Thank you for pointing out exactly WHY this is problematic.
They posted these photos for the public without any consideration that they might be received poorly. When criticism was brought up, the teenagers took to attacking someone’s sexuality instead of using it as a way to explain the meaning behind the photos. Also this was on New Gen’s instagram. Not on Ryder’s personal account.
Seems like the “explanation” was “we were just having fun” which is not a good one because it insinuates they don’t truly understand why it rubbed people the wrong way. If there was some kind of commentary on the side effects of bullying, etc this might not be a conversation, but unfortunately it portrayed “let’s PHYSICALLY put down girls for having a crush” which is not gonna fly in today’s climate.
My only criticism of Ben and the folks that run the New Gen camp as it seemed handled poorly (deleting the homophobic comments made by the camper but not the post initially). Its risky if you’re running a camp for 17/18 yr olds (the photographer is a minor) as 24-27 year old boys who seem to have never worked in a professional setting other than making vids and magazines in their basement.
And seemed to catch Jordan Donnelly’s, OAC’s main On guy, so even if you think it’s blown out of proportion, New Gen has got some backtracking to do