OMG Caitlin that cracked me up.

Well shoot. I guess being the Provocative Think-O-Matic isn’t as much fun when people actually do something other than respond exactly as you wish them to.

Oh please. When my kids are grown, it won’t be appropriate. It isn’t ever appropriate with another adult who is responsible for his or herself. So long as I have legal and moral responsibility for my children, I have duty to them and authority. Paternalistic? Yep. The parent-child relationship is the appropriate place for paternalistic!

Or do you think the only way to have true feminist cred is to believe everything you believe?

I try to stay out of defensive cranky opinion wars, especially when coupled with both sides whining “poor me”, but this statement really crosses a line for me. Implying that anyone who has a different opinion is brainwashed is completely uncalled for. If these really are your opinions, and you don’t care what anyone thinks, why are you insulting random strangers on the internet? That’s just childish and stupid.

If you think you’re right, move the fuck on and be right. But I don’t think that being cruel to others is an acceptable way to validate your parenting strategies. And perhaps I missed that great feminist classic “Everyone who is not raising their kids the hattie way is violating them”. Feminism as you’re using it in this case is a red herring, a strawman. Set up just to be knocked down so you can feel good. Not cool.

If I was your parent, I would tell you to apologize. As another adult, I’m just going to roll my eyes at you.

She also loves to be tickled, and will drive you crazy BEGGING to be tickled. You know where she’s most tickleish and begs to be tickled? Her butt. Am I now a sicko becuase I gave in and we had a full tickle fest with her and her 10 year old sister?

I can’t imagine having the body issues some people are showing here. Nudity was always casual in my family, but there was never anything remotely sexual about it at all, it wasn’t traumatic in any way because everyone made it pretty clear with their actions and behavior that it was really no big deal whether you had clothing on or not. I just don’t get it.

If you still don’t get it, compare this:

I said repeatedly that these are MY opinions and MY boundaries.

With this:

Once it’s no longer necessary to touch a child’s genitals and buttocks for purposes of diapering/toilet clean-up/bathing, you’re out of legitimate reasons to touch them.

See what I mean?

We simply disagree. That’s all.

It would also be patronizing and degrading for a man to yell at a female coworker to clean up the mess she made or she’s not getting any supper. Or most things a parent might say or do to a small child, for that matter.

Exactly. And if, in the lunch room, a coworker dipped his napkin in his glass of water, leaned over and used it to wash my face, I would freak out. However, my mom did that about a million times when I was a kid - should I have freaked out on her? My mother has slapped my ass multiple times throughout my entire life - is she a horrible woman who doesn’t respect me or my bodily integrity?

I don’t get this idea that the parent-child relationship should be treated the exact same as any other relationship. The parent-child relationship is unique, and I think a certain amount of affectionate and fond intimacy between parent and kid shouldn’t be alarming. If the kid says “no” and the parents persist, then there’s definitely a problem there. But that’s not the situation here.

tinfoil hattie, you seem to think that all of the outrage is from parents who are defending these practices that you seem to feel are so disrespectful. But what about former kids who had similar photos taken of us, and who’ve managed to escape our childhoods without feeling traumatized by our naked baby photos? Do our opinions in this matter count for nothing?