After I heard about yet another Facebook breastfeeding profile/picture take-down I have been going back and forth about writing a post. I am a nursing mother, I don’t belong to any real nursing moms groups nor do I post or take photos of myself nursing. I do think that nursing is a beautiful experience, great for baby’s health and great for mine too. I don’t think it is right for Facebook to remove groups and delete photos of breastfeeding mothers and their children if they are going to leave hate groups, obscene content and scandalous photos on Facebook for anyone to see.
I can find articles dating back to at least 2007 regarding Facebook deleting, and disputing, breastfeeding groups and photos. I know breastfeeding in public is not as accepted in our American culture as it is in places like Cambodia, Equador, Malawi, or Tanzania, (and that bothers me a little bit), but I just don’t get Facebook’s problem with it. Even if Facebook took a stance one way or the other on Breastfeeding it would be better than none at all. It appears that they remove groups and photos only to say they’ve been “accidentally” deleted to be apologetically posted right up again. My only thought along those lines is that people are flagging the pictures and groups to be deleted and whoever is working the back-end in Facebook is getting those flags just doesn’t know any better. But if that’s the case come on Suckerberg, er I mean Zuckerberg, (must be stuck on the nursing terms) get your staff on the same page.
In light of the most recent Facebook breastfeeding “banishments” people across the world, breastfeeders, and non-breastfeeders, parents or not have been swarming to the Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding is not Obscene group to form a united front against Facebook and this discrimination. Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding is not Obscene was started by a mom who, in 2007 had her profile photo (nursing her child) removed with no explanation. Fans are posting photos and websites in favor of breastfeeding and coming together as a Social Media Haven.
Facebook’s response to any breastfeeding related removal is:
Breastfeeding is a natural and beautiful act and we’re very glad to know that it is so important to some mothers to share this experience with others on Facebook. We take no action on the vast majority of breastfeeding photos because they follow the site’s Terms of Use. Photos containing a fully exposed breast do violate those Terms and may be removed. These policies are designed to ensure Facebook remains a safe, secure and trusted environment for all users, including the many children (over the age of 13) who use the site. The photos we act upon are almost exclusively brought to our attention by other users who complain.
So I’m wondering where do you stand? What are your thoughts on the breastfeeding removals, do you think they are just? (Please everyone be respectful of each other’s opinions, this is an open forum and I will not approve harmful or derogatory comments.)
(And if you like the image I created holler, I think it’s cool.)
i wish facebook would lay off nursing moms (especially when they run such boobalicious ads.) they are inconsistent, like you said, and their stance sexualizes something that is not about sex.
also, i fail to see how a photo of a nursing babe and mom could possibly contain a “fully exposed breast” when the nipple is in the baby’s mouth!
Suzannah, I was just thinking about the same!
How come they could see the fully exposed breast???
It’s ridiculous!
btw, facebook doesn’t mind for porn starts and fan’s (however the second sounds very ridiculous) to exist without any protection from kids to being able to see it…
With breastfeeding becoming increasingly popular again, kids (teenagers, in the case of facebook) are more than likely going to see a mother breastfeeding her baby in a public place. How is this any different that seeing a picture on facebook? In reality, it’s no different. But, if woman are blatantly flashing their entire boob on facebook and trying to play it off as breastfeeding, that’s a different story.
love the picture, hope its not too obscene though, lol! i do not see a problem with a picture of a baby discreetly nursing. babys head covers more of the breast then most bathing suits girls post pictures of themselves in! peersonally, i wish facebook would leave the moms and babies along and start deleting the inappropriate pictures many teens/preteens are posting that they will regret when they grow up!
love the picture, hope its not too obscene though, lol! i do not see a problem with a picture of a baby discreetly nursing. babys head covers more of the breast then most bathing suits girls post pictures of themselves in! personally, i wish facebook would leave the moms and babies along and start deleting the inappropriate pictures many teens/preteens are posting that they will regret when they grow up!
First of all, I love the image you created.
Now…my thoughts…I breastfed all three of my kids(well past a year). But, I was also a discreet breastfeeder. If you took a pic of me bf’ing, you probably couldn’t even tell I was doing anything more than holding a baby. To remove a pic like that is wrong.
If more of the breast is shown in the pic, I have to question if it’s any more than some young girls are showing when they post pics of themselves in teeny bikinis.
I DO think there are some people who take this to an extreme and get upset so they post pics of themselves bf’ing where they are purposely showing more than they usually would when they were bf’ing.
I’ve bf in public w/no problem- I didn’t even use a cover until my third and believe that it should be find in public, even in pics.
But, I also believe that moms should be covered up as much as possible.
There is my book of a comment.
I bf my daughter for 19 months. The public feedings stopped around 10 or 11 months just because K was easily distracted and often would unlatch. However, up until the 10 or 11 months I had no problems at all nursing in public… restaurants, doctors offices, grocery shopping. I rarely covered up, but never thought I needed to because, like Shell said in her post, you wouldn’t ever know I was nursing! A few times I had people come up to me wanted to see the baby, thinking she was sleeping, and I’d have to stop them because I was in fact nursing!
As far as FB taking pictures down, I think it’s rediculous. I agree with Shell again when she said that there are pictures of teenagers (and even older women) showing more cleveage and skin than I ever have nursing. I understand that breastfeeding isn’t for everyone, but it is absolutely a natural thing and for moms to not be able to do it when and where they need to is obsurd. I can pick out a lot more things that are on FB that should be taken down!
I blogged about it here: http://getalonghome.com/2011/01/faceboobs/
I don’t think the pictures or the site should be taken down. You can see lots more boobs if you look at pictures of teenage/young 20s girls. A bathing suit reveals more than a breastfeeding baby. People get offended so easily. Should I be offended if I see a baby getting a bottle of formula since I don’t agree with formula??
I am a breastfeeding mom and proud of it! I dont agree with facebook taking down pictures. There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeding your child in public! If you want to post a picture of you nursing your child there is nothing wrong with that either!
BF is not lewd, rude, or crude, and therefore pics of the act taking place should be fully accepted wherever they happen to be, esp. on places like facebook that also showcases pictures that ARE lewd, crude, and rude! In my opinion, BF is a completely normal act and should not be censored, but it is also an intimate act that should be protected, and one of the best ways to do that is to somewhat remove yourself from the public eye whilst nursing. I don’t NIP much in public after babies are a year old, primarily because they are so distracted that there is no way for it to work and be discreet! Too bad, because the general population in America could stand to see older babies nursing…
the only pics I have of me BF my boys and showing ANY breast is when they’re newborns. I am proud of those pics and will post them anywhere. Other than that, I am a very discreet nurser, if only because I don’t make a big deal about it (going into a different room, announcing the act, donning a huge cover). I can’t count the number of times I have NIP without a single person even noticing, much less commenting. My goal is to never show more boob than I would without a nursing baby (which is basically none!) for the sake of modesty.
I don’t think people should have discreet photos of a woman breatfeeding her child taken off of FB just because the vast majority of Americans have completely forgotten the original (and pretty amazing!) REAL function of mammaries!
I breastfed both of my children, so I am all for breastfeeding, but I am curious as to why women would post pictures of themselves nursing on FB to begin with….and I am not on FB because I think it’s superficial and a more of a “look at me and how great my life is and how many “friends” I have (even though I haven’t seen them in 20 years). Personally I would not want people I work with or who I went to high school with gawking at me nursing my child. It just seems too personal to me.