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Well, maybe it would be more exact to say, Facebook is in hot milk with moms, specficially, breastfeeding moms. Karen Speed, 33, an Edmonton mother of three boys, ages 9, 4 and 20 months, has had her Facebook pictures and account deleted by Facebook, because her images of her breastfeeding her babies were deemed to be obscene content. The result has been an incredible backlash from Facebook members and breastfeeding supporters around the world. A new Facebook group set up to petition for a change in site policy – called "Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!" – has grown from 7,000 members to more than 10,200 in the past few days. MySpace ran into the same problem earlier this year when it deleted the photos of a US woman breastfeeding her baby, but this activist backlash has had far broader reach, including supporters from as far away as Australia. Speed, who runs breastfeeding support groups for new mothers, decided last April to start an online version on Facebook, inviting women to ask questions, discuss breastfeeding problems and make contact with other moms. Soon afterward, she decided to post photos that had been on the website of her other breastfeeding support group, BLISS. "I always think seeing moms breastfeeding, and especially older kids, is important," she said in a phone interview yesterday. It's not uncommon for new moms to encounter difficulties and give up in frustration without extra support or tips, she said. This summer, she was one of several mothers who received a standard notice from Facebook that a picture had been deleted because it was considered "obscene." She wasn't told which one, but later realized a photo of her "tandem breastfeeding" her two youngest sons was gone, even though her breasts were not visible. Within days, she received messages that four more images had been removed. After responding in an email and asking for clarification of what Facebook considered obscene, Speed says, she could no longer log on to her account. All discussion threads, details of an upcoming Breastfeeding Challenge event in Edmonton, questions from mothers seeking help and contacts were gone. "After reviewing your situation, we have determined you violated our Terms of Use," a Facebook customer support representative named Anthony wrote Speed in an email on Aug. 27. "Please note, nudity, drug use, or other obscene content is not allowed on the website." He informed Speed that "We will not be able to reactivate your account for any reason." In the meantime, there are still many pictures of breastfeeding mothers throughout Facebook in groups like La Leche League, Canadian Breastfeeding Mommies and particularly the "Hey Facebook" petition site set up since Speed was shut down. Facebook spokesperson Meredith Chin has reportedly said Facebook did not prevent mothers from uploading photos of themselves breastfeeding their babies, but removed content that was reported as violating Facebook's terms of use. "Photos containing an exposed breast do violate our terms and are removed," Chin said, according to a recent report in The Sydney Morning Herald. Kelli Roman, a 22-year-old mother of two from Fallbrook, Calif., started the petition group in the summer after Facebook deleted several of the breastfeeding photos on her personal profile. "It offended me," she said over the phone from California. "I can't see how anything about breastfeeding could be considered obscene, especially with the other things you see on Facebook ... like scantily clad women and so much sexualized stuff." In fact, one of the top discussion threads in the "Hey Facebook" group is one that contains links to ``offensive" material on Facebook. Oh boy, Facebook really stumbled on this topic, this is going to blast them for a while, if the Pork Board thought they had a lot of negative press over their breastfeeding flap, this is going to blow that out of the water! |
