One of her detractors, Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network, has said that "selling photographs of children in their nakedness for profit is an exploitation of the parental role and I think it's wrong". He views such work as a violation of the responsibility of parents to do everything in their power to protect, shelter, and nurture their children. Furthermore, Mary Gordon argued Mann's work abused the power dynamic between mother and child. Gordon argued the placing of her children in sexualised positions invites the viewer to imagine the children as potential sexual partners which is unethical for a mother. She argues the sexual nature of Mann's work invites discussion of her children's sexuality; harmfully bringing part of the private sphere of the nucleus family into the public eye. More negative criticism came from Raymond Sokolov's article "Critique: Censoring Virginia" in the "Wall Street Journal". He questioned whether children should be photographed nude and whether federal funds should be appropriated for such artworks. Accompanying his article was a modified image by Mann of her daughter Virginia ("Virginia at 4"), in which her eyes, nipples, and pubic region were now covered with black bars. Mann said he used the image without permission "to illustrate that this is the kind of thing that shouldn't be shown". Mann claimed that after Virginia saw the article, she started touching herself on the areas that were blacked out, saying, "what's wrong with me?" Mann responded to the criticisms saying she did not plan the photographs and that when she was young, she was often nude, so she raised her children similarly.