# Intrusive? Racist? Useful concern? All of the above? (Stranger questions interracial family photos)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intrusive-racist-useful-concern-all-of-the-above-stranger-questions-interracial-family-photos/709258>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 7, 2015, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intrusive-racist-useful-concern-all-of-the-above-stranger-questions-interracial-family-photos/709258 "2015-01-07T20:14:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intrusive-racist-useful-concern-all-of-the-above-stranger-questions-interracial-family-photos/709258/81 "2015-01-13T04:19:55Z")

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> [@BigT](#):
>
> Necessary in that you have to do it in an unfair society. Not necessary in that society needs to be this way. Same problem as before. Just because child molesters are more likely to be male doesn’t mean a man is more likely to be child molester than not.

Yes, that’s exactly what I meant. Sorry if it wasn’t clear.

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**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intrusive-racist-useful-concern-all-of-the-above-stranger-questions-interracial-family-photos/709258/82 "2015-01-13T13:11:58Z")

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> [@even\_sven](#):
>
> So you have an older man with professional photography equipment spending an inordinate amount of time coaxing two reluctant young women to hug-- and they are on a boat?
> 
> Sorry, that looks shady. Yeah, dude was being a busybody. But I don’t think he could be expected to infer that they were family. If the girls were younger, or if they were interacting happily, or if it seems like a normal snapshot, sure. But there are no clues in this situation that they are a family.
> 
> I can see how this would be annoying to the family, but wouldn’t you laugh it off? I’d be thinking “Ha! I guess we did look pretty suspicious!”
> 
> It reminds me of the time I got an important physical at Planned Parenthood, accompanied by a gay friend, and left the clinic visibly elated to get a clean bill of health. Unthinkingly, we gave each other a high five as we exited. I was quickly approached by a horrified anti-abortion protester. They were so wildly off base, and yet I can see where they were coming from.

It’s just a re-enforcement to these young girls that other white men are likely to think of them as sex slaves. It would never have happened if they were two white girls.

It just makes me sad for them.

That guy who questioned them is insensitive and pretty thick, to the point I doubt he was really a person of any authority.

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**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intrusive-racist-useful-concern-all-of-the-above-stranger-questions-interracial-family-photos/709258/83 "2015-01-13T14:10:45Z")

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> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#):
>
> People have claimed that the girls looked “reluctant” or “unhappy”. Am I missing something in that article? Where are these adjectives mentioned?

The closest I could find was this: “Getting just the right exposure and interaction between the two has never been easy. They’ve gone from squirming toddlers to ambivalent teens who barely put up with their dad’s ongoing photography project.”  
He then goes on to say how that particular day was different: conditions were perfect.

I think that’s all the information we really have about their behavior.

My own assumption is that they were behaving just like the teenagers I often deal with in my own photo shoots: moody, bit of attitude, possibly grumbling. But that doesn’t sound like the behavior that might come from the stranger’s scenario.

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