Ivy League Posture Photos
Yale started taking nude photos of incoming freshmen in 1919 as part of a program to detect and correct posture problems. The Yale photos have erroneously been associated with William Sheldon, a psychologist at Harvard and author of Nazi-like eugenic theories who used Harvard nude posture photos to illustrate his theory of somatypes. But, as far as I can tell, the Yale photos are not connected to Sheldon's work.
Here are five more posture photos taken at Yale that I had the opportunity to acquire. For privacy reasons, I redact the names of men who might still be alive. Two of these men have passed away, so their names are not redacted.
This is Yale freshman N.D. on Oct. 6, 1953.
An article in the Journal of the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation described how in spring, 1952, Yale installed an apparatus using mirrors to produce "PhotoMetric" posture photos like this showing front, rear, side and top views.
This is Yale freshman D.E. on Oct. 6, 1953.
This is Yale freshman W.E. on Oct. 13, 1953.
Note the strange pins stuck to each student's back and chest. The pins were stuck on at specific points for later posture analysis. Supposedly, by examining the angles formed by connecting the points where the pins touched the body, certain posture problems could be detected.
This is Yale freshman David Henry Elwell on Oct. 13, 1953.
This is Yale freshman William Hinrichs on Nov. 3, 1953.
Were these photos an invasion of privacy for the students? By today's standards, yes. By the standards of the day, not so much. In that era, guys were routinely naked around each other in locker rooms and in swimming pools when women weren't present. Being asked to strip and even being photographed naked as part of a posture examination would not seem too outrageous, since the staff conducting this was all-male (and remember that Yale was an all-male school).
Some of my followers have questioned the propriety of publishing these photos, since the students did not give consent for their publication. My reply:
1. I only publish the names of students who have died. To protect their privacy, I have redacted the names of students who may still be alive (despite the fact that their names have already been published on an online auction site). Legally, the right to privacy does not extend beyond death, i.e. it does not extend to spouses, children, grandchildren, etc. of the deceased person.
2. In my opinion, publishing these photos is similar to publishing nude photos of athletes and soldiers taken by LIFE magazine photographers. At the time, the understanding of the photo subjects was that photos with frontal nudity would never be published in the magazine (and they never were), but the LIFE photo archive containing those photos is now publicly available online, and nobody seems to be complaining about it.
3. I consider these photos to be a historical record of the time. Almost all of the Ivy League posture photos were burned when their existence became widely known. In my opinion, that was akin to book-burning of books that someone claimed were obscene. These photos are not obscene. They should be celebrated, not hidden away.
15 comments:
These posture studies are interesting.
I doubt that the incoming freshmen thought that their privacy was being invaded. Collective nakedness - as experienced in a school locker-room - was a given.
Your justifications are spot-on. And they are in the public domain.
I graduated from an overseas college (aka university) in the 70s, and nudity amongst males was commonplace, natural and normal. Photos were taken (I lost all mine in one of my moves). If I were to see myself online at that age now I would rejoice and be - no doubt - nostalgic about the athletic body I had then. Thanks for posting this archive.
I don't think there's any shame at all when it comes to nudity. And yes, these are historical records, and no they should not be destroyed. There's little doubt, however, that these men had no control or agency when it came to the dissemination of their naked bodies over time, nor that they agreed that they would be, or expected them to be, seen by the public. That is my own reaction, and it's not an objection. Just because it is legal to do something, or because others do it, doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. And it's not like there is a shortage of images of naked men out there. Which leads to the possibility that it is precisely that these men didn't agree to have their nude bodies available to everyone that is essential to their appeal... As I've wondered before, these men had no say as to whether or not they are "unashamed", and death doesn't alter that fact.
I always like their asses.
These photos should never have been released by the university, additionally the students were told they were for health reasons. You are correct when you state "in my opinion" with respect to what LIFE has done, it is just that nothing more than one persons opinion, yours. It has very little to do with what might be moral and just. The fact that you "consider these photos to be an historical record of time" means nothing. These are only your opinions. You somehow have appointed yourself judge here as to what you personally think is OK to do with nude pictures of another person, a person that has been deprived of their privacy by a person like you. These individuals were grossly taken advantage of that day these were taken and even more grossly taken advantage of in the years that followed. Quite simply they were told and promised one thing and in the end essentially lied to. I have been a life long nudist but the fact that pics are now published simply because an individual has personally judged them historical, acceptable or its ok because they are dead is offensive. Considering your standards I should be able to photograph people at a nude beach and then publish the photos because I as an individual have simply decided this is OK to do. Afterall like LIFE magazine I'll just find someone else who did it so that justifies me doing it too. Oh I'll make sure I don't mention any names because some might still be alive.
Last question, and it's a question, not a complaint. Isn't it fair to say that many of these young men would not have consented to the exploitation of their images for purposes other than those for which they were originally obtained? And as Johnn says, above, even the original purpose and procedure were questionable at best.
Second last question: seriously, if your father or brother were among these photos, isn't it conceivable that you'd feel bad, however much other people might like his ass?
William Hinrichs is quite a specimen. Would be interested in knowing what sport(s) he participated in while a student at Yale. My guess would be football.
I appreciate these images because I think they are part of the historical record. There are many young people today who don't believe that guys used to have to swim nude and shower together during gym class let alone allow a university to photograph them naked. If we want to remember the past and understand where we came from to help us understand where we are going then providing the evidence of our history is key.
It would be better, IMHO, if these images were collected and donated to a museum or library so they could be properly preserved. Sharing facsimiles of them, as in this forum, helps to ensure their survival.
The issue of consent is tricky. I knew guys who went to a school where they were "required" to participate in a similar "study". It was highly frowned upon not to participate but possible to opt out without sanctions or punishment with a fair amount of effort.
Most guys just didn't want to go against the pressure of everyone else participating. And the guys I knew who did participate wondered verbally to me on occasion whether any images made would ever escape the confinement of the lab doing the work.
The guys in these images went to Yale - they're smart people. They too had to have known it was possible for the images to become public. Which all these years later I think amounts to a kind of tacit consent. If you really really don't want anyone to ever see nude images of you, the only way to ensure that is to never allow them to be taken.
Exchanging your nude image knowingly for something (a degree at a prestigious institution, money, kicks, whatever) means that you give up a certain amount of control of your likeness.
Just my two cents.
these guys were in all likelihood required to participate and if that coercion wasnt bad enough, now years later these photos are being used without any permission from the model (them), i often wonder if the use of these is not against the law afterall there were never any model consent releases signed.
To those writers who have concerns about using photos of naked young people. I would say this is genuine for young living people who may be in modern day slavery ( human trafficking is a major international problem) and anything we can do to shut it down, stop profits from exploitation of young naked people we should do. But when people are dead and images are old (nearly 100 y old) I don't care. And the dead people don't care. Questions on the ethics and morality of showing pictures of dead people when they were young and beautiful are red herrings to distract us from genuine problems about showing photos of vulnerable people. And like many others I find these photos historically important. They show how societal moral attitudes change. Societal attitudes are not fixed and the more we become aware of past attitudes we can think fluidly.
> seriously, if your father or brother were among these photos, isn't it conceivable that you'd feel bad, however much other people might like his ass? <
I have very few photos of my father, and none of his father, both students at University of Pennsylvania, Classes of 1942 and 1899. I keep watching this topic in hopes that I find any of them. I have found photos of distant cousins. Thank you.
This could be William John Hinrichs, but his biographies don't mention Yale:
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/twincities/name/william-hinrichs-obituary?id=51595615
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/255895316/william-johm-hinrichs
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/G4XK-HRL
Post a Comment