Moms Marketing Their Daughters on Social Media

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Kinsey Pastore, head of marketing at LA Dance Designs, said Instagram needed to offer a better way to filter out followers.Credit…Scott McIntyre for The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “Predators Leer as Moms Put Girls on Instagram” (front page, Feb. 25):

I just finished reading your article exploring this proliferating phenomenon of moms posting pictures of their sometimes scantily clad underage daughters on the social media platform Instagram. They are effectively selling their daughters’ images to generate income.

I found aspects of this practice to be quite disturbing. These kids may be harassed by oglers and pedophiles. They will have to live with the aftermath of their mothers’ decisions without understanding the short- and long-range implications. It smacks of child abuse, in my opinion.

The second major concern that struck me is the absence of any reference to Dad. Where are these men while their wives or ex-wives are posting these photos? Could all these moms be single parents? I think not.

Stan Feinberg
Wantagh, N.Y.

To the Editor:

It is not only mothers who are lining their personal family pockets on the backs of their daughters. Dean Stockton, who runs a clothing business that also profits from these Instagram accounts, is quoted as saying, “So sometimes you got to use things of this world to get you where you need to be, as long as it’s not harming anyone.”

Not harming anyone? Anyone who is profiting from the proliferation of pedophiles and sexual predators is contributing to a great evil in our society.

I can’t help but consider the daughters of the adult account managers as victims. These young girls and teens are being raised with a twisted and false sense of worth and for what purpose? Money? Celebrity? Are these mothers filling a hole in their own psyches to the detriment of their own daughters’?