following my usual blog link rabbit trails, i found out this morning there is a war between facebook and breastfeeding moms. it started some time ago, and it's still going. apparently, facebook has banned any photos that depict breastfeeding and encourages that they be flagged "obscene."
for clarity, the definition of obscene, according to several sources pulled by google, is: designed to incite to indecency or lust, abhorrent: offensive to the mind, lewd: suggestive of or tending to moral looseness.
hmm. by that definition, 90 percent of all photos on facebook ought to be banned.
but i digress...
while you won't find me posting any photos of myself breastfeeding, there is no question that anything to do with the act -- photos, videos, live performances -- is most certainly NOT obscene. most of the time, there is hardly skin to be seen. maybe it's the sucking noise. the knowledge that there is sucking going on?
the whole mess stems from the ridiculous stigma towards breastfeeding in public, an act that i most certainly engage in. with the commonality of plunging necklines and sky-high hemlines, i don't quite comprehend the double-standard.
research proves over and over how beneficial breastmilk is for babies and even toddlers, and most anyone who can read accepts that. but nurse anywhere but holed up in a dark room with your head under a blanket? stares and whispers are sadly your congratulations.
seriously? it's not like anyone is walking around topless.
mark zuckerberg is the ceo of facebook. he is 24 years old. i suppose we can't expect him to understand breastfeeding and all of its intricacies. but we ought to be able to expect more from society as a whole.
i can't prove it, but i'd be willing to bet a lot of money that there isn't a single mother breastfeeding her child in public as an attempt to seduce any unsuspecting passersby.
most likely, she's a bit flustered, worried about what others will think, but desperately wanting to comfort and care for her baby in the best way she knows how.
believe me, i know.
6 comments:
This is a huge issue, indeed. The whole facebook thing is quite silly, but I will admit -- it kind of does bother me when I see it in public. I suppose the venue makes all the difference...eating out at a NICE restaurant on one's anniversary and seeing it bothers me. Seeing (and hearing it) at church -- like in the pews DURING the service bothers me. But it doesn't bother me for the same reasons as most, I don't think.
To me, breastfeeding is such an intimate act. It's almost holy, even. Something so rare and precious that only a mother and her child can engage in. I guess, to me, something so special should be kept private and shared only within the family???
But what do I know, right? This is all coming from someone who's never been down that road.
P.S. 20/20 had a special on a few weeks ago that explored several mothering issues. Breastfeeding was one of them, only they interviewed moms who were still breastfeeding their children at ages 2.5, 5, and 8!!!! Now if I saw that in public...that might weird me out, to be honest.
i want to say that i edited out a few lines in this post that were a tad antagonistic. just for full disclosure.
Interesting. I think I may deactivate my Facebook account due to that. Thanks for sharing.
wow.
Look the other way and Get over it.
If I am subjected to songs with the word superb**ch in them on the radio, or condom commercials, or must tolerate the obscenities that might flow from a customer one table over at a restaurant, then surely, society can get over a baby doing exactly what God intended it to do.
Geez. With all the crap in the world, this is the fight Facebook has chosen? wow.
I heard my dad tell a story about a lady breastfeeding in a restaurant. Another customer came over and said, "I find it offensive that you are doing that." The breastfeeding mother said nothing but discreetly stopped. She then went to the complaining woman and took the spoon out of her teenager's hands. "If you find my feeding my child offensive, then I must ask that you not feed your child."
After a manager was called, the lady with the teenager was asked to leave (the one doing the complaining).
So... I love that story.
I couldn't read without commenting...I've only been nursing for 6 weeks now, but I have nursed everywhere! Restaurants, the airport, stores, etc. I can't imagine not giving my child the comfort and nourishment that he needs just because it might offend someone.
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