The girl is on her back, looking up at the camera, with a naked man on top of her. Her face is in full view. Her identity is not concealed. There are two men in the room with this young girl. There's the 'client,' paying to have sex with her; and behind the client, stands the photographer, who has been paid, through grant money, to take photographs of the girl being used.
There has been a huge outcry since the photo was published. Based on the content of the photo and its caption, the photo violated UNICEF's ethical guidelines on reporting on children by showing her face, which makes her identifiable, according to human rights activists. According to UNICEF, you should "Always change the name and obscure the visual identity of any child who is identified as a victim of sexual abuse or exploitation."
Amid a barrage of protests from readers, photojournalists and human rights activists, LensCulture took down the photo hours after it was posted. But the magazine defended the photo and its photographer, Souvid Datta: “We'd like to emphasize that we believe the work of the photographer was carried out with great ethical care and in close collaboration with the subject portrayed; by contrast, our own posting was hasty and presented the situation without proper context.” Datta has been a highly-regarded photojournalist since starting his career in 2013. He has won several prestigious awards, including ones from Getty Images and Magnum Photos. And his work has appeared in The New York Times and National Geographic. Datta also defended the image of the girl stating in part, “She asked me to photograph this interaction — fully aware of my intention to publish this story widely in an attempt to create constructive awareness ... Where some see the image, and point to the anonymity of the client and apparently undignified exposure of an underage girl, I see the astounding resilience of a young woman who takes ownership of her reality — unlawful, deplorable and bleak though it is — and determines to be more than what her circumstances have forced upon her. I see a woman who wants to speak directly to viewers, saying if you actually want to understand my perspective "then look into my eyes and see what I feel."
I’ll admit, my first reaction to this story was one of outrage and horror. If that was one of my family members, I wouldn’t want it published. Then I realized that many times throughout history, a photograph has been the catalyst for change. It can call attention to an issue in the way that no words can. In fact, I encourage you to make your own political images, and push the boundaries of what’s acceptable. You are all producers of content and many of you are photographers. You know the power of an image. So, my question to you this week is, “What do you think of the magazine’s decision to publish photos such as the one described? Do you think it helps or hurts the cause of human sex trafficking?” Answers are due no later than Wednesday, May 24th, 2017
Without seeing the severity of the image, I can't tell if it was appropriate to publish it or not, but from its description, I don't think it was handled well. From the photographer's point of view, it seems he and the subject of the photo wanted to make a statement, and bring attention to a often overlooked and serious issue. I believe it was the obligation to present the picture with all the context and gravity it carried. It was setting it up as a promotion for a competition that was the mistake. You just don't use serious and controversial subject matter to promote a contest. Just don't do that.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I do believe that photos have power. There are boundaries as said but some paths to change a view are a to much. I think that there could have been a better way to get the point across. This issue should not have been a subject for a contest.
ReplyDeleteI feel that it's sad that the photograph would even want to take a picture of a sex scene with a little girl being rape. That brings me to tears, I wouldn't even won't to see something so degrading for women. I think taking this picture would just make it worst to publish on magazines. Men will only want to rape girls even more, I don't understand who would ever think this would have been a good idea. Then it shows off her face so now when she walks around everybody will know her. So no I don't think it's a good idea
ReplyDeleteI think that people hear about human sex trafficking and either think that it doesn't happen anymore or that this is just a problem overseas. People hear about human sex trafficking but most people cannot even wrap their heads around the idea and may just brush it off their shoulders. The fact is, this issue lies within our country and not just overseas. I think that that image would be horrible to see and may offend some people, but it's reality. Instead of people just hearing about this issue, this photo actually places the issue right in front of people's faces. Of course it's horrible and demeaning to women and the girl who chose to be in the picture, but this actually happens, it's happening right now as we all just sit in class or go about our daily lives. For the majority or people, seeing is believing and I think the photograph should have stayed published for people to keep seeing, as horrible as it is. What is hurting the cause of human trafficking are the people that don't believe or don't WANT to believe that this is real and just keeps saying,"oh this is horrible"... and then does nothing about it. The photographer and the others involved in this photo knew what they were doing, they weren't trying to offend people, they were trying to raise awareness by putting the issue directly in our faces in such a raw form. Why sugar coat the issue for people that don't want to see something like that? They put it out there for us to see just as it is in reality.
ReplyDeleteI think even though the images may be graphic or disturbing to the public eye, that we need to see them. Many people in this day and age are only concerned about the celebrities of today, what's hot and what's not. Most don't even concern them selves with the outrageous things that are going on in the rest of the world. I think the magazine did the right thing by bringing attention to the issue. It got people to stop and read/ look at what they have published which might have even sparked someone to pursue change on the matter. We can't hide and desensitize everything just because were worried about offending or scaring people. We all need to know the blatant truth about all aspects of life around the world.
ReplyDeleteBy the description of the image, I can get the general image in my head and it somewhat disturbs me. I'm not innocent and naive enough to think that sex trafficking is no more or that it only goes on in foreign countries. I think the magazine was right to publish the photo, BUT they DEFINITELY should not have let the girls face through without being covered or censored. This needs to be brought to the light more so than it already is, but this was not the right way to do it in my opinion. I'm not sure exactly if it would hurt the sex trafficking, but it definitely hurts the women depicted in the photos. Who's to say her pimp (yes pimps are real for those who don't know) or whoever is in charge of her "sales" didn't hurt her or worse because her face it out to the general public? I don't think the publishers thought about this when they selfishly plastered that girls face on their site. This was not the way to go around helping.
ReplyDeleteOkay! I have a lot to say about this, as a photographer I would NEVER help a family with this, the most thing I would do is stop this because something like this breaks my heart and destroys me. This has never happened to me but I know people that have been through this and I'm not going through any of the details but I honestly would not help with this and not post any photographs of this of someone I know or care about. I would think of other ways to solve this problem but I honestly can't face it this way and photograph it. I do believe that showing the tragic photographs does help make a huge change to people to do something about it. It just makes me angry that this is still an issue to women and there's still women going through this and it just ruins their lives just because of what happened to them. Women are still having issues with this issue and we are not doing anything about or maybe we are but are not doing enough. I would honestly love to help to stop this and to stop sex trafficking but when it comes to helping a family member or helping someone I love from posting something like this. I will not go that far for reasons that I went through with family. The publishers also need to realize that this could also start drama and a lot of issues to people that see this and I think there could be ways to help but not in this way.
ReplyDeleteHad the picture been taken against the victim's will, or without her consent, it would have not been appropriate at all and utterly disgusting.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the photographer states that the girl ASKED him to photograph the scene. She wasn't photographed against her will, she wanted people to see the brutal, deplorable truth of sex trafficking. In my opinion, people NEED to feel disgusted at this image; it is a picture of something disgusting, something degrading. We as a society have been so desensitized to certain subjects; death, poverty, sex trafficking. Most people don't want to be reminded that those things are out there, but they need to be reminded. We can't let ourselves forget that there are children out there who have to live through the same scenario the photograph depicts every day of their life. Yes, the image is gruesome and shocking, and can be taken as offensive. However, I'd rather people feel shocked than let them forget that sex trafficking is a very real issue that happens in our own country.
I think that since the girl asked that her picture be taken, that the magazine this the right thing to publish the photo. Even though the image may be shocking it could, also, encourage more people to join the fight to end human trafficking. We can hear all day every day how bad a certain situation is but when we see it, then we fully understand the gravity of the situation and most of the time that is what it takes for us to take a stand. I think that the more we see images like this it would encourage more and more people to do what it takes to end human trafficking.
ReplyDeletePeople are much more likely to deal with something if directly facing it, and while a photograph is not exactly being directly exposed to such a thing, it's still very graphic exposure. If the subject had given permission to use the photo then I do not believe there was truly any wrongdoing in taking it and publishing it, the world must come to face its evils in order to change them. So hopefully, through her exposure, this girl has had an effect or will cause an effect to change our world today. Perhaps it would have been better if they didn't take the photo down, and to have more people look at the ugly of sex trafficking and its continued existence even now.
ReplyDeleteI'm not certain why, but reading this article and many of the comments, I'm reminded of how my high school art teacher taught us about pirating artwork. She showed us two images and told us to say which one we thought was stolen. One was of Da Vinci's The Last Supper altered to look like a dance club and one of The Mona Lisa with a mustache and a beard with the letters LHOOQ at the bottom. For those unaware, L.H.O.O.Q. was made by Marcel Duchamp and is a work of propaganda that changes the meaning of the original piece, while the other was just meant for laughs.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think immediately that publishing this image is going a little too far, I have to question the artist's meaning behind the piece. Yes, we will be immediately outraged by it, and yes, there are much better ways to portray this message, but does it make us think? Did the people who were originally outraged at him think, after, that there may be an issue they were originally unaware of? Hopefully he at the very least, enlightened a few people. That is something the average person doesn't think about enough, artistic meaning. Some are very simple and straightforward, but those with something to say may be profound and hidden.
If the girl was alright with them then its fine. In my opinion, this is a topic that needs to be addressed and there is no better way to bring attention to it. The image was clearly meant to provoke the public my only concern is that they removed the image from the site interfering with the purpose of the image.
ReplyDeleteI think that the magazine's decision was one decided upon to give attention to a situation that is going on in other Countries that will not be tolerated in America. There is in no way a toleration for such disgust on many levels of reason. No old man, Nor old woman should be engaging in a child in such manor and I think that is what the magazine cover wanted the readers to see. I think that it does help people know what is happening but I do not think that tit helps the girls situation being that they did absolutely nothing to stop it. Hopefully, it did shine a light on the cause and someone steps in to put a stop to human- trafficking and sex slavery of children.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, as an artist, I applaud that photographer. Make it so terrorizing people wake up and open their eyes and minds to the real matter here. Sex trafficking is HUGE and sometimes pushing your boundaries to get people to stop and think about this real life issue that happens every day is prominent. I do not think whatsoever that the photo nor caption should have been removed. (and I know I'm a tad late on this, but same with the photo of the beheaded Trump with Kathy Griffin) Both people have the same exact right and it is very unlawful to take that away from them.
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