International Breastfeeding Symbol
Facebook is in a bit of hot water again, just a few days after its much-anticipated IPO filing. The social networking giant’s ban on people uploading pictures of themselves breastfeeding their children has started to rankle mums and families across the globe.
Groups in cities from Sydney to Dublin converged outside Facebook offices today, staging ‘nurse-ins’ to protest Facebook’s breastfeeding stance. According to RTÉ a few minutes ago, 40 protestors, including women, men and children, converged at Facebook’s Dublin offices, which are located on the corner of Hanover Quay and Benson Street, this morning.
Other cities that are hosting such Facebook protests today include New York, Seattle, California and Detroit.
So what’s the deal? Up to now, Facebook has been deleting photos that mums have been posting of themselves nursing their children. Not only that, but mums have had their accounts suspended or deleted for breaching Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities because Facebook has deemed such images to contain “nudity, pornography or graphic sexual content”.
Certain segments of society across the world have been riled by Facebook’s stance on breastfeeding, with many arguing that if it is acceptable to nurse in public, why is it not acceptable to show nursing photos in the virtual world, ie, via Facebook, with their friends and loved ones?
Friends of Breastfeeding – Ireland website
Nurse-ins
Today, 6 February 2012, has been chosen as the day for people to hold ‘nurse-ins’ outside Facebook offices in certain cities. In Ireland, for instance, Friends of Breastfeeding has had an appeal on its website for people who wish to protest outside Facebook’s
South Australia’s Minister for the Status of Women, Gail Gago, has also voiced her support for nursing mums who wish to share images of themselves breastfeeding with their social circle on Facebook. She indicated today that she will be penning a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, appealing that the ban on breastfeeding photos be overturned in cases where women upload their own photos of themselves nursing their kids.
