her younger sister said she just pped in the water. It was just a different clip of the little boy.

i don't know. a lot of people have naked baby pictures and pics of their kids in the tub. i think by a certain age it's not appropriate to take pics like that anymore. people sell nude baby photos as art like anne geddes for instance. so who knows.

i think theres an age law also, but not sure the cut off on that... maybe 4 or so... who knows. i dont see any problem with it. mom has naked pictures of me sitting in the sink taking a bath

I would be very careful about it just because it will embarres the child when older. You notice Anne Geddes never shows the genitals. Most naked baby pics are like that and very cute. I don't know why the show put it on but I think it's not the best idea, especially on national TV. IMO

i would see naked babies running around at the beach all the time and no one would make an issue of it. just like little girls run around with out a shirt too

at 2 years old i could not keep clothes on my sons ,when they were outside playing they would take their clothes off 20 times a day,i just gave up putting them back on them ,no-one thought anything about it.they were just babies.now if someone was letting a child do this for perverted reasons then thats something different.jmho

I can remember someone getting in trouble for that. But for the life of me I can't recall where I heard or read it at.....seems like I read it here once, or maybe on a chat site where a lady got in trouble for taking pictures of her child naked. She was taking pictures like most of us do of her toddler in the tub and she got in trouble because the people that developed the film turned her in. I think she had her child taken away from her over it.

Does this story ring a bell with anyone? I wish I could remember where I heard it at. :confused:

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Originally Posted by Kyla Kym

I can remember someone getting in trouble for that. But for the life of me I can't recall where I heard or read it at.....seems like I read it here once, or maybe on a chat site where a lady got in trouble for taking pictures of her child naked. She was taking pictures like most of us do of her toddler in the tub and she got in trouble because the people that developed the film turned her in. I think she had her child taken away from her over it.

Does this story ring a bell with anyone? I wish I could remember where I heard it at. :confused:

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There was a Lifetime movie about the subject, I can't remember the name, it had Mare Winingham in it and her friend took "innocent" naked pictures, the photo lab called the police and she was arrested, not sure if it was a "true" story or not....

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Originally Posted by catssass

There was a Lifetime movie about the subject, I can't remember the name, it had Mare Winingham in it and her friend took "innocent" naked pictures, the photo lab called the police and she was arrested, not sure if it was a "true" story or not....

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It was called snap decision and it was based on a true story. I saw it when it came out and it made me paranoid to take pics of my kids.

PLOT DESCRIPTION
Inspired by a true story, this made-for-TV drama follows two women who find themselves wrongly accused under a broadly worded child protection law, and now must fight for their lives and reputations. Jennifer Bradley (Mare Winningham) is a mother of three living in Cincinnati, and Carrie Dixon (Felicity Huffman) is one of Jennifer's best friends -- and also the godmother of her children. Carrie works as a photographer and brings a camera along when she comes to Ohio to pay Jennifer a visit. One morning, while the kids are running about as Jennifer tries to get them dressed, Carrie pulls out her camera and takes photos of the children playing. The children are only partially dressed in the pictures, and when she takes the film in to be processed, Carrie is accused by an overly zealous lab employee of producing child pornography. When the identity of the children becomes known, Jennifer is accused of being an accomplice, and despite the protests from both women that the pictures are simply family photos and perfectly innocent, both find themselves having to defend themselves in court. For Carrie, losing the case would mean a long stretch in jail and the end of her career, while for Jennifer defeat would mean an even worse fate -- losing the custody of her children.

That movie sound sad. I thought everyone had naked pictures of thier kids. My mom has plenty of my naked bottom and tub pics. I have quite a few tub and naked pics of my kids that were just so cute when I took them. I even have some in thier scrapbooks. I love all the baby fat on them. Never would I have thought that someone was thinking any wrong doing was going on because of the adorable pics I have of my little ones. I do understand if there was something else was going on in the pics, then I say by all means check into it. But, if it is just toddlers or babies running aound having fun, in the bubble bath or doing something cute but just happens to be naked, then there is nothing wrong with it. I don't take naked pics of my 4 year old or my 7 year old anymore but I would snap a cute bare bottom pic of my 19 month old in a heartbeat.

Bye the way, in the movie the Family Man with Nicholas Cage, it acctually shows the little boy's pee-pee when he pees as Cage is changing him, is there something wrong with that too?

I remember when Tice and I first moved into our country home. Next door the little 2-1/2 year old girl would come over to visit us on the porch. She would take all her clothes off and play in our front yard. Couldn't make that child keep her clothes on so we just came in the house. We hadn't even met the parents yet and were afraid they would think we were perverts or something. Found out this is a child that won't leave her clothes on. :) The parents just laughed at the incident. What a way to meet new neighbors :eek:

My daughter had pictures of both girls made at sears & penneys without their clothes and wings on. Really cute! They said they would take these type of pics until they were one year old and that was the cut off.

I'm really shocked that they actually showed it without the blur spot hiding "things". I watch the show pretty often and have for so long but I don't recall ever seeing them showing anything.


I've always heard that the picture needs to be of a sexual nature to get a person in trouble...such as focusing on the sexual organs or that's it's intended for distribution of a sexual purpose.

A toddler jumping from a tub is cute and funny and so much different from toddler sitting on the couch exploring themselves. We'd all laugh at the first kid but no matter how natural the actions of the second are, we all get a little concerned...and what would be the reason for taking that picture??

I think it's a matter of judgement on the photographer. I have nakey shots of Pickle but the last one taken was when she was about 10 months old. I don't think it's wrong to have the pictures before, maybe, 2 years old but any age beyond that and you really take it into your own hands.

It would depend on the nature and the purpose of the picture. There are people who would put children in provocative positions for pictures and sell them as porn. Then there are the kid in the bathtub sort of pictures that are completely innocent and that is the nature of the picture.

Again, it is the intent of the person who takes the picture. And the contents of the picture.

I have neked pics of all my kids in the tub and some of my DD escaping from her swim suit at my sisters pool. I totally underdstand that some people are sickos and use the pics as child porn, but I think it goes way to far to turn someone in for taking innocent pictures of their kids. IMO its just another way that society makes everything sexual these days :(

Yes that movie is what I was thinking of. I have naked pictures of my kids but we don't have any of the grandkids except in the tub with lots of bubbles covering everything up.

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Originally Posted by catssass

There was a Lifetime movie about the subject, I can't remember the name, it had Mare Winingham in it and her friend took "innocent" naked pictures, the photo lab called the police and she was arrested, not sure if it was a "true" story or not....

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Yes, that was what I was thinking about. Thank you. :)