Facebook Gives the Green Light to Breastfeeding Photos

As confirmed through their help page, Facebook has now deemed the controversial posting of women breastfeeding is now allowed on their social media platform.

Dated three weeks ago – the page states:

“Yes. We agree that breastfeeding is natural and beautiful and we’re glad to know that it’s important for mothers to share their experiences with others on Facebook. The vast majority of these photos are compliant with our policies. Please note that the photos we review are almost exclusively brought to our attention by other Facebook members who complain about them being shared on Facebook.”

This does not mean that all of your photos are safe however, as listed above Facebook has made clear to state “The vast majority of these photos are compliant with our policies”, meaning that users still have the right to report and get taken down any photos they deem offensive and against Facebook guidelines. Showing that they are still acting in the best interest of its user population.

This was brought to our attention through The Independent and their coverage of the ‘Free the Nipple‘ campaign which advocates that photos of women should be treated as equal with full-top nudity male photos.

This setting was first tested by blogger Paala Secor who posted an image of herself breastfeeding to her Facebook followers which included her nipple being exposed.

Her photo caption stated:

“We are proud to nourish our babies with our breasts and we will not be shamed for it. We will share our special/difficult/funny/priceless breastfeeding moments with our friends, families, and community and we will not to told [sic] to keep them to ourselves.”

This photo and her blog was originally removed by Facebook after less than 24 hours, but was reinstated to her and the photo re-uploaded by Facebook’s Community Operations team with an apology attached stating that it was accidentally removed due to “something [she] posted”.

What are your thoughts on this controversial topic, are breastfeeding photos considered a taboo or should they be expected as a natural part of life?

Image courtesy of www.buzzfeed.com

Paala Secor quote courtesy of The Independent