Virtual and Live Nurse-Ins Planned over Breastfeeding Pictures on Facebook
December 20, 2008 by Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor
Filed under breastfeeding
It has been over a year since Facebook began removing breastfeeding pictures and threatening users with being banned from the site. At last check, the Facebook group “Hey, Facebook, Breastfeeding is not obscene!” had over 57,000 members (including me). Now organizers of that group have planned an event for Saturday, December 27, 2008, the M.I.L.C. Mothers International Lactation Campaign.
Virtual Nurse-In
Organizers explain:
Facebook continues to classify breastfeeding photos as obscene content. They continue to arbitrarily remove these photos from member albums and profiles, accompanied by warnings of account termination. This is highly discriminatory and an affront to nursing mothers everywhere. In protest of this, Mothers International Lactation Campaign (M.I.L.C.) has planned a virtual day of protest.
Not only is human lactation responsible for the very survival of our species, it is in no way a sexually explicit, lewd or despicable act. It is also protected by law in most countries, including specifically the state where Facebook is headquartered in the USA.
In protest to the discriminatory and unjust policy of Facebook administration classifying breastfeeding images as obscene content, on December 27th, 2008 M.I.L.C. is asking all of you to change your profile picture for one day, to one which includes an image of a nursing mom.
This could be a picture of you or someone you know nursing a child, it could be a painting or image of a sculpture of a breastfeeding woman, it could also be a photo or image of any nursing mammal….We ask that you include the status line of “Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!”
In addition to this ‘virtual nurse-in’, there will be other events planned around the globe. Please check this page often for regular updates and added information. We will also be including images that you can use for your profile picture on December 27th.
Live Nurse-In
If you are in the Palo Alto, California area, consider attending the live nurse-in at the Facebook headquarters!
When: Saturday, December 27, 2008, at 11 a.m.
Where: Outside the Facebook office at 156 University Ave., Palo Alto, California
MSNBC Media Coverage
Coverage of the planned events has hit mainstream media with this video story from MSNBC.
We just had a nurse-in at our local mall due to some recent breastfeeding discrimination. It was helpful to have several copies of the applicable law handy, displayed on the table in large font so we didn’t have to actually say anything. In California it’s Civil Code section 43.3, might be helpful to have for the event on Saturday. I’m so sad to miss it, but want to wish you all the best and I’ll be changing my Facebook profile pic that morning too!
As a woman who nursed three babies for a year each, I just want to say you people who want to attend protests to force everyone to accept your exposed breasts have way too much time on your hands. Facebook did NOT say breastfeeding was obscene. They just don’t allow pictures of your fully exposed breast to be posted. Most people are accepting of breast feeding when done in a modest manner. I don’t want to see nipples out in public or on Facebook. Most people don’t. Just the perverts do. So what are you accomplishing by forcing views of entire breasts under the guise of breastfeeding? You might as well just post pictures of yourself naked for the pervs. Feed your child in public if you must, but do it modestly. I did so in public places and no one scorned me. Maybe some of you complaining are really just exhibitionists.
I am trying to upload a picture to my profile now. (At a different computer that’s not working well, so it might not happen.)
Cheryl, I could direct you to pictures on Facebook that feature much more exposed skin than most breastfeeding pictures, and which are *clearly* meant in a sexual manner. These pictures are left up and never questioned. Yet a picture of a woman performing a most basic act of mothering, often while exposing very little flesh at all, is somehow deemed “obscene.” Too much time on my hands? Not an issue for me, but if people don’t speak up for discrimination and try to change it, people continue to get away with it.
Hope you have success, Judy! I changed mine to this one:
http://www.breastfeeding123.com/wordless-wednesday-hand-holding/
and I think the picture is anything but obscene!