Facebook, it seems, is anti-boob.
This past January, Facebook deleted the page for The Leaky B@@b, a breast-feeding support group where thousands of women come to ask questions and exchange answers. It has since been reinstated but only after it was put back up and deleted a second time. Facebook has since called the deletion a mistake.
And now Facebook has shown breastfeeding the door, once again. The social-networking site put the kibosh on Boobie Beanie — a hat for your baby to wear when you are nursing in public. Their Facebook page was deemed offensive and has been deleted. Apparently even a hat, crocheted to look like a breast, is too much for Facebook.
The Boobie Beanie
Seriously? Yep. Facebook says a breast is a breast and a nipple is a nipple, and they violate the Terms of Service.
I’ve been breastfeeding my son for 7 1/2 months now and it makes me think back to my first and so far ONLY encounter with an offended bystander in public. And it was a woman no less. Yes, a grown woman sitting at another table across from mine in a restaurant told me to get a room as I was feeding my son underneath my sweater with absolutely no boob showing.
I posted my shock and outrage on Facebook and I got 44 responses, all of them supportive. Here are some of my fave:
I’ve also read reports that Facebook has a knack for banning women’s pregnancy photos too. Gasp! What’s wrong with Mark Zuckerberg? We’ve heard by now that the guy’s awkward, but is he really that bothered by two of the most beautiful things in the world? A woman who is pregnant and a woman is breastfeeding her child?
If you haven’t already heard, Zuckerberg has finally declared to the world that he is in a relationship. The bizillionaire CEO of Facebook officially changed his relationship status this past weekend to admit that he is involved with Priscilla Chan.
So if they ever settle down and make bizillionaire babies then I guess we can assume they’ll be formula fed, right? If not, THEN maybe he’ll change his antiquated Terms of Service.
Until then, someone should start a Facebook page called “Hey Zuckerberg: Breastfeeding & Pregnancy are NOT pornographic.”
I want to buy a nipple hat!
And also to convince facebook that feeding babies is not offensive.
The nipple hat is funny!
I can’t believe that someone actually scolded you for feeding Mylo in public – and doing it modestly, no less.
Did you read about the woman who was told by two different security guards not to nurse her daughter in public at the Hirshhorn Museum (Smithsonian) in DC? Her friend staged a nurse-in at the museum in response:
http://www.mothering.com/breastfeeding/smithsonians-hirshhorn-museum-nurse-in-draws-large-crowd
Hey Jennifer, yea someone berated me for it. It was awful and I was really caught off guard. Not sure why I never wrote about it – probably because I just wanted to not remember the experience!
I didn’t hear about what happened at the Smithsonian so thanks for sharing. Sucks the security guards had to get thrown under the bus when the onus should be on the museum to educate their guards on what the law is as it pertains to breastfeeding (and other acts of lewdness of course.)
I love that little beanie! So funny.
Joan really got to the heart of the issue for me. Breasts are clearly more dangerous than guns, I suppose. I do believe in a certain degree of descretion but I think people are uncomfortable seeing humans suck from boobs (even hiding under blankets) because it has not been done in front of them for generations.
In 20 years it’ll probably and hopefully be a moot point. Too bad it will take 20 years to change perceptions. We are on our way! But can I admit to being “uncomfortable” seeing a woman breastfeed, too? But then I did it and realized that it’s very symbolic of woman’s strength. Who else can keep another human alive for months/years at a time in this natural way — no one but mothers!
And this breastfeeding conundrum is why I always say…moms are “the ultimate outcasts”!
Hey Heather! I totally here you. I remember feeling a tad bit uncomfortable the first time I saw a woman breastfeeding, too. But I was also a pubescent teenager and hadn’t a clue. I think though, that you have to be a mom, and have to have done it to understand it’s importance, it’s power and it’s beauty. And yes, sadly we are “the ultimate outcasts.” ~Ree
And yet other, much more offensive, facebook pages continue to stay?
I could maybe understand a woman making a remark to you if you had totally whipped it out, but it was under your sweater! Hello people, this is the most natural thing in the world!
The ridiculous thing about Facebook’s policy is that they allow pictures of women wearing pasties and nothing else. It’s stupid.
I totally love the hat! I find it unbelievable that FB allows racist sites, and people to post their drunken half naked stupidity, but bans something natural like breastfeeding. Argh.
Happy ICLW!
Thank you all for your support! I actually have not heard a single word from FB in the more than one month since they deleted the page, so I don’t know what their “official stance” on it is! I’ve sent numerous emails and I believe others have as well, but to no avail
Hi Sara! Thanks for coming by my blog. I was horrified and shocked to hear they took down your page. It makes no sense. I am going to try and reach out to someone there. She works in HR, but heck you never know. If you hear anything in the meantime, can you let me know? ~Ree