
Women to Facebook: Stop banning our breast-feeding pics - FluidDjango
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57371614-71/women-to-facebook-stop-banning-our-breast-feeding-pics/
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k-mcgrady
Breast feeding is a natural thing and should be accepted in public by society.
However, the people flagging these pictures are most likely the woman's
friends. She should speak to them instead of protesting at Facebook. I would
guess her friends don't like pictures of her breasts showing up regularly in
their News Feed. If you are using a public computer for instance and the
pictures show up it could land you in an embarrassing situation.

Personally I think it is a case of over sharing. I have nothing against public
breast feeding but I don't need to see dozens of photos of you doing it. If
you think it is a mundane activity that should be more socially acceptable
don't share it on Facebook, you're sensationalising it.

And if it matters to you that they can share any content without risk of it
being pulled, start a blog. This is a case for the open web I guess which
there has been quite a lot of talk about these last few days.

I hope that doesn't come off as a rant/rude but it seems like something blown
out of proportion.

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darxius
I agree with the "start a blog" approach. It scares me to think that social
networking is getting closer and closer to: "but my genitals are the most
fundamental aspect of my humanity, I should be allowed to post a picture of
them on my wall".

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erikpukinskis
Breasts are not genitals. <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/genitals>

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lucisferre
I find it most disappointing that someone here had to be told this.

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darxius
As a man, I can't say I fully understand this. However, I do respect the
feeling of wanting breastfeeding pictures up on their facebook pages. It's a
beautiful thing, and I don't see the "porn" or "obscenity" involved.

I also support the freedom to protest (breastfeeding in front of facebook
offices). However, I have to admit I kind of "face palmed" when I heard that
that was their plan of action. Whatever, their right. And I won't be there to
take it away from them.

One last thought. In no way does facebook "have" to let women show pictures of
them breasfeeding. I feel some people are quick to jump the gun and pull the
"freedom of speech" card on websites like this. By signing up with facebook,
you are joining a club and swearing that you'll follow the rules of that club.
If the club decides to ban something, its their right. Just like stores can
refuse to serve customers.

Interesting read, thanks.

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hornd
Totally agree with everything you said here. I think it's important for people
to realize that facebook is completely within their rights to take down any
pictures they want. There are no civil rights violations occuring when
facebook chooses to take down your pictures. Personally, I don't think they
should be taking down breast-feeding pictures; however, there is nothing
illegal or unethical about them doing so.

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DarkShikari
_I think it's important for people to realize that facebook is completely
within their rights_

Yes, it's within their rights, so it may be _legal_ , but...

 _however, there is nothing illegal or unethical about them doing so._

How does this imply that it not being unethical? There are certainly plenty of
cases where something is "within your rights" and "legal", but still
unethical. If I plagiarize an out-of-copyright author, what I'm doing is
_unethical_ , but it's still _within my rights_ , as wrong as it is.

Let's not perpetuate this stupid "it's legal, so it's okay" meme: not all
things which are "legal" are perfectly ethical, nor are all things which are
not "legal" unethical.

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hornd
Right, it not being unethical is my opinion; I didn't mean to present it as an
objective statement. I'm certainly open to listening to opinions that this is
ethically "wrong", but as of now I don't believe it is.

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tgrass
I have several female friends who have been very political about this on
facebook for years. But facebook is just one venue for them.

They make this point everywhere, in parks, at work, at the coffeehouse. The
point is to make breastfeeding natural. And when you realize that it's not
(and it doesn't matter whether it's a well-dressed VP or an MFA student, it is
clearly socially unacceptable, or at least uncomfortable, to breast feed in
public) - when you realize that feeding our children should be the most
natural thing in the world, and it isn't, you can appreciate the militancy
with which they fight to make it a common occurrence for the rest of us: like
showing up in your news feed.

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jchrisa
My wife isn't shy about breast feeding in public. The closest we've ever had
to awkwardness was the waiter at a middle eastern place who tried to give her
an extra napkin for modesty. But we live on the west coast.

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Zirro
Do we know if Facebook has an automatic system which tries to detect
inappropriate images, and if it is part of the issue here? Or are they relying
completely on having people flagging images? If the latter is true, aren't the
friends of the women to "blame", and should be the ones being told to tolerate
the images in question?

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jrockway
The solution is probably to make "flagging" into "tagging". Instead of pulling
a photo down when it's flagged, tag it as "breastfeeding" and make sure to
only show the pictures to accounts that are opted in. That way, people aren't
unexpectedly presented with something they may dislike. Conversely, if you're
not offended by anything, don't add any tag filters.

Ultimately this doesn't push society towards being more open, but at least a
small group of normal people can interact without being harassed by a bunch of
prudes.

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sambeau
This is another step in the road of moving social networking out of the
private unregulated space into the public heavily regulated space.

In this case I see it as a good direction; when young people in the UK were
being given 4 year prison sentences for making jokes about rioting, I saw it
is a terrible direction.

Either way it will be interesting to see where Facebook et al legally end up.
My suspicion will be that it will be more like a Mall and less like a private
club.

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tibbon
Who takes photos of women breastfeeding? If I see a women doing that, I don't
stare, as its what she can do and I have no issue with it, but I also
certainly don't pull out my DSLR, take a photo, upload to Facebook and tag
them.

I'm just scratching my head, why women want photos of themselves breastfeeding
on Facebook. Do their friends really want to see it? Yes, its natural and ok
in public, but I'm just having a hard time imagining why someone wants photos
of that up there?

It must (or probably is) women's friends flagging the photos to begin with. I
can't imagine Facebook employees manually look at every photo uploaded.

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sliverstorm
It could always be one of those rebellious things, where they _know_ somebody
is going to have a problem with it so they go out of their way to do it.

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erikpukinskis
Could you please not speculate about things you have no evidence for
whatsoever?

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sliverstorm
The comment was no more speculative than its parent.

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gerggerg
Mmm, I think this really highlights the issue that facebook is not a public
space. It's private. You can campaign all you want but this isn't womens lib.
This is a private business that has their own rules. You want real freedom of
expression? Facebook doesn't care. They just want their earnings to be as high
as possible.

I'm by no means saying that facebook is doing anything close to the right
thing. Exactly opposite. But I think theres a gross misconception among the
general public that people somehow have any rights whatsoever on facebook.

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romnempire
...that's a hardly useful protest idea. the obvious protest would be to switch
social networks. if you can get a good number of 'locked-in' un-tech savvy
users to jump ship, facebook will get worried.

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kalleboo
I imagine that Facebook are largely just trying to cover their asses. While we
have these mothers who are proud to be breastfeeding, there are just as many
other prudish mothers who are ready to sue Facebook for allowing their 13-year
old to see _gasp_ a breast. And while Facebook may be fine with breastfeeding
mothers, they don't want to support their cause financially with their legal
department.

