back to article Facebook boobs over breastfeeding page... again

Facebook had one of its nipple-related related brainstorms last week, banning, unbanning, then re-banning breastfeeding support group, The Leaky Boob. The Leaky Boob group allows almost 11,000 mothers to share their experiences on breastfeeding – as well as providing casual visitors with a treasure trove of advice and tips. …

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  1. Ian Yates

    Glutten for punishment

    If I was them, I'd strongly consider one of the hundreds of other free services that offer at least the bare minimum of Fb's features and don't randomly delete your group without warning.

    Most even allow for Fb, Google, OpenID authentication, so you're not forcing people to already be a part of something else.

    I'm not saying this couldn't happen elsewhere, but the Fb mods do appear to be pretty trigger-happy.

    1. Cameron Colley

      I was about to post much the same thing.

      It's about time most people stopped using Facebook for anything other than a glorified advert to refer people elsewhere. Do these people not realise that they are providing free content to help make advertisers rich and gaining nothing but ill treatment in return?

      If more people would have the guts to leave Facebook perhaps less people would be fooled into giving away their demographic, and other, information to Facebook to help lure in advertisers.

  2. Catroast
    Go

    Ok.

    Let the tit puns flow.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      no comment

      Juicy!

  3. Moz
    Grenade

    Under 13s?

    "By way of response, Facebook issued a statement which read: "[...] to ensure Facebook remains a safe and trusted environment for everyone, including the many children (under the age of 13) who use the service."

    Eh? I thought kids under 13 using Facebook were against the terms of service?

  4. Bob 18

    Just use a traditional web forum

    Traditional web forums have served this kind of purpose for a long time. I see no reason to do it within the Facebook environment, where you loose all sense of pseudonymity and are also controlled by the arbitrary Facebook Police. Of those 10,000 moms, someone please install phpBB...

  5. oddie
    Thumb Up

    Normal

    Pictures of breastfeeding is just as obscene and perverted as pictures of people having sex or closeups of exposed sexual organs, in other words: not at all.

    You'd think as a sentient species we would have managed to come to terms the various aspects our our reproductive behaviour by now. Sex ≠ Bad, and babies are quite a normal consequence of sex. As is breastfeeding.

    We really need to get over ourselves.

    1. CD001

      To be fair

      The word used was vulgar rather than obscene - and to be honest, I find breast feeding mildly disgusting (no idea why - I don't like spiders either - just one of those things that makes me shudder and go "eeeuuuurrggh") - I don't want to see sprogs clamped onto their mummy's leaking, distended, veiny norks.

      It may be totally natural but so's taking a dump and I don't want to see pictures of that either - I would class both as vulgar. Everyone has their own, slightly odd hang-ups.

      Don't see the reason for taking the page down though - my weird hang-ups are my problem and I'd simply not visit a page on breast feeding. If things can be removed for "vulgarity" Facebook should have probably banned my account months ago for my status updates when I'm having a bad day - plenty of vulgarity there ;)

      1. oddie
        Thumb Up

        Personally...

        I really really don't like buttons on things.. zippers are ok, but I really don't like buttons. I guess everyone has preferences :)

        And I agree with you that you shouldn't be forced to look pictures of someone taking a dump, or watching the act itself, or made to look at pictures of breastfeeding/sex/pinapples if you don't want to.

        Breastfeeding in public is a bit of a subject that raises other arguements for and against, a whole other can of worms which someone else I'm sure will pop open further down the page.

        The point I was trying to make was that lots of people (this facebook group for instance, to avoid weasel-speak :P) are trying to position breastfeeding as 'not vulgar' by saying it's nothing at all like sex... which I take affront to, as I have never thought of the act itself (sex), or pictures/video of it as vulgar, obscene, perverted, etc.

        In fact, I quite enjoy it :)

        It's time to drag the confused and puritannical masses kicking and screaming out of the century of the fruitbat :)

  6. JasonW
    Flame

    Did I miss something?

    Aren't the "Leaky Boobs" in question not *used* pretty much exclusively by under-13s - they've seen them before, even touched them.

    OMG! Someone think of the children scarred by this outrage!

  7. Alan B
    WTF?

    "...or showing photos that might have a little breast exposed in them..."

    What about if they show photos that might have a big breast exposed in them? lol

    Really, Facebook, along with many other (dis)organisations need to drag themselves into the 21st century. Breast feeding is the most natural feeding method in the world, so why do some people treat it as porn? I don't understand their logic.

  8. Jamie Kitson

    Thick Line

    Surely it's not difficult to draw a line between pornography and breastfeeding?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Maybe...

      But Rule 34 blurs the line quite a lot...

      "One man's ***", etc.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      @Surely it's not difficult to draw a line

      depends who's being fed, for a start off

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Children's privacy

    If you want to expose your breast in public, fine by me, but you don't put pictures of children on Internet. It is bad enough that I have to live with the knowledge that my mother has albums of compromising pictures of me that she can show to people. I would not be very pleased if she in addition had shared copies of them with the whole world.

    Respect your child's right to privacy.

    ...

    I never thought I say this (and mean it), but won't somebody think of the children.

    1. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

      Wow...

      "It is bad enough that I have to live with the knowledge that my mother has albums of compromising pictures of me that she can show to people."

      Compromising? At breastfeeding age? You must have had a highly unusual infancy period...

      Or do you just mean that any picture that provides evidence that you DO have genitals is compromising by definition? Perhaps you think that without having seen your naked childhood pictures everybody will a priory assume that you are a sexless alien organism, free from the original sin and only practicing asexual reproduction..

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        sigh

        First of all, I have to point out that I do not like to be taken picture of, at all. It might be hard for you to understand, but that is what privacy is all about, my right to choose. Second, yes I do think for instance pictures of me breastfeeding would have been embarrassing if they had been passed around at school when I was a teenager. I can understand that some people wouldn't mind, but I do think I am not alone on that one. Also, if you find it very strange that some people can be embarrassed when their mother show baby pictures, and pictures from when they were a child, to their new girlfriend, then I do find you strange. Actually there are very few people that had a picture perfect childhood. Quite a few people have worked hard to become somebody else than they were during childhood and their youth. I wouldn't care for much for many pictures from past to be shared on the workplace either.

        But motives for my privacy doesn't matter. It is part of what privacy is all about, I have the right to choose what part of me I want to be public and what part that I want to keep private. For a parent to decide that on behalf of their kids, and who their kids are twenty five years from now, isn't right.

        1. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

          Well...

          I appreciate that some people may have strong (medical) reasons for not willing to distribute their childhood pictures around. However, those pictures are property of their parents (always were, internet or no internet) and there is nothing a child can do to prevent them from being taken in the first place.

          "Also, if you find it very strange that some people can be embarrassed when their mother show baby pictures, and pictures from when they were a child, to their new girlfriend, then I do find you strange."

          Well, consider me strange, but in my life any girlfriend my mother could have decided to show my pictures to, knew that:

          - I was supposed to be smaller and cuter-looking as a baby

          - I was supposed to have a todger

          - The latter, as seen on the baby-pictures, was not supposed to be representative of the size/shape of the actual equipment.

          Having said all that - I don't suggest for a minute that it is OK for any "social network" to distribute user's photos without proper consent. I value privacy myself and I believe that one should not put anything private (which he does not want other people to see) anywhere on the net in the first place.

          But I also despise the false modesty such as the one described in the original article - I believe it is a sort of perversion to be offended by the sight of babies being breast-fed.

    2. Tom Kelsall

      @Anonymous Coward @ 13:11GMT

      Why the hell does a kid need more privacy to eat their dinner than an adult does? Really - people need to get over the idea that if it's a breast it's about sex, or that breasts are a "Private part" to be kept hidden. Every single human being on the planet has breasts (females more fully proportioned than males) so why on earth would anyone feel it necessary to hide them?

      Babies eat their dinner from Mom. Unnecessarily BOTTLE feeding a newborn baby is a LESS natural way of feeding a baby - I'm aware it's sometimes necessary of course. It saddens me to see some families choose bottle feeding when they are perfectly capable of breastfeeding and there are no factors preventing it.

      If I can eat my dinner in perfect harmony with the people sitting around me then so can my babies... and I am absolutely certain that they will when adults regard those pictures with joy and admiration rather than embarrassment... because that's how *I* am choosing to bring them up.

  10. PeterGriffin
    WTF?

    Obscene violence ok - boobs bad

    No doubt moderated by our cousins over the ocean.. Anyone remember the uproar caused by the Janet Jackson boob slip at the Superbowl? The half-second view of a breast was considered indecent and cost CBS a $550,000 fine...

    @Moz Most likely the FB T&Cs say under 13s cannot have their own account but a parent or guardian may create one for them to use under supervision.

  11. This post has been deleted by its author

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    why don't they just

    buy hosting elsewhere, and put what they like on it.

    if you don't like Facebooks' terms and conditions, then feel free not to use the free service that they provide.

    why don't people ever get that?

    if you don't like the terms dictated by the people who own the servers, then feel free to buy your own and set-up a rival service.

    1. ecophreak

      Facebook may be evil but...

      It's because everyone uses it, if your group isn't 'compatible' with Facebook, your average internet user isn't going to find it.

    2. Cyberspy

      @AC - why don't they just

      They probably don't have an issue with FB's T's & C's.

      All they want is for FB to apply their T's&C's consistently and fairly - something that is obviously not going on here.

      The fact is, they want their group to be easily found and accessible, which is what Facebook is for.

      @Your Retarded (Surely "You're Retarded", or perhaps I'm missing the joke about someone being retarded - any idea who it could be?)

      While FB do have too much of the market, a group of Mums sharing info about breastfeeding and who just wants to be found are probably not the sort of activists who also want to make a stand against FB's near monopoly.

  13. James 5

    Facebook?

    Yawn, facebook - just sooo last decade - we're in the decade of reality now!

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Facebook ≠ Internet

    @ecophreak: Attitudes such as yours only serve to greater entrench us in a monopolistic quaqmire.

  15. copsewood

    Weird and unnatural exclusion

    <rant>

    My first (8 week old) grandchild's mother was one of the FB group concerned. Why on earth can't we all just regard regular breastfeeding anywhere the mum wants to do this as normal ? If you don't like the look of it then just look away. It's bad manners to stare anyway. Nothing could be more normal than helping a mum by letting her feed her baby the way nature intended whenever and wherever the need arises.

    Mum's feed babies this way in my church and are welcome to do so, and this isn't a problem in most restaurants these days. I wouldn't want to spend or give my money in any public venue that excluded breastfeeding anyway, as life is tough enough for a mum who wants to give baby the best possible start in life, without being excluded from places because some people have an unnatural repulsion to this wonderful process.

    And if this method of feeding baby is at all possible, breast is definitely best.

    Whatever I may think about FB and other nasty corps having far too much access to and control over our private communications, new mums really do need each others' support and for this to be as readily accessible as possible, without having to carry out technical tasks of the kind I do to keep social networking going on the forums I host on my own server well away from corp control.

    </rant>

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Headmaster

      Gah!

      I know this has nothing whatsoever to do with the story, but why do people talk about "baby" without an article or pronoun? Y'know, what's wrong with "her baby" or "the baby" etc? It just seems so patronizing ... I've never heard a woman go on about "husband" (or other persons their respective clan members) in this way.

      Anon because for some reason I fear defensive mums (again, please divorce this remark from the wider content of the article itself) more than anything, and hope to Jeebus that Ms Bee isn't among them...!

      1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

        Re: Gah!

        Hey, you know the commentards are my children.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Friendbreeze.com anyone?

    Why not post to a site such as www.friendbreeze.com or something other than facebook. Seems that you show so much as a fingernail on fb you get banned. Whoever is modding over at fb need to learn the difference between porn and breastfeeding!

    1. Kevin Reilly
      Happy

      Separated@birth

      >Seems that you show so much as a fingernail on fb you get banned. Whoever is modding over at >fb need to learn the difference between porn and breastfeeding!

      Well waddaya expect.

      http://www.cringely.com/2011/01/2011-prediction-5-facebook-forks/

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bare faced cheek

    "By way of response, Facebook issued a statement which read: "[...] to ensure Facebook remains a safe and trusted environment for everyone, including the many children "

    As far as I known, breasts are safe, and trusted by all babies. Do they become unsafe as kids get older?

    What about buttocks, I've never heard of anyone suffering from buttock trauma?

    And as for our genitals, I'd image that most youngsters would would laugh their socks off (nothing intended here!), at least that's what we did at school (laugh that is)

    Looks like its not the kids that are behaving childishly.

    1. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

      Buttock traumatology

      "I've never heard of anyone suffering from buttock trauma?"

      I used to have a lot of these - caused by my father's belt, usually. But any suffering was short lasting and there is a body of opinion that these traumas actually do you a lot of good (though illegal now in this country).

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    if breastfeeding is so normal

    why is it on facebook in the first place?

  19. mafoo
    Coat

    Bad pun...

    Facebook getting angry at more people Expressing themselves.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Titter ye not

    Breastfeeding is one of the most natural things in the world. Attach any shame to it, make it socially unacceptable - and you devalue the healthiest way to feedm, and to bond, with a newborn child. By all means, read up on the biology yourself.

    Facebook seems to sport a rather ultra-conservative Christian attitude at this point; whilst this fact does not exactly bowl me over like an Antipodean batsman, it is somewhat depressing.

  21. Russell Preece

    Am I really the first to say....

    "bitty....."

    That is all.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    I am with everyone else that is pro breast feeding

    Just love to get a glimpse of a boob during the day, it's the only way to legitamatly see other womans boobs without the wife having a hairy fit

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: I am with everyone else that is pro breast feeding

      That's nice.

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