Over the holidays, an uproar ensued over Facebook’s removal of photographs of women nursing their babies. Close to 150,000 moms joined an online Facebook petition entitled, “Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!” Eleven thousand-plus participated in a “virtual nurse-in” by exchanging their regular profile pictures on Facebook for ones depicting breastfeeding. At Facebook’s headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., a live-and-in-person nurse-in of about 10 moms strong was held to complement the online event.
Facebook’s position: “Photos containing a fully exposed breast . . . violate [company policy against] obscene, pornographic, or sexually explicit material and may be removed.” Facebook spokesperson Barry Schnitt said the company’s guidelines regarding exposed flesh permit most breast-feeding photos, but that Facebook prohibits including a visible nipple or areola. The company maintains that it doesn’t typically go looking for nudity, but does respond swiftly when someone flags a photo as inappropriate.
When Facebook policies were instituted some years ago, “We decided nudity was something we didn’t want on the site. It doesn’t matter the context. We would agree that there are absolutely many contexts for nudity where it is not obscene,” Schnitt said, but he emphasized that Facebook can’t practically decide on a case-by-case basis.
Clearly, there is, in itself, nothing obscene about a mother nursing her child – it is among the most natural, and by some standards sacred, activities in the world. (Having just concluded the Christmas season, dare I ask if Facebook has banned any Medieval or Renaissance nativity scenes as well?) But that’s not really the issue. The issue is where to draw the line, online and perhaps, for purposes of discussion, offline as well. Most moms seek out a private place to nurse their child, or at the very least, try to nurse as discreetly as possible when in public – with a cloth draped over a shoulder or a back turned to a crowd. And yet: I remember once going to a public space filled with parents and kids – the Intrepid Museum in NYC – and one mom sitting on the ground in full view of a long line of families, nursing her baby in a manner that left her, shall we say, unnecessarily exposed. As a nursing mother myself, I felt embarrassed – for her, for the families witnessing the scene and for the unpleasant light this could shine on other nursing moms. The point: As with everything, there is a right way, a wrong way, and shades of gray. Where does that leave the Facebook decision? As frustrating as it may be for moms who want to share a photo of themselves doing what comes naturally – and which, for many of us, is a highlight of motherhood – perhaps, just perhaps, there are some things that are better left private than posted on the Internet.
Not fair you say? If you were creating the Facebook policy, how and where would you draw the line?
