I don't even have to make judgement on the mother's intent ... she should have know better. She incriminated herself with the pictures. She has it coming to her. Plus, her argument in her deffense doesn't even stand up (about her having the right to show her own son what she wants) because there were other children there besides her son.

Like other people have said, I wonder about the privacy of having photos developed. Even the "print your own" machines save a copy to their hard-drive in order to do the processing. These photo developers seem to have an open door to people's lives. A good example is the movie "One Hour Photo" with Robin Williams.

Having a stripper at a 16th birthday party? How about drugs and alcohol? I worry about all the underage drinkers out there who seem to think it's okay (along with their moral parents).

Had it been just her own 16 year old son, I think this would be a bit creepy, but harmless creepy. But she has no right to expose the other underage kids to that; that was as much an intrusion into the parental rights and duties of their parents as she's complaining about the police inpinging on hers. It's hypocritical of her to complain about others telling her what she can and can't show her own child when she made exactly that decision on behalf of ten other kids.

Anyone stupid enough to have pictures of a crime developed at a drug store deserves anything she gets.

I don't see what all this fuss is about. She just probably invited a co-worker home to meet her kid....c'mon, we've all done that.

Other than the stupidity of having pictures of something illegal developed by someone other than a trusted contact at a quick photo store, I really don't see anything wrong with it. If she hired hookers for the kids, it's a different story, but nudity is nothing that 16-year-olds haven't seen thousands of times before.

I think that the societal view makes the mom look silly, but a 16-y/o boy seeing boobs? Uhm, if he hasn't snuck a peek, downloaded porn or snagged his dads penthouse by now I'd say he's in the minority. Why are Americans so stuffy when it comes to sex?

Just a quick note as a Chicagoan...Jerry Springer's show is still on ;)

Now to actually read the thread...
As has been said, I think the biggest deal about this lies in the fact she made the decision as to what OTHER people's kids could see. If the other parents were aware of the stripper, I don't see anything criminally wrong here. Odd? Sure. Criminal? I don't think so.

I live in Nashville and saw this lady and her son interviewed on the news.

They asked the 16 yr old what he thought and of course he said "it was great!". The 14 yr old younger brother was also at the party and the Mom stated that all the parents of the kids involved knew a stripper was going to be there. They arrested the Mom, Dad, the stripper, and the stripper's manager. There was over 100 pictures taken, and many of them were quite explicit. (much more than just touching boobs)
The stripper and her "manager" knew there were kids at the party and still went thru with it.

The Mom insisted they did nothing wrong.

I don't think boobs at 16 is that big of a deal. However, if the stripper AND her manager both knew that there were kids at the party, then yeah, they do deserve to have the book thrown at them, regardless of if the parents had known/approved or not. That is just bad business, and the manager especially should have known better.

/heartless business major

Now taking bets on when the pictures will show up on the Internet.

As has been said a thousand times already, the issue here lies in the mother exposing OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN to sex which is a job for the parents of those children. This issue has been dealt with (in our discussion) by Catdaddy33's post.

Also there was some carelessness when dealing with the law which got her in trouble with the fuzz, not that I mind subversion of (the details of) moral laws which don't make any sense outside of a religious context.

This might be a stupid thing to say (heheh) but I think that letting children find out about sex on their own is a very bad idea. My wife and I will teach our daughter about sex and sexuality more formally than allowing her to hear misinformation and outright lies from her friends and aquaintances before she eventually goes out one night and has sex.

I realize there is some irony in your statement but this was the first quote in the thread to make such a statement, others were more serious. Men do not have a monopoly on sexual education. I am speaking more broadly than the topic of this discussion which is the instance sited in the first post. Yes, men have been hiring hookers and strippers for their young sons as a "step into manhood" for centuries but all of these gender barriers are breaking down. Women now have as much right to teach their male children (onoes) about sex as they do to vote.

Morality should be defined by the individual and not by the system in which he resides.

They should have charged the stripper with a sex crime on a minor. She should be registered as a pedophile. If this were even a 24 or 25, let alone 29 year-old male, and a 16 year old girl, they- and all of you- would demonize him to his grave, demand his head, etc. This is an example of lack of equal and fair application of laws.

The photo developer who alerted the authorities was probably just a wee bit jealous.. I sure know I am. I wasn't sheltered by any means, but I sure wish I had gotten a stripper for my 16th.

...Then again, at 16 I was rather shy and couldn't have used the opportunity to the fullest. I would have gone red-faced and grinned like a moron. Go me!

this just in...

she's been sentanced

http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/art...ripper-ON.html

File suit against her for what exactly? Scaring the children for life? Please. Looking at a woman's tits isn't going to scar them as they already have it on their hard drive. If you don't believe that, then you're kidding yourself. With our backward ass society that tries to shun out everything and anything to do with sex, it makes the kids want it all the more.

I think that what should be asked here is not whether the boy was hurt or not, but what effect this incident has on the development of the boy's views towards women. I would venture to guess that he may have some issues with objectifing women in the future because of the stunt his mother pulled. Was he harmed? No, not in the least. Will this affect the way he approaches future relationships? My guess is yes, it will.

I'm not sure this particular event would have affected him as greatly had it not been internationally publisized. His sexuality certainly would have been reinforced and he may have looked at women in a slightly more socially objectionable way, but is now being punished for his own sexuality (from his own point of view).

A sixteen year old boy with a fledgling and developing sexuality is being punished by the government for looking at a woman.

This is what he will most likely think is happening and I won't even begin to go into how I believe he will be affected by this, emotionally and intellectually.

I think this whole argument goes back to many people's gut instinct about what strippers and the objectification of women do to a young man's (and a young woman's) psyche.

Instincts tell us alot and I think we have grown accustomed to ignoring those gut feelings.

This is completely misguided. If it was a male stripper who had been HIRED, and was ogled and touched by 16 year old girls, I can't think of anyone who would object to that. It's all about reciprocation, not pedophilia by a sexual predator.

Seriously. It's just a stripper.

Being a stripper does not make one above the law.

the law is a pretty low standard

/SOUNDBITE

Well I think the mom should invest in a digital camera with the printer dock. Could have saved her alot of money and time. Way to go Mom!

i'm with those who think the whole thing is a bit odd. i really don't have a problem with a stripper for 16 year old boys, and since the other parents knew about it, it's not that i think she should be punished...but well, it's just creepy. and yeah, dad doing it would be creepy too. parents teaching their kids about sex, all for it. parents hiring strippers for their kids (at any age), just freaks me out a bit!

i'm an adult, but if my mom wanted to hit the strip club with me...i just couldn't do it. i would tell her i went, i'd laugh if she told me she went, but i just don't think i could bring myself to actually go with her.