A mum claims to have received death threats and people have threatened to call authorities on her after she shared a photo of her toddler daughter with what appeared to be a sparkling piece of jewelry in her cheek.
The satirical post was meant to make a point about children’s right to their own bodies, criticising cultural practices of child genital mutiliation and circumcision that are often overlooked as the parent’s decision.
‘So I got the baby girl’s dimple pierced!! 😲😲😍😍💗💗’ Enedina Vance’s post began.
‘I’m the parent, she is MY CHILD, I will do whatever I want!! I make all of her decisions until she’s 18, I made her, I own her!! I don’t need anyone’s permission, I think it’s better, cuter, & I prefer her to have her dimple pierced,’ she wrote, sarcastically.
Unfortunately for her not everyone realised that she was being satirical and among the outraged comments on her post were serious threats of violence and aggression against the mother-of-six.
She even had to add another post explaining that it wasn’t real.
‘I photoshopped that picture of the baby to look like I had her dimple pierced… it was a very bad & obvious photoshopped attempt on my part lol And yet, hundreds of people ACTUALLY believed it as real!! she wrote, disbelievingly.
She was also disappointed that nobody seemed to care about the point of her post, fixating instead on the image of her baby.
‘I didn’t take any of their comments, anger, or hate to heart. They were, in their own way, try to protect my baby. However, I’m disappointed that it didn’t really go much further than that.’
She points out how it’s hypocritical to blow up at her about a piercing on her little girl’s face – which was fake anyhow – and yet defend the practices of genital cutting of babies.
‘How can society threaten death over one, but encourage & support the other?’
Despite the misinterpretations, Enedina remains positive.
‘Thanks again to everyone who shared, commented, & participated on my post. It’s been a great day, even with the illiterates, overall I think we made a positive impact!’
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