Talk:Vanessa Williams and Miss America/Archive 1

Unauthorized Photos

I'm curious as to this chosen phrasing throughout the article in relation to her Penthouse photo spread. I'm sure it's accurate that Williams did not give her active consent to release the photos for publication in Penthouse, but the photos in question were hardly "unauthorized". They were photos for which Williams consensually posed and signed a release, and the photographer simply took advantage of her newfound fame and profited from it. Her authorization was not required for the publication of the photos, and the way it's phrased makes it sound like someone took nude photos of her without her knowing. Not sure *how* it should be reworded, but I'm going to give it a try. CouplandForever (talk) 21:35, 29 August 2016 (UTC)

I reverted your edit though we can work on revising the sentence. Williams never signed a consent that would allow publication of these photos as many references on the page indicate. The photos were therefore unauthorized and to imply otherwise would be a violation of WP:BLP.-Classicfilms (talk) 04:33, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

Here are excerpts from Williams on the topic written in 1984 shortly after it happened. She has made similar statements in other WP:RS as well:

" I agreed. He assured me that none of the photographs would ever leave the studio. He assured me. I did a photographic session by myself. I felt uncomfortable and awkward when I saw the proofs. I didn't bring them home because I didn't want anyone to see them ... I was reluctant, but since he assured me that I would be the only one to see them and I would not be identifiable in the photographs, I agreed. He had also gotten another model to agree to this ... I trusted him not to do anything with the photographs. That was my error. I did not give my consent to him or Penthouse to ever have them published, used in any magazine or in any way. Nothing. I signed an application giving my height, weight, color of hair and my talents ... I never told anyone about the pictures, not even my parents. I did not think it was a concern. We had made an agreement they would never be published.: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20088398,00.html -Classicfilms (talk) 04:37, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

Hugh Hefner refused to publish the photographs in Playboy for the same reason. He said: "“The single victim in all of this was the young woman herself, whose right to make this decision was taken away from her. If she wanted to make this kind of statement, that would be her business, but the statement wasn’t made by her.”

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/09/vanessa-williams-nude-scandal-miss-america-judge -Classicfilms (talk) 04:45, 30 August 2016 (UTC)