Blimey - Facebook has removed our picture of a baby being breastfed...

[KateMumsnet]

Many of you will remember the recent kerfuffle involving a breastfeeding mother being told by Claridge's staff to cover herself (and her baby) up with a napkin. It generated lots of discussion on MN, and we duly posted a link to the thread on our Facebook page, accompanied by this image of a baby being breastfed.

We were more than a bit taken aback to discover this morning that the post has been removed - apparently for failing to follow Facebook's community standards. Find out more over here - and if you think this is as bonkers as we do, do feel free to share!

I don't have Facebook so can't share but obviously this is surprising and wrong.

Clearly I'm a bit old school to ask this, but have Facebook been contacted about this for an explanation? Is there a response?

I am also surprised that HQ were unaware of this Facebook policy. Your members have been complaining about it for years!

I just can't wrap my head around the fact that it's ok to have a topless photo in a newspaper, but a baby breastfeeding is offensive. If you don't like it - don't look at it!!! And people really should just grow up. Showing a little bit of breast isn't going to kill anyone is it? I too can't believe the hatred and racism allowed on FB, but something as natural and peaceful as a breastfeeding baby is removed. I agree with the other comments about all posting photos - maybe we should have a national "post breastfeeding photos day" :)

I reported a video of a man beating his teenage daughter for being disrespectful and they deemed it within community guidelines! Facebook are shits

I would love to see a facebook campaign getting people to change their profile pictures to one of them feeding their baby. eg something along these lines

'If you agree that every parent should be able to feed their baby however and wherever they like, please post this as your status and change your profile picture to a picture of you feeding your baby.'

I think the wording should be a bit tighter to avoid people wilfully misinterpreting about feeding somewhere dangerous/dangerous food, but you get the idea! even if there are more pictures of people bottle feeding than breastfeeding I think it would still be positive for breastfeeding.

can mn coordinate something?

One of my FB friends recently shared a photo of a naked woman doing a headstand and a child attached to one of her nipples. As far as I know it's still on her wall.

I'm guessing no one was offended enough to report to FB's pearl-clutching department otherwise it would have gone straight away. Not because of the nudity of course, but because of the breastfeeding element of the photo.

Bonkers.

This is why I hate facebook. I refuse to engage with it. It is horrible.

Shared the photo on my facebook page, and got a comment from a friend about 'what about her rights not to see it? ' and that not everyone wants to look at this, and it's not all about women's rights to bare it all. She compared page three to breast feeding pictures, and said women want these censored...
I do see that discretion feeding is important, and there is a balance between flopping out your boobs for all and sundry, and quietly going about your business feeding your child.
Until breasts are not sexualised all over the media, we are not really going to change attitudes.

I would love to see a facebook campaign getting people to change their profile pictures to one of them feeding their baby.

I don't have any photos of me feeding my babies. I never felt the need to have one taken.

Changing it to the photo in the OP would make sense, given the context.

My news feed has just included a montage of 3 or 4 fully naked (from the waist up) pictures of a woman doing some kind of Eastern dance, posted by the dancer herself: it was apparently reported (obviously not by me as I am not bothered as long as she isn't) but it has been deemed by fb not to break their guidelines. So now I am completely confused: and very troubled by the implication that breasts are allowed to be art for the enjoyment of the public but not allowed to be seen fulfilling their biological function.

I like the idea of a coordinated day of action so to speak
Let's name the day and all post pictures of breastfeeding mothers either ourselves if we have one or someone else
I'll be up for that, even though it was 20 years ago and the fashion may offend more than anything

linspins - surely one of the best ways to desexualise breasts being used for their primary purpose is for people to become accustomed to seeing it?

I have shared this and I notice that none of my friends have "liked" it so far.

Ughhh
I complained about a shared post / link ofa woman in short shorts and boobie top, all comments were completely sexualising her. I said it objectified women and that offended me. Facebook did nought.

Obviously it's censorship department is run by a bunch of hormone ridden sexually repressed muppets

Would facebook remove this

They probably wouldn't much like this Rubens painting from the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Long-distance breastfeeding!

"I do see that discretion feeding is important, and there is a balance between flopping out your boobs for all and sundry"

Discretion is NOT important.

If it was perfectly socially acceptable to breastfeed without hiding your breast for 200 000 years of human history (it was) then you have to ask yourself why it's suddenly considered socially unacceptable now, at a time when women generally dress more scantily than ever before.

And can we stop with the language ('flopping out boobs for all and sundry') designed to characterise normal breastfeeding behaviours are grotesque and obscene?

Insisting on 'discretion' and pandering to people who insist on it is just another way of insinuating that breastfeeding is indecent. It isn't. For thousands of years it was the subject for high art and display in churches and grand houses. Why is it only now that we expect women to hide under a cloth to do it and consider it somehow shameful?

I hate the 'I have no problem with breastfeeding, as long as it's discreet' argument. It implies that women's bodies and the act of feeding and nurturing a child are shameful and indecent. They just aren't and I resent the implication that my body is disgusting.

The other old chestnut, "You wouldn't urinate or defecate in public so why do that?" These lot obviously don't understand the difference between eating and shitting and need some help/ a biology lesson.

Lately I've also seen "well I wouldn't get my dick out and start wanking in the middle of a restaurant." Well that is a relief but I don't see what it's got to do with anything.

Hello all

Facebook have been in touch, and have asked us to pass on the following message:

"This content was removed in error. As our team processes more than one million reports each week, we occasionally make a mistake. We agree that breastfeeding is natural and beautiful. Images of mothers breastfeeding their infants have always been allowed on Facebook.”

Have they? I don't recall them always being allowed.

Oh well, fair play.

Good, I'm glad they've been sensible about it and restored the photo. Let's hope they'll take the same line in future.