Creepy Purity Ball Pics - Merge

[Just_Jane]

7 was the only non-creepy one except for the fact they were for a purity ball. I have no issue with father/daughter dances but then you drag purity and a girls/young womans hymen into it it gets creepy.

The other photos reminded me of engagement or wedding photos along with the few hand on stomach pregnancy like photos.

[Clementine]

I too felt :o about the body language in the photos. The photographer is Swedish and in interviews he has said that he didn't tell the fathers and daughters how to stand, but he wanted them to pose in a way that they would feel comfortable with. :o again.

He also said that he wanted to take photos that the family would want to put on the wall at home, like nice family photos.

He didn't say anything about the weird posing and actually said that he grew to understand how the fathers thought about wanting to take care and protect their daughters and now respected their choices.

Which made me quite surprised because in general the combination Swedish + artist + Christianity end up with works like this.

Photographer: Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin

The photos from the purity balls are currently exhibited at Fotografiska, the Museum of Photography, in Stockholm but the subject hasn't caused a debate anywhere (feministists, helloooo?). I guess this is seen as just another weird American phenomenon that we can't understand.

http://fotografiska.eu/utstallningar/ut ... ng/purity/

The photos are also in the book Purity:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Magnusson ... 917126292X

[galaxy]

flavorwire.com/454562/striking-creepy-photos-of-christian-purity-balls/6

This one made me crack up for some reason. I guess it's the combination of the dad's ill-fitting pants, the girl's too long dress (it actually looks like it could be her mom's wedding dress!), and the depressing background of dead trees and a water tower. :lol:

[jerkit]

This is incredibly unsettling. It's very reminiscent of Warren Jeff's wedding pictures.

[Rebelwife]

#9 is just horrific. She looks like she is desperately trying to send a message to someone - anyone - to save her from the creep behind her. If I saw something like that on the street I'd think she was in the control of a sexual predator. :(

[ILoveJellybeans]

Brb, just need to go pull my eyes out and scrub them in bleach and hot water.

[silverspoons]

Why are some of those dresses okay? I would think at the a purity ball the dresses would be modest.

I have my photos from my catholic school father daughter high school dances and I was way more modestly dressed. I remember my senior year picture I wasn't sure if I should wear a little black dress to father daughter night, and it had short sleeves. I would have never worn spaghetti straps for a picture with my dad. I have to admit I liked the father daughter dances more then the boy/girl or prom. I think it was because the boys were immature and at father daughter night I would go off dancing with my friends and the dads would sit and talk.

[SoybeanQueen]

They're creepy but I'm guessing that was either the intent of the photographer, or just a result of how he asked them to pose or act.

[Haligh the Liar]

My father/daughter dance pictures were far far far far far different- dad standing slightly behind me sort of side by side, him in a tux, me in a spaghetti strapped red and black dress, both smiling happily. Also, the frame says [school Name] Father Daughter Dance 1999, so you know, that's kind of reassuring. A lot of the dads were in varying stages of drunkenness, and the girls were all in varying stages of virginity. Yay for liberal Catholic school! :angelic-green:

These, on the other hand... a physical embodiment of the misogynistic ownership fundie men feel they possess over the bodies and sexuality of their daughters.

For me, the worst ones were 3 and 8.

In 3, the way her dress is billowing makes it looks like she's pregnant, and the far away look look of resignation on her face and the way he's grabbing her makes it look like a forced wedding or photo shoot with Warren Jeffs or someone similar.

As for 8, that's a possession/prisoner dynamic. If you look only from the knees up, it looks like she's gathering her strength and attempting to pry his hands off of her so that she can run, all while he's grabbing her to keep her there. She's scrunching her eyes shut in frustration/desperation/rage/fear, and he's got this forced badass macho guardian of the hymen thing going on.

[J'ean Skirt]

http://flavorwire.com/454562/striking-c ... ity-balls/

I can't disagree with the title. Also, some of those girls are just babies. WTF? :pink-shock:

[bucherwurm]

1) Looks a bit too romantic for a father and daughter.

2) Not too bad, but OMGosh knees!

3) Super creepy, because as others said, she looks pregnant.

4) Quite a low cut dress, and his hands are on her hips! Like Jim-Bob does to Michelle!

5) Not too bad, but it looks like they just got married. Her dress is nice, for a wedding.

6) This is a weird one. Why do they look like someone just died?

7) This could be cute if they actually looked happy, but then you remember why they are taking the picture. How old is the youngest? 4?

8) Another newlywed/pregnancy photo.

9) "Help me"

10) Another weird wedding photo- of a father and daughter....

[SPHASH]

Now I wished I never clicked on that link. I'm gonna throw up.

[church_of_dog]

My father/daughter dance pictures were far far far far far different- dad standing slightly behind me sort of side by side, him in a tux, me in a spaghetti strapped red and black dress, both smiling happily. Also, the frame says [school Name] Father Daughter Dance 1999, so you know, that's kind of reassuring. A lot of the dads were in varying stages of drunkenness, and the girls were all in varying stages of virginity. Yay for liberal Catholic school! :angelic-green:

:lol:

[littlemommy]

Another thing that is creepy--all these girls are the spitting image of their dads. One even looked like the dad's face was photoshopped on the girl's body. Now, sure, there is a resemblance between fathers and daughters, but this is at crazy levels.

[GolightlyGrrl]

Why did I look? Why did I look? WHY DID I LOOK?

Creepy and totally inappropriate. I can totally understand a father's desire to protect his daughter(s) and have her best interests at heart, but these photos and the idea of purity balls makes me feel so squicky. The fundie obsession with sex and non-tattered hymens is so off-putting. Ugh.

[Shamrock]

Has anyone seen this yet?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/8-pho ... rity-balls

[Arete]

I really had the urge to bitch slap the photographer after reading his interview on the pictures. He claims the portraits are beautiful, but I found most to be creepily romantic, aka grossly inappropriate for parent-child portraits. Way too much dancing on the boundaries.

[milkncookies76]

I really had the urge to bitch slap the photographer after reading his interview on the pictures. He claims the portraits are beautiful, but I found most to be creepily romantic, aka grossly inappropriate for parent-child portraits. Way too much dancing on the boundaries.

This, totally. The guy goes on about respecting people's choices and whatnot, but doesn't mention how awful and sexist it is to equate a woman's worth with the state of her hymen.

[anjulibai]

This, totally. The guy goes on about respecting people's choices and whatnot, but doesn't mention how awful and sexist it is to equate a woman's worth with the state of her hymen.

Or the hypocritical fact that they don't have purity balls for boys. Just girls.

[Vivi_music]

To be honest, I find most of these pictures creepy. Who holds their daughter like that?

Also, am I the only one who thought ''what the h****?'' at picture number 3 (the dad with his two little girls). Like seriously? You are scared about their purity? These girls must be around 4 and 7 years old. You are scared for their sexual purity? Because lets face it, that's what purity balls are all about. I mean, it's a slight slope, but it's certainly a way to sexualize kids. Or is it just me? :?

[DGayle]

This, totally. The guy goes on about respecting people's choices and whatnot, but doesn't mention how awful and sexist it is to equate a woman's worth with the state of her hymen.

If there's anything anyone should have learned from Elizabeth Smart, it's that equating worth with virginity is unspeakably dangerous. That is why she didn't run when she had the chance. Her upbringing of "only virgins have worth" had been so firmly drilled into her that she thought she was no longer lovable, wouldn't be accepted, and would be shunned, so why not stay with the rapist who at least fed her?

Anyone who wants to rape and enslave someone with ease needs look no further than at who is going to purity balls. Those are the girls who will be easy to break and get into submission since they will believe their values as humans are gone with their hymens.

[Marianne]

Does the Purity Ball Rule forbid to smile ?!

[Arete]

They are wrong on so many levels, even frightening in a few, and then you have the Swedish photographer singing praises to the portraits' "beauty". I wonder if it's a 'they are so wonderfully EXOTIC in their backwardness' or if the photog is just soooo open minded his brains fell out.

[cindyluvs24]

The one of dad the Marine looks like he just captured a war bride. The one with the oil pump in the background... I just don't know.

[latraviata]

To be honest, I find most of these pictures creepy. Who holds their daughter like that?

Also, am I the only one who thought ''what the h****?'' at picture number 3 (the dad with his two little girls). Like seriously? You are scared about their purity? These girls must be around 4 and 7 years old. You are scared for their sexual purity? Because lets face it, that's what purity balls are all about. I mean, it's a slight slope, but it's certainly a way to sexualize kids. Or is it just me? :?

I think it is not so much the way these dads hold their daughters, but their facial expressions are very disturbing.