Pay attention to the background scenery.
June 9, 2014 7:33 AM Subscribe
David Magnusson is a photographer who takes pictures of daughters and fathers who participate in Purity Balls. The daughters have pledged to their fathers not to participate in sexual intercourse until marriage. Magnusson's project, called Purity, can be found here
Commentary, interviews, and pictures:
Striking Portraits of Fathers and the Daughters Whose Virginity They’ve Pledged to Protect (Slate)
Striking, Creepy Photos of Christian “Purity Balls”
8 Photos Of Fathers And Daughters At Their “Purity Balls” (Buzzfeed)
Commentary, interviews, and pictures:
Striking Portraits of Fathers and the Daughters Whose Virginity They’ve Pledged to Protect (Slate)
Striking, Creepy Photos of Christian “Purity Balls”
8 Photos Of Fathers And Daughters At Their “Purity Balls” (Buzzfeed)
This post was deleted for the following reason: This is a topic we've seen before and it has the unavoidable aspect of "look at these assholes" even though that isn't the intention of the links or necessarily this post. -- restless_nomad
Teen birthrates are highest in the Deep South.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:41 AM on June 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:41 AM on June 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
The very fact that their fathers think they are allowed to have any control over their daughters' sexuality (once they reach, y'know, age of consent) is abuse, as far as I'm concerned.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 7:42 AM on June 9, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 7:42 AM on June 9, 2014 [4 favorites]
It's hella creepy indeed. I've seen these pictures doing the rounds this week and you do have to wonder about the real relationship between some of those fathers and their daughters.
posted by MartinWisse at 7:42 AM on June 9, 2014
posted by MartinWisse at 7:42 AM on June 9, 2014
The fact that the sons of these men are not in any way required to pledge their purity with anyone is what sends me into apoplectic spasms. Only women and girls are to be pure.
posted by xingcat at 7:45 AM on June 9, 2014 [13 favorites]
posted by xingcat at 7:45 AM on June 9, 2014 [13 favorites]
The backgrounds are impossible to ignore. That's one reason these photographs are sui generis. Another thing: most of the subjects' eyes are closed. Why?
It's too easy to call these "creepy," but, I have to admit, I'm a little baffled by the photo of a father with two daughters apparently ages five and nine. The other pairs? Well, this "purity" thing is religious, and I try to refrain from mocking the beliefs of others.
Since I started typing this, two people have chimed in with the word "creepy." I'm not disagreeing with y'all; it's just that the word creepy is too close to "creeper," the word youngsters use to describe pedophiles. The intersection of religion and sexuality is bound to produce strange emotional reactions.
And: xingcat: You're right. AND the father is not taking a stand against being an adulterer himself.
posted by kozad at 7:47 AM on June 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
It's too easy to call these "creepy," but, I have to admit, I'm a little baffled by the photo of a father with two daughters apparently ages five and nine. The other pairs? Well, this "purity" thing is religious, and I try to refrain from mocking the beliefs of others.
Since I started typing this, two people have chimed in with the word "creepy." I'm not disagreeing with y'all; it's just that the word creepy is too close to "creeper," the word youngsters use to describe pedophiles. The intersection of religion and sexuality is bound to produce strange emotional reactions.
And: xingcat: You're right. AND the father is not taking a stand against being an adulterer himself.
posted by kozad at 7:47 AM on June 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
"I need more ways to assert ownership of the women in my family!" Said no decent human being ever.
posted by Brocktoon at 7:47 AM on June 9, 2014 [9 favorites]
posted by Brocktoon at 7:47 AM on June 9, 2014 [9 favorites]
it's just that the word creepy is too close to "creeper," the word youngsters use to describe pedophiles.
Yes, I believe that's the point of people using the word creepy.
posted by JohnLewis at 7:49 AM on June 9, 2014 [5 favorites]
Yes, I believe that's the point of people using the word creepy.
posted by JohnLewis at 7:49 AM on June 9, 2014 [5 favorites]
"I need more ways to assert ownership of the women in my family!" Said no decent human being ever.
RTFA: "It was also often the girls themselves that had taken the initiative to attend the balls. They had made their decisions out of their own conviction and faith, in many cases with fathers who didn’t know what a Purity Ball was before first being invited by their daughters."
The next sentence might be helpful too: "The more I learned, the more I was surprised that I had been so quick to judge people I knew so little about."
This 'look at those assholes' post should be deleted.
posted by 0 at 7:51 AM on June 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
RTFA: "It was also often the girls themselves that had taken the initiative to attend the balls. They had made their decisions out of their own conviction and faith, in many cases with fathers who didn’t know what a Purity Ball was before first being invited by their daughters."
The next sentence might be helpful too: "The more I learned, the more I was surprised that I had been so quick to judge people I knew so little about."
This 'look at those assholes' post should be deleted.
posted by 0 at 7:51 AM on June 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
The artist's comments from the Buzzfeed link are interesting and provide a bit more context and understanding:
Magnusson traveled to purity balls in Louisiana, Texas, Colorado, and Arizona, over the course of five months. On each occasion, he spent an hour interviewing and photographing the father-daughter pair.posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:52 AM on June 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
In his artistic statement, he says: “When I first heard about the Purity Balls I imagined angry American fathers terrified of anything that might hurt their daughters or their honour.”
“But as I learnt more, I understood that the fathers, like all parents, simply wanted to protect the ones that they love – in the best way they know how.”
“It was also often the girls themselves that had taken the initiative to attend the balls. They had made their decisions out of their own conviction and faith, in many cases with fathers who didn’t know what a Purity Ball was before being invited by their daughters.”
“The more I learned, the more I was surprised that I had been so quick to judge people I knew so little about. I was struck by the idea that what set us apart wasn’t anything more than how we had been influenced by the culture we grew up in and the values it had instilled in us.”
“In Purity I wanted to create portraits so beautiful that the girls and their fathers could be proud of the pictures in the same way they are proud of their decisions – while someone from a different background might see an entirely different story in the very same photographs.”
“To me, Purity is a project about trying to understand how we are shaped by the society we grow up in and how we interpret the world through the values we incorporate as our own.”
I recently read this article about a daughter whose stepfather used it to enable sexual abuse. She goes into detail about the purity culture.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 7:52 AM on June 9, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 7:52 AM on June 9, 2014 [5 favorites]
Another thing: most of the subjects' eyes are closed. Why?
The eye closed poses remind me a fair bit of the closed eyes you see in evangelical churches as a sign of devotion when praying or singing. I assume that's the reason for it.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:53 AM on June 9, 2014
The eye closed poses remind me a fair bit of the closed eyes you see in evangelical churches as a sign of devotion when praying or singing. I assume that's the reason for it.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:53 AM on June 9, 2014
Well, this "purity" thing is religious, and I try to refrain from mocking the beliefs of others.
Oh, you should always mock religious values when they lead to real world suffering. Christian? Not a problem. Being obsessed with the virginity of your daughter? Deserve mocking.
posted by MartinWisse at 7:54 AM on June 9, 2014 [2 favorites]
Oh, you should always mock religious values when they lead to real world suffering. Christian? Not a problem. Being obsessed with the virginity of your daughter? Deserve mocking.
posted by MartinWisse at 7:54 AM on June 9, 2014 [2 favorites]
“But as I learnt more, I understood that the fathers, like all parents, simply wanted to protect the ones that they love – in the best way they know how.”
Yeah see the best way to protect your daughters is to raise them to be strong, independent people; to give them fact-based sexual health education; to give them easy and unquestioned access to multiple forms of birth control; and to teach boys that NO MEANS FUCKING NO.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 7:54 AM on June 9, 2014 [4 favorites]
Yeah see the best way to protect your daughters is to raise them to be strong, independent people; to give them fact-based sexual health education; to give them easy and unquestioned access to multiple forms of birth control; and to teach boys that NO MEANS FUCKING NO.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 7:54 AM on June 9, 2014 [4 favorites]
Metafilter: The more I learned, the more I was surprised that I had been so quick to judge people I knew so little about.
posted by brentajones at 7:54 AM on June 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by brentajones at 7:54 AM on June 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
I do also wonder how many of those women who supposedly wanted tto undergo that whole purity ritual do it for the same reason some women raised Islamic want to wear the hijab, as a refuge for the rampant sexual harassment they're subjected to.
posted by MartinWisse at 7:56 AM on June 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by MartinWisse at 7:56 AM on June 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
I came not to make the rote comment that these pictures are creepy, but to make the rote comment that this photographer's website is overdesigned.
posted by Think_Long at 8:03 AM on June 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Think_Long at 8:03 AM on June 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
It was also often the girls themselves that had taken the initiative to attend the balls. They had made their decisions out of their own conviction and faith...
"But your Honor, she wanted it and led me on!"
posted by Drastic at 8:04 AM on June 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
"But your Honor, she wanted it and led me on!"
posted by Drastic at 8:04 AM on June 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
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posted by JohnLewis at 7:40 AM on June 9, 2014