Controversial mom Byron Bay is under fire for posting ‘exploitative’ photo of her shirtless son in low-rise pants to promote her fashion label
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An Australian influencer has been sued for posting photos on social media of her young son posing shirtless in low-rise trousers for a fashion campaign.
Ruby Tuesday Matthews was accused by her own followers of being ignorant of the dangers of online predators, who are known to exploit and distribute innocent images of children on the dark web.
The 27-year-old mother-of-three from Byron Bay shared the photo of her four-year-old son Mars to promote a cap sold by her clothing label Robey.
After the photo was labeled “exploitative,” Matthews responded to her critics in a furious Instagram video Tuesday morning.
She maintained there was “nothing wrong” with the photo and dismissed her haters as “hypersensitive.”
The mother of three, 27, shared this photo of her son Mars, four, to promote a cap from her clothing label Robey. She was accused of being ignorant of the dangers of online predators, who are known to exploit innocent images of children and distribute them on the dark web.
Matthews also said the shot wasn’t “staged,” so her son’s pants were intentionally low-slung, adding that Mars spends most of his time shirtless anyway.
“First of all, that shot is not staged at all. We literally went to my friends banana plantation and that’s how he wore his outfit that day, no shirt as usual, and we shot some pictures with him in the hat,” she said.
“I would also say that if you sexualize that image of him, I think you really need to look at the bigger picture of what your problem is and maybe you’ve become so overly sensitive.
“The lines are blurring between what is wrong and what is right. There’s nothing wrong with that image.’
Australian influencer Ruby Tuesday Matthews has been called out for posting photos on social media of her young son posing shirtless in low-rise trousers for a fashion campaign
Matthews also responded to allegations that she was endangering her children by posting pictures of them on social media.
“I am well aware that there are predators online who collect images of children, but I am much more concerned about when my child has a phone than if such an image is posted on the Internet,” she said.
“I feel like I’m doing everything I can to protect my kids and I don’t feel like posting an image like that on the internet puts him in danger. If I did, I wouldn’t. That is my choice to make as his mother.”
Matthews went on to say that she was “a victim (of) sexual assault at a very young age” and thus is “vigilant about where I put my kids and what decisions I make.”
“You are entitled to your personal opinion, but please keep it to yourself,” she added.
“I’ll remove that image and I’m sorry if it stirred something in you.”
The controversy erupted Monday when Matthews posted a gallery of photos to Instagram of Mars modeling a cap from her Robey collection.
One of the images showed the preschooler shirtless in low-rise pants.
Concerned fans were quick to criticize the post as “disgusting” and “exploitative” after it was picked up by watchdog accounts Dutch Minty, Influencer Updates AU and Influencer Tea & Gossip.
“Everything about this is wrong… Very wrong. That second picture is very disturbing! Anyone who thinks this is okay is screwed,” one person commented.
‘Why are (his) pants so low? This is so disgusting!’ said another.
Fans were quick to criticize the post as “disgusting” and “exploitative” after it was singled out by watchdog accounts Dutch Minty, Influencer Updates AU and Influencer Tea & Gossip