Health

Hey, Facebook, What have you got Against Breastfeeding?

by Blue Crush | December 30, 2008 at 09:15 pm

371 views | 33 Recommendations | 5 comments

A mass online protest movement is gathering after Facebook banned some breastfeeding photos from their social network site. Many people are upset that Facebook is classifying these photos "obscene," and are encouraging you to join their online group Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene! As of Tuesday night, the group has over 91,000 members, and it's growing fast.

Angry mothers even picketed the Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California, in a live "nurse-in" to complain about a ban on photos of mothers suckling their children that exposed too much of the mother's breast. Hundreds of women have had their pictures removed without warning and have been informed that they may be barred from using the site.

More than 80,000 people have joined a Facebook petition group "Hey Facebook, Breast-feeding is not Obscene" with hundreds joining every hour. More than 11,000 women from around the world have also taken part in an online "nurse-in" protest on Saturday by posting more breastfeeding pictures. The protest's organisers reported that many have since had these photos removed from the site.

Facebook has said that it doesn't have a problem with breastfeeding, only photos that showed nipples or aureolae - they thought those photos to be indecent. "We agree that breastfeeding is natural and beautiful and we're very glad to know that it is so important to some mothers to share this experience with others on Facebook," said Barry Schnitt, a Facebook spokesman. He added, "some photos were removed to ensure the site remains safe and secure for all users, including children." Users must be at least 13 years old to register with Facebook.

"Photos containing a fully exposed breast - as defined by showing the nipple or areola - do violate those terms on obscene, pornographic or sexually explicit material and may be removed," he said in a statement. "The photos we act upon are almost exclusively brought to our attention by other users who complain."

It is legal to breastfeed in public in most countries in the world, but Facebook's terms of service give it the right to remove content that it deems it to be inappropriate. Campaigners say that breastfeeding is natural and healthy and should be not bracketed with pornography. Facebook's stance demeans and stigmatizes women, they say.

Excerpt from the Facebook online group:

On December 27th, 2008 over 11 000 people participated in our first ever M.I.L.C. (Mothers International Lactation Campaign) event. Participants from around the globe joined our virtual protest of Facebooks discriminatory practice of arbitrarily and randomly removing breastfeeding pictures from member profiles and albums, classifying them as obscene content.

Many members received warnings and had photos removed during and after the event. Some examples of these photos can be found here:
http://www.tera.ca/photos6.html

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recommend This comment thread is now closed

generaldecay

at 03:29 on December 31st, 2008

Thank you for posting this. It seems that FB is following many other major and influential sites (e.g. Livejournal) in its policy on breastfeeding.

Paschen

at 03:44 on December 31st, 2008

We may have to re-educate Western Society, since it has lost touch with Humanity and reality.

Miriam Mannak

at 05:50 on December 31st, 2008

What on earth can be obscene as breastfeeding? People who find this obscene and sexual should opt for a mental checkup.

wbsfr8 (not verified)

at 05:53 on December 31st, 2008

~all women should be forced to go topless -weather permitting.

eastvanray

at 14:00 on December 31st, 2008

Breastfeeding, like sexuality, is a perfectly natural human act and neither should be censored. Why should either be banned? Especially since Facebook viewing is not strictly speaking "public". If you do not like the pictures someone posts on their page then do not visit that person's page. Why does Facebook treat people like children?