TO THE EDITOR:
As I handed “At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women,” a collection of photographs by southern photographer Sally Mann, to my father this past weekend, I was quickly reminded of how different our University atmosphere is from that of Pittsboro. I look back and feel naive; her work is highly controversial and is even called child pornography by some critics.
As my father flipped through the pages, his expression revealed the electric nature of her photography. In the discussion that followed, surprisingly civil for what usually transpires, my father sparked in me a question that I have been thinking about ever since: What is her point? Many young women portrayed in her photographs appear vulnerable and even victimized. My father was curious to what end?
When someone mentioned in a conversation the other day that it was sexual assault awareness month, an answer to my father’s question finally worked its way to the forefront of my brain. The question is not why does Mann portray young women in the way she does, but why do we react the way we do? Her photography is so controversial because it reveals how much our society sexualizes young women. If we did not live in a rape-prone culture, her photographs would be meaningless. Her photographs expose our discomfort, not with how the photographer thinks, but how we think. Changing this reality will undoubtedly require much effort, but confronting it is the first step.
Virginia Thomas
Junior
American Studies
