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.<p>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.<p>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.<p>I hope that doesn't come off as a rant/rude but it seems like something blown out of proportion.
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.<p>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.<p>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.<p>Interesting read, thanks.
I have several female friends who have been very political about this on facebook for years. But facebook is just one venue for them.<p>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.
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?
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.<p>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.
This is another step in the road of moving social networking out of the private unregulated space into the public heavily regulated space.<p>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.<p>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.
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.<p>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?<p>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.
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.<p>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.
...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.
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 <i>gasp</i> a breast. And while Facebook may be fine with breastfeeding mothers, they don't want to support their cause financially with their legal department.