When your Servicemember is deployed, you become well acquainted with customs forms, flat rate boxes and the slowest times at the local post office. You're warned not to send alcohol, ammunitions, and in recent years, pork products. However, what about the other no-no item? The one that will surely make your Soldier or Airman smile, maybe break a sweat, and definitely miss home? That's right, we're talking about "wife porn."
As per the statutes listed by the United States Postal Service for mailing items downrange, or to any APO/FPO/DPO for that matter, such items are prohibited.
... the following are prohibited in the region of Operation Iraqi Freedom: Obscene articles (prints, paintings, cards, films, videotapes, etc.) and any matter depicting nude or seminude persons, pornographic or sexual items.
However, the debate rages on about whether a wife sending photos to her own husband can actually be designated as "pornographic." For some military wives, it is the proverbial dirty little secret - she sent some once, he treasured them and they don't talk about it in front of the kids or their friends.
One Army wife, who requested for the aforementioned reasons that her name be withheld, confessed to doing a professional boudoir photo shoot during one of her husband's recent stints downrange.
"They weren't so bad that if they landed in the wrong hands I would die," she said. "I actually got a group of us together - there were six whose husbands where deployed. The photos are all very tasteful and I see nothing wrong with these types ... but out of fear, should something happen to him, I would never send nude pictures!"
Such concerns are why many wives are hesitant to take the plunge and remove any clothing for a photo shoot; there is a definite risk involved.
"Best case scenario - no one sees it. Your husband is probably thrilled. Worst case, someone uses his computer or maybe his screensaver pulls from his photo gallery," said Army spouse and professional photographer Sonnet Gothro. "I think it really centers around how seriously a person takes the regulations about what you can and cannot send your Soldier - and about how good their Soldier is at keeping things private. It's a gamble, that's one thing for sure."
"Most women start out on a mission to get some sexy pictures to send their husbands during deployments - to remind them what they are coming home to," explained Samantha Culp, a fellow Army spouse and proprietor/photog for Point of Vue Boudoir. "They are super nervous and most want to cancel the day before, but I always tell them the hardest part is showing up. All the nervousness goes away after the first five minutes."
Culp's husband is currently deployed to Afghanistan and she admitted that she is going to be putting together her own portraits to mail off. On the other hand, while Gothro has done boudoir shoots for a number of military wives, she hasn't been part of one herself.
"We've seen it (unwanted exposure, divorce, etc.) happen to others, and have decided that the payoff is not worth the risk," Gothro explained.
Yet, Culp raises an interesting point regarding the self-esteem of those in front of the camera; perhaps the payoff is more than just the thrill of the person receiving the photos.
"I have photographed women from 20 something to 70 something. I'd say that 99 percent of my clients are military wives that have several kids," Culp said. "My goal is to provide an experience and remind these women how beautiful they are. In the end, these pictures are more of a gift to themselves than anything else."
