'Next Top Model' Underage, Topless Picture Causes Controversy (PHOTO)

Another country, another "Top Model" controversy.

This time, it's "New Zealand's Next Top Model" under fire for having a 16-year-old contestant pose topless, with only mud smeared across her naked breasts. Then the show posted an unedited picture from the shoot online.

According to the New Zealand Herald News the image of teenage contestant Michaela Steenkamp "appeared on [NZ's] TV3 website yesterday morning showing her posing over a rock, her body smeared with mud but with her breasts clearly shown." Several hours later, TV3 replaced the image in question with the same picture but with steam covering up Steenkamp's chest.

Below is the "After" image.

Courtesy of TV3 (NZ): Michaela Steenkamp by Jackie Meiring -- New Zealand's Next Top Model Cycle 2.

Blogger Isaac Likes followed TV3's actions from the get-go. TV3 explained to him, "Michaela....wore adhesive covers for the mud pool shoot. We make every effort to protect the girls' modesty and none of the girls are forced to do anything that they aren't comfortable doing." The station posted on Twitter, "For all those concerned about the images from last weeks [sic] episode, the girls are not naked. They have bits on their bits."

TV3 also later contacted Isaac Likes with another statement:

"I see you suggesting on your website and George FM that we "scrambled" to Photoshop Michaela & Amelia. If you watched the show on Friday you would have seen that clearly those shots never appeared on air at a 7:30pm timeslot. They went to air with steam over them and had work done for this the day after we received the images from Jackie Meiring. We were never going to broadcast Michaela "topless". This photoshoot was styled by Kylie Cooke and shot by Jackie (2 women..) - and they all had a chaperone.. their nipples were taped. The fact is, the un-photoshopped ones appeared on on our website as there were two image discs so one got uploaded in error."

We were able to watch the episode in question and the unedited shots were never on air. But what do you think? Is it appropriate for 'Top Model' to ask 16-year-olds to pose topless? Or is that part of the modeling game?

Comments

[expensivehamnapkin]

08:16 PM on 08/31/2010

Whats funny, is that no1 in NZ has even heard about this so called controversy....

[Puzzlr]

12:27 AM on 08/31/2010

The problem is not the nudity, bu the age of the girl in question. If a man sitting at his computer at home and downloaded those pictures, we would have branded him (rightly so) a pedophile. I thought that the age limit for these type programs was over

[chelledc]

10:57 AM on 09/02/2010

That would make sense if she were nude. I'm against sexing up young girls too soon but it wouldn't count as underage nudity because she's not actually naked.

[Tenebrae]

08:59 PM on 10/21/2010

Having nothing but taped nipples qualifies as naked IMO

[Balzac]

01:26 PM on 08/28/2010

She's fine, but the photo would have been much better without the tape, mud and the mist effect. It's very silly that there's such a controversy about her nipples.

[donaleigh2]

12:01 PM on 09/20/2010

I wonder why she has to be topless to model bracelets

[edgraham]

02:41 PM on 08/27/2010

According to the myth, the Virgin Mary was 12 when she married.

[mangrunts]

01:37 PM on 08/27/2010

I wonder if we have notified all the people in congress that they are adults! I have met 12 year olds who behave with more maturity!

[Francois Bergeron]

09:28 AM on 08/27/2010

You know, the more we see naked bodies, the less offended we get.

[tkr224]

09:57 PM on 08/26/2010

They're breasts not dirty sex pillows! Women have them. Who cares? I see men with bigger breasts than me on the beach all the time.

[mackbolan]

05:22 PM on 08/26/2010

grow up people...

brooke shields...age 10...

http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/brooke-shields-by-gary-gross/

the courts sided with artist every time she tried to suppress these photos...

she is a model...and she posed for pictures..who cares

[Raisean Howard]

08:02 PM on 08/26/2010

Thank you!

[LisaLisa1234]

08:40 AM on 08/27/2010

So you don't find anything wrong with the fact that it's okay for her mother's signature to overrule her *own will*?

Brooke had no right to refuse taking those photos, but they were obviously ones she didn't want taken or shown. And they're a pedophile's dream.

[mackbolan]

05:51 PM on 08/27/2010

maybe your argument is with the courts and not me....until the age of majority you cannot enter into contracts at all have them be binding...an adult has to do that for you...britney spears would be a good example of what a bad parent can do wrong...in brooks case it would seem that the pictures did her no harm...she certainly appears to have led a great life and she seems happy....

[soundstorm]

02:32 PM on 08/26/2010

It is not porn. More importantly religion sucks. This hole idea that all evil can be religated to the human naked body should be re-examined slightly. Maybe in the dark putrid hearts of feminists and religious; jawalking and droping a nuke or two on major citys could be considered bad, if these were made to be taboo as under magic 18 crap!

[dzoner]

12:23 PM on 08/26/2010

Why is it okay to see a topless africa, new guinean or amazonian tribal 16 yr. old girl on a cable channel, or in a national geographic magazine, or even a fully nude 16yr old girl in a naturist magazine, but not topless in this context?

[MagicalPossibilities]

10:19 PM on 08/26/2010

It is all about the context. The tribal girls are not flaunting their sexuality - just going about their daily lives in attire that is socially acceptable in their society.

[Balzac]

01:37 PM on 08/28/2010

Not true. Tribal girls absolutely flaunt their sexuality and there are elaborate ceremonies in which to do so, emphasizing their sexual maturity with dances to make their naked breasts bounce. This is tribal culture before Christian missionaries, Islamic fundamentalists and industrial culture reach them.

[Jewels23]

11:54 AM on 08/26/2010

The age of consent is does not apply to pornography or strippers -- they still must be 18.

[mamacat]

02:52 PM on 08/26/2010

The question then becomes, should this photo be considered pornographic?

[mackbolan]

05:23 PM on 08/26/2010

no...it should not...

[drbslurp]

11:50 AM on 08/26/2010

Females of all ages go topless on beaches all over the world.

[bigben1986]

11:22 AM on 08/26/2010

At least her head is covered.

[mamacat]

09:29 AM on 08/26/2010

It would have been illegal to take this photo in the USA, but it was not illegal to do so in New Zealand. It might still be illegal to show the photo in the USA, but that is a question I am not prepared to argue.

At what point do we make one country's laws apply to another country? Just as we are opposed to having the burqa or head scarves forced upon us in this country, the Kiwis may be opposed to having our puritanical traditions forced upon them.

I have come to think that 16 may be a better age at which to consider a female a woman than 18. Much of the world has considered females women at that age for a long time. Statements from us that one is still a child at 16 are more a reflection of our cultural attitudes than of biological reality.

I would of course advise teenagers against having children, but the reality is that trying to force a 16 year old to abstain from sex is usually going to fail. The most we can hope for is that they avoid getting STDs or accidentally pregnant. I would much rather see a picture of a 16 year old's mammary glands than a picture of a "deer in the headlights" stare from Bristol Palin holding the results of her unplanned pregnancy.

[Romulus]

10:16 AM on 08/26/2010

t would have been illegal in SOME states to take this photo but not in most. Here's a list of the age of consent state by state:

STATE
AGE
Alabama
16
Alaska
16
Arizona
18
Arkansas
16
California
18
Colorado
15
Connecticut
15
D.C.
16
Delaware
16
Florida
16/18 (bill pending)
Georgia
16
Hawaii
14
Idaho
14
Illinois
16/17
Indiana
16
Iowa
18
Kansas
16
Kentucky
16 - [1]
Louisiana
17
Maine
16
Maryland
16
Massachusetts
16/18
Michigan
16
Minnesota
16
Mississippi
16 - [2]
Missouri
17
Montana
16
Nebraska
16
Nevada
16
New Hampshire
16/18
New Jersey
16/18
New Mexico
17
New York
17
North Carolina
16
North Dakota
18
Ohio
16
Oklahoma
16
Oregon
18
Pennsylvania
16
Rhode Island
16
South Carolina
14/16
South Dakota
16
Tennessee
18
Texas
17
Utah
16/18
Vermont
16
Virginia
15
Washington
16
West Virginia
16
Wisconsin
18
Wyoming
16
Puerto Rico
18

[drbslurp]

11:51 AM on 08/26/2010

That's the age of consent for sexual contact - not the age at which it's no longer considered child porn.

[justobserve]

07:43 AM on 08/26/2010

Despite our personal opinion, girls going to the modelling trade should have known what they are getting into!