Phew this thread has taken some reading and digesting!
I'm just going to reply with my feelings about how my opinion has changed over the years and why I feel like I do!
I am a mum of 5 boys 26, 22, 18 - 8 and 5
When the biguns were little (IYKWIM), there wasn't as much awareness as to the dangers in the big bad world - I knew of them because I had suffered with various "stuff" but the media wasn't as in yer face as it is now, so Joe Public wasn't as aware of the problems like they are now! Also, legalities were not as complex, and therefore, far more easily understood!
I believe 20 or so years ago, folk generally, were far more family orientated and therefore a lot of the photographic captures which were taken, were of the whole of the family - in the street, in the park with next doors kids etc etc. I can honestly say that I can never remember any situation where either myself with the children or the children on their own were candidly photographed by a stranger - if we had been, I never realised and I don't believe that I would have been too concerned if we had, because at that time of my life I didn't feel threatened - it wasn't in the forefront of my mind and I hadn't had it ingrained into me that danger was only a few seconds away, even though I had experienced it -does that make any sense??
I also knew that if my children were photographed - I would in the main have made that choice and the photographs would have been made available to me, and the people I cared for.
Life has now changed and my littleuns have been born into a totally different world. Technology is far more readily available for all. Life has changed in many ways for me but the "stuff" I endured is still there in the forefront of my mind!
NOW I am
FAR more protective why?? Well, day in day out we are told of the evils of the world - lurking at every corner, we are watched, we are recorded, we are judged - others know as much about us as we do ourselves - the council knows exactly what time I take my boys swimming, the school uses the school photos on their computers to record details about each and every child with in the school - the school knows exactly what time I start work each day (I work at school and we have to key in a code to enter the school) The DR presses a button on his/her computer and every treatment is displayed within seconds. The police know when I walk down the main street with my children and which gate I use to go into my local park - we have very little privacy these days! The "stuff" is brought to my attention every time I switch the TV, radio or computer on - I know that "evil" does lurk around every corner! I really do feel that we are living out George Orwell's 1984!
So if I caught someone (a stranger) taking a picture of my children, my natural instinct is "WHY?" why are they doing that? I have been conditioned into believing that everyone has a hidden agenda - that no one is interested in me or mine without an ulterior motive! (especially if it is more of a candid close up rather than a candid long shot - again I hope I am making sense!) These days I know that anyone can view a picture of my beautiful littleuns without my permission (some will go aww and some will do some other perverted "stuff") and I find this hard to take in, that someone, albeit a small percentage want to use a photograph of my littleuns for their own perverted pleasure :thumbsdown:
I feel that my privacy has been invaded and that I have
no control over how my littleuns are viewed - I can no longer protect them fully, because society has made me believe that there are no longer any good and decent people (or very few) left in the world! We are led to believe that negativity prevails over positivity - negativity eventually brow beats us into submission .....................
Sorry for the long post but hope it helps folks understand a bit of why some have become so protective of their children!