Photographer’s Outrage As Facebook Bans Photo Of Mothers Breastfeeding

An Arizona photographer, Jade Beall, who’s been photographing breastfeeding women for 15 years, posted her shot of seven nude women with their nipples and genitals blurred on Facebook and it was taken down after a chorus of male detractors reported them as obscene.

‘I received many private messages (all from men) telling me I should remove the photo,’ she told Cosmo. When someone, likely one of these men, realized she’d missed blurring one nipple, the photo was taken down.’

Beall’s been taking breastfeeding photos like the one Facebook banned ever since she documented her own post-pregnancy form.

‘It was a nude self-portrait I took of myself breastfeeding my son (when I was 80 pounds heavier), that sparked my desire to photograph and celebrate the beauty, ‘flaws’, shapes, and vulnerabilities of all mothers,’ she told Cosmo.

This new phase in her work gave birth to a book ‘A Beautiful Body Project’ published last year.

In it, Beall placed unretouched photos of ‘women alongside their stories of their journeys to build self-esteem in a world that thrives off women feeling insecure.’

It’s no surprise, then, that she was less then ecstatic over some of the negative responses to her Facebook photo.

Do I think it’s silly that men can have exposed nipples but women cannot as a rule for this platform? Sure, she says. ‘But what I would love most is for Americans to redefine their relationship to a woman’s breasts and to praise and celebrate the nude, varying body shapes without having to label them disgusting or unhealthy.’

The photographer has touched so many that her book was funded entirely by donors and volunteers, who raised tens of thousands via Kickstarter for the cause.

Ms Beall told the Huffington Post: ‘We are facing an epidemic of women who feel unworthy of being called beautiful.’

To rectify this ‘epidemic’, she hopes to redefine society’s idea of beautiful women, especially those whose bodies have transformed through pregnancy and childbirth.

‘Shaming mothers for not “bouncing back” after childbirth can cause feelings of failure when being a mother is challenging enough,’ she explained.

Ms Beall added that negative feelings are often exaggerated among the many women who feel ‘un-beautiful’ even before giving birth.

What do think?

Source: DailyMail