Mama Bear Came Out This Week... And It Wasn't Pretty

To follow up from my post yesterday (which was supposed to have nothing to do with creepy things), I just have a few comments to make. After that, I don't want to think about this again, ever. But for the sake of protecting kids, I'll probably have to.

When I use flickr, I never have photos of children that are unclothed. Every image is innocent and carefully chosen so that they cannot catch the notice of anyone creepy. In addition, I tend to keep most photos private. There is basically nothing of interest for that kind of person to see.

Thursday, I had an experience that made me mad. Not just angry. Foaming at the mouth, heart racing, crying angry. I don't recommend getting that angry. At least, not unless you have a good reason.

After I uploaded my photos and posted my blog I found a couple photos of my sweet little boy on flickr marked as someone's "favorite" and added to this person's "collection". As they were photos of my son, I was curious and felt a bit of a yellow flag raising. I followed the links to this individual, who was "collecting" photos (not his) of young boys. There were dozens and dozens. Included in this collection were photos of gay males being... intimate. While not explicit, the fact that so many "stolen" photos of young boys being in the same collection raised a red flag with me. I think I heard sirens going off in my head at this point.

I immediately saved the website address, made all my children's photos private -- that is, the ones that weren't already -- which automatically severed the connection to this individual's collection. It also severed the connection to my blog. The photos didn't show up.

I blocked him from viewing my flickr account, and I sent off a major complaint to flickr about it.

Within hours I discovered that he was shut down.

I had attempted to contact the authorities who deal with inappropriate and disgusting online crap, but they are harder to track down and make a report to than finding the holy grail. So, at this point, flickr is it. And of course, once he was shut down, there was nothing for them to find anyways.

I'm drained, emotionally. I'm exhausted. I don't want to think about this, but it's not going away.

I know that this creep, and others like him, will pop up again somewhere*. They're not only creepy and vile, they're also obsessive and compulsive. They have no sense of morality regarding this issue. They have little to no remorse or willingness to comply with normal healthy boundaries. But if we keep shutting them down, then we're doing something to protect our children.

It's something worth fighting for.

*In a previous life, I trained and worked as both a therapist for abused children and as a social worker for foster families and children. Been there, done that.