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Last year, I wrote a story about a woman who stated that while she trusted her husband, she would not allow him to bathe their daughter. Her rationale was that despite her love and trust for him, she wasn’t willing to take chances with her baby. There were people who took issue with the stance. They were certain that she didn’t trust her husband like she said she did. And they couldn’t understand why she would marry a man she couldn’t trust entirely.

I was reminded of the article when I saw this picture on Cleveland Cavaliers player JR Smith’s Instagram page.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvxXcnmF1F1/

But it seemed Smith upped the ante in this situation. Not only was he [potentially] bathing his daughter, he was also naked in what appears to be a very large shower.

When I first saw the picture, I thought that this was a picture of him and his son. And I didn’t understand why people were so upset. But later, when I learned this was Smith’s daughter I felt a different way about all of it.

I won’t go as far as the woman I mentioned earlier and say that fathers shouldn’t bathe their daughters—even though it’s a task I’d feel more comfortable taking on, simply because I’ve been cleaning my own vagina for years and I know how it should be done. But there’s something different about a father being naked, bathing along with his child. It just seems unnecessary. His daughter is an infant and so she doesn’t know what’s going on. But I’m just not sure why Smith had to be naked. I don’t understand the point of showering with a young child when you don’t need to save water or money as a millionaire athlete.

And if it he did all of that innocently in his own home, I can’t understand why he would feel the need to post this type of picture on social media. It’s just a bit odd.

I’m not suggesting anything about Smith. This picture, in isolation, is not reason to believe he’s harming his daughter. And I don’t think he is. If he were, the last thing I would think he would do is put it on the internet. Still, I don’t know how easy it is to bathe yourself and a young baby at the same time. Granted the two could have been in there to relieve congestion or for some other soothing purpose. But then that doesn’t explain the need for his nakedness.

Still, there were people who said that folks who took issue with the image were sexualizing it, projecting their own perversion onto what was an innocent moment.

I think we can all agree that some things—especially things that pertain to children—should be kept off the internet if they have even the potential to be misinterpreted.

See what people had to say about the photo on the following pages.

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