Friday, February 13, 2015

Should Facebook have deleted this photo of new mothers and their babies?

Photographer Jade Beall recently posted one of her group portraits of nude mothers breastfeeding to her Facebook page and the social networking site took it down after men complained it was obscene.

"I have been photographing women for 15 years but it was a nude self-portrait I took of myself breastfeeding my son (when I was 80 pounds heavier), that sparked my desire to photograph and celebrate the beauty, 'flaws', shapes, &vulnerabilities of all mothers.

"This photo received a lot of traction quickly. I received many private messages (all from men) telling me I should remove the photo, though I'd posted the image with nipples and genital areas blurred (because I have had images removed before by Facebook where a woman's nipple was shown). Then someone noticed I had missed blurring one nipple and the photo was again reported and finally removed." She told Cosmopolitan. Continue...

While Beall (above) understands Facebook's anti-nipple policy, she sees this as a larger overall issue.

"Do I think it's silly that men can have exposed nipples but women cannot as a rule for this platform? Sure," she says. "But that's a cultural thing, not simply a Facebook thing. I would love to post my nude breastfeeding mothers without blurring the nipples on Facebook, but what I would love most is for Americans to redefine their relationship to a woman's breasts and to praise and celebrate the nude, varying body shapes without having to label them 'disgusting' or 'unhealthy.'"

The uncensored photo below...