Facebook protest? re BFing

Brookie-Cookie · December 2008

Anyone hear of this? My MIL sent me an article about FB taking down photos and banning some women for posting pics of them BFing and saying that it was obscene. I guess there is a movement to have FBers post pics of themselves BFing.

Did you hear about this?

Marie Tourville · December 2008

Yes I heard about it. There has been a lot of controversy about it. It's just one more way that bfing is discriminated against. Because pics of baby's with bottles are okay...pics of babies eating the way God & nature intended...not okay. FAIL.

eowynmn · December 2008

Yes - the "online protest" was Saturday, you were supposed to post a bfing picture as your profile picture (doesn't have to be of you - just some bfing image - could be madonna and child).

Then the chicks in the state of facebooks headquarters were doing a "nurisng" protest in front of facebook's hq's.

took79 · December 2008

They were talking about it on the Today show this morning.

KGsky · December 2008

No, that's weird. Maybe there's some sort of categorization of photos and if boobs are in them regardless of context they're banned? Banning the posters is ridiculous, however. Link to article?

KGsky · December 2008

Weird, no responses were up when I posted earlier. I'm very sorry I missed the protest. I have a great hospital shot--boob and all! {:D}

nosoup4u · December 2008

yeah, my sister posted a photo of her BFing. I didn't though, bc I don't have any of me nursing. And I'm lazy. But I'm all for Facebook not being stupid anymore re: not allowing pics of breastfeeding.

Brookie-Cookie · December 2008

no link, I'll C&P what she sent though. I'm kind of sad I missed it. Boo to FB though, jerks.

Sunday, December 28th, 2008
The Facebook Protest

If you're on Facebook, or even if you're not, you may have heard about the protest that started yesterday. Here's what happened: some mothers who had "pages" on Facebook had posted photos of themselves breastfeeding. The people who run Facebook removed them. When asked why, the mothers were told that the pictures were "obscene." As more women heard about this, a petition was started, but when this had no effect on Facebook's policy, a protest was initiated. Participants were asked to post a photo of a mother breastfeeding (could be a work of art, themselves, a friend, or even an animal mother).

It's gotten a fair bit of publicity, which could be a good thing. Facebook, however, has responded by removing many of the photos and freezing many of the participant's accounts (so that they can no longer access their "pages").

Centimetre for centimetre, you can probably see more actual skin in many of the bikini photos that Facebook is perfectly fine with. It's hard to see why these photos are such a big deal.

The banning of them, though, IS a big deal. It's more of that same mixed message mothers are given: breastfeeding is good, but do it only behind closed doors. In a North American survey done a few years back, about 40% of the women who chose to bottle-feed their babies said that concerns about breastfeeding in public were a signficant factor in their decision. The obvious hostility towards breastfeeding can only make this worse.

I like the comment that one mother I know posted on her Facebook account: "If it bothers you to see my baby breastfeeding, feel free to cover your head with a blanket."

cmh06 · December 2008

I heard about it on the Today show this morning.

gatogrrl · December 2008

I'm just guessing Facebook is mostly run by men? Because pictures of boobies must be about sex. Confused

gatogrrl · December 2008

If anyone wants to join a "Breastfeeding is Not a Crime" group on Facebook, here's a link:

https://tinyurl.com/732yqp

Heather R · December 2008

One of the central issues is not about the nursing pics but about whether Facebook is considered a public sphere (because it's on the internet) or a private company. If it's a private company, I *think*, if I'm understanding the whole case right, then people have to abide by their rules of use.

I don't see what the big deal about posting nursing pictures is, but I also don't totally get why you would post them anyway.