The free Internet utility Facebook, with its tens of millions of users, has been in battle for over a year regarding its policy on posting breastfeeding photos. Facebook claims that breastfeeding photos are “obscene,” “pornographic,”
or “sexually explicit” if they show “an entire breast.” What they are trying to say in a round-about way, is that breastfeeding photos are “obscene,” “pornographic,”
or “sexually explicit” if they show nipple. They like many others have a problem with the nipple.

Search engines also have a problem with nipples. If you have a picture of a breast on a website, even if that website is about breast health, like preventing breast cancer or how to conduct a personal breast exam, some search engines will flag your site as “adult” and insert a page requiring readers to confirm they are 18 years or older before they can access the website. What is the deal with the nipple? But I digress…

Let’s get to the heart of it. Women’s nipples, breastfeeding or not, are not obscene. In most states and provinces, women’s nipples are not considered obscene, whether  breastfeeding, in photos or not. In places where there may be legal restrictions against the visibility of nipples, terms such as “obscene” and “pornographic” are not used. These are words that Facebook uses and these are words that have been used to demean and stigmatize women. Facebook also claims that images of breasts harm
children.

Because of these definitions, Facebook still removes photographs of women breastfeeding from groups and personal profiles, despite complaints about that practice going back over a year. In response to this, two events will occur this
Saturday, December 27:

1) A protest feed-in by breastfeeding mothers outside the Faceboook
headquarters: 156 University Avenue, Palo Alto, California. Time: 11 AM
to 2 PM.

2) A virtual protest. Women and men on Facebook are asked to participate in two ways: change your profile picture to a photo of a woman breastfeeding a
child (it may also be a work of art, or a non-human mammal); and change
your status line to “Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!”

These changes should be in place for the 24-hour period of December 27.

If you breastfeed or support breastfeeding, please participate and pass it along.

This past month my daughter has been reminding me of one of the joys of breastfeeding. I suppose some would look on it as embarrassing, but I truly relish it and find it more than amusing. My daughter has officially become a boobie smacker!  Breastfeeders everywhere are familiar with the light pat-pat-pat at their breast when their young ones want to nurse. For some, this is a sign that they need to wean; for others it is something to be discouraged; and then for some of us it is something to be laughed at and enjoyed. Over the past month, my daughter has moved from the light pat-pat-pat to the heavy-handed smack-smack-smack, which makes the request a little more obvious. If the pat-pat-pat signalled the end for you, you may not have enjoyed the heavier smack except during those weaning tantrums of “I want boob!”

When my eldest daughter first began to signal when she wanted to nurse, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel. Would I wean? Would  I discourage it in public? Because when she started ASKING for boobie I was certainly going to wean! None of the above was true. I nursed her for 2.5 years, long after she was able to vocally ask to nurse. Once she stopped nursing, I missed those times when she would crawl onto my lap and pat at my breast and ask for boob. So this past month there have been many fond reminisces of those first experiences and many sighs of “here we are again.”

My daughter has for many months has been telling me when she wants to nurse. She crawls up onto my lap and assumes the position with mouth at the breast she wants to nurse on first. Sometimes she would even smack her lips at my shirt if I didn’t seem to be getting the hint. I knew what she was doing, but most people would watch her and think she just wanted a cuddle. Now that she is an overt smacker of the boob, what she is trying to convey is way more obvious, and really, is just one step away from yelling ” I want boobie now mommy!” Oh how I look forward to those days!

Just wanted to let you all know, and make note for myself, that The International Baby Food Action Network’s 2009 Breastfeeding Calendar is available for the festive season!

Every year IBFAN produces this lovely calendar featuring 12 beautiful photos of moms breastfeeding their babies from around the world. If you are a breastfeeder or a breastfeeding supporter, you may want one.

The calendar costs $15 and can be ordered online at: http://www.infactcanada.ca/mall/calendar.asp

-or-

 by calling the INFACT Canada office at 416 595-9819.