SEATTLE -
Women across the country are speaking out after facebook removed a photo of a breastfeeding woman. A New England mother of twins who struggled to master the "double latch" technique posted a photo on a breastfeeding fan page. A few days later the photo was gone and April Purinton says facebook called it offensive and threatened to delete her account.
April wrote an open letter to facebook saying; "Do you really devalue women this much?" She went on to add "You know what I find offensive? The "Big Boobs" application that lets users send each other cartoon drawings of over-sexualized breasts."
It's an upsetting situation for breastfeeding activists or "lactivists" as some say. They started a facebook group called "Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding is not Obscene" and encouraged women to change their profile picture to showcase a breastfeeding mom. Another group "If Breastfeeding Offends You, Put a Blanket Over Your Head", has more than 200,000 members.
Lactation Consultant Betsy Hoffmeister is one of many people upset with Facebook's policy "a baby breastfeeding, by its definition, is not obscene and I think women should have the right to have that on their webpage if they want to." The debate of showing photos of women breastfeeding is not new. La Leche of Seattle representative Emily Healy tried to contact facebook about the pictures "we're sending a message that breastfeeding is not a good thing; and that's not what we want to do."
Nursing Mom Elizabeth Morgan called the issue "ridiculous". "When people talk about breasts or boobs they automatically think of them as something that's sexual" Morgan said. She adds "when you're a nursing mother they are a way to feed and nourish your child."
Facebook has said they have no problem with breastfeeding photos as long as they meet the requirements for appropriate material. The majority of items deleted from facebook are tagged by another user who feels they are inappropriate.
April wrote an open letter to facebook saying; "Do you really devalue women this much?" She went on to add "You know what I find offensive? The "Big Boobs" application that lets users send each other cartoon drawings of over-sexualized breasts."
It's an upsetting situation for breastfeeding activists or "lactivists" as some say. They started a facebook group called "Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding is not Obscene" and encouraged women to change their profile picture to showcase a breastfeeding mom. Another group "If Breastfeeding Offends You, Put a Blanket Over Your Head", has more than 200,000 members.
Lactation Consultant Betsy Hoffmeister is one of many people upset with Facebook's policy "a baby breastfeeding, by its definition, is not obscene and I think women should have the right to have that on their webpage if they want to." The debate of showing photos of women breastfeeding is not new. La Leche of Seattle representative Emily Healy tried to contact facebook about the pictures "we're sending a message that breastfeeding is not a good thing; and that's not what we want to do."
Nursing Mom Elizabeth Morgan called the issue "ridiculous". "When people talk about breasts or boobs they automatically think of them as something that's sexual" Morgan said. She adds "when you're a nursing mother they are a way to feed and nourish your child."
Facebook has said they have no problem with breastfeeding photos as long as they meet the requirements for appropriate material. The majority of items deleted from facebook are tagged by another user who feels they are inappropriate.
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