Photos of breastfeeding continue to be removed by Facebook on a daily basis. Action is needed now!
Action items, May 15
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Please sign and share the petition!
1) Tweeps please RT this message: RT @humanmilknews 30 day FB ban for @NaturalMamaNZ for Cézanne #bfing art: @anoyes: please help http://ow.ly/aHJQ0
2) Facebook users, please comment AND SHARE the story on our page about this.
We have a potential reach of 2 million people - COMMENT AND SHARE!
3) Cherie has a petition up - go sign it.
While you are there, comment on the fact that many petitions have been signed already and Facebook deleted 258,000 supporters from the Hey Facebook! Breastfeeding Is not Obscene Official Petition Site group.
4) Go visit the Hey Facebook! Breastfeeding... official petition site and ask to join - by joining you'll be adding your voice to the group, which is at over 6,000 members since the deletions and growing every day.
Talk to people about this issue. Tell them we want Facebook to assign a Facebook Team to Breastfeeding! A Facebook Team would allow Facebook company to develop appropriate policies that truly support breastfeeding. A Facebook Team could move quickly to fix user accounts when they are suspended in error. They could remove unfair black marks placed against accounts in error.
More info and action items below. Check out the video, featuring the catchy "Why are we busting the breast" by Bowser and Blue.
Action items, May 15
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Please sign and share the petition!
Action Items May 4
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Cherie Raymond has had her account disabled for 30 days for sharing Paul Cézanne's painting of his son breastfeeding.1) Tweeps please RT this message: RT @humanmilknews 30 day FB ban for @NaturalMamaNZ for Cézanne #bfing art: @anoyes: please help http://ow.ly/aHJQ0
2) Facebook users, please comment AND SHARE the story on our page about this.
We have a potential reach of 2 million people - COMMENT AND SHARE!
3) Cherie has a petition up - go sign it.
While you are there, comment on the fact that many petitions have been signed already and Facebook deleted 258,000 supporters from the Hey Facebook! Breastfeeding Is not Obscene Official Petition Site group.
4) Go visit the Hey Facebook! Breastfeeding... official petition site and ask to join - by joining you'll be adding your voice to the group, which is at over 6,000 members since the deletions and growing every day.
Talk to people about this issue. Tell them we want Facebook to assign a Facebook Team to Breastfeeding! A Facebook Team would allow Facebook company to develop appropriate policies that truly support breastfeeding. A Facebook Team could move quickly to fix user accounts when they are suspended in error. They could remove unfair black marks placed against accounts in error.
Action needed right now:
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SHARE SHARE SHARE.
- Take items from the FB! Stop Harassing... page and share them out on your own Facebook page. Share them with your groups, your communities. Every time you share you amplify our messages.
Already there have been hundreds of news items, blog posts, YouTube videos, and etc.
- Take it into your real life - talk about this with others.
- Add your voice to the comments on blog posts and other positive coverage.
Make the point clear - Facebook must stop harassing, bullying, and intimidating breastfeeding women. Offers of apology and tweaks to their policy are not enough - they must take action and STOP deleting photos and taking down accounts. Every day women are finding photos removed, accounts frozen.
Action needed: Feb 6th, 2012Facebook, leave breastfeeding alone!
1) Come to one of the protests on Feb 6th...--------------------------
... protests, rallies, nurse-ins, Sydney is calling their event a boob-out! There are organized events in Dublin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid, New York, Toronto, Austin, Seattle, Menlo Park, Sydney (Feb 7), Singapore (Feb 7th), and more! Check the list.
You don't need to be a breastfeeding mother to come out - friends, family, co-workers - everyone who wants Facebook to stop harassing breastfeeding women should come and show Facebook how important this issue is!
Bring your smart-phones and take pictures and videos and upload them to YouTube, Tumblr, InstaGram, Pinterest, Tweet it out, Google+, and of course send them in to us at the FB! Stop Harassing... page! Tell everyone you know to share - use the power of social media to amplify our message: Facebook! Leave breastfeeding alone.
2) Hold your own event in your town...
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... If you don't live in a place where there is a protest, you can still get out and have your say. Call up a few friends and meet for coffee at an Internet cafe or at your public library. Take a smart-phone, take your picture, and share, share, share! Make sure you check in to the FB! Stop Harassing... page and tell us where you are and what you are doing to participate, so we can share out your story. Make good use of all of the social networks you normally use!
3) Virtual protest....
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Change your Facebook status picture - we'll be unveiling a special "badge" for you to use. Share your breastfeeding pictures. Share your pride and joy about breastfeeding your child with your friends, your family, the world! Talk about this issue, talk about the bigger issues of how actions like Facebook's harassment of breastfeeding women are harmful to ALL women, to children, to families, to society. Check in to the virtual protest event page.
4) In real life...
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Talk it up! Everywhere you go, when you are talking to people, talk about this issue and tell people what you will be doing on February 6 (or 7th for those of you on the other side of the International Date Line.) You will be surprised at how many people have heard of this and are supportive. Twice today I encountered people who had heard and are supportive - once in a clothing store where I was picking up a coat for my daughter, the sales clerk, who used to run a babywearing store, was thrilled to be able to ask me to give Emma her best wishes. Today at the bank while I was getting some American cash for my trip to Menlo Park, the teller wanted to know where I was going. When I told her she said, "my sister just had a baby and I think this thing Facebook is doing is ridiculous!" There is a lot of support out there.
Action needed, Jan 25-28, 2012:
1) Promote and attend the live-chats on the page, hosted by Emma Kwasnica with guests Afrykayn Moon, TBA, Heathery Farley.
2) Talk about this issue when your FB friends are talking about breastfeeding, and include a link to the page.
3) If you haven't already, please come by "like" the page: http://www.facebook.com/StopHarassingKwasnicaAndALLBreastfeedingWomen
4) Check the list of nurse-ins and see if one is in your town. Offer to help, or commit to attend. https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=324817760874621
Action needed: January 18, 2012:
Emma meets with Facebook policy makers today. Let's keep the pressure on and show Facebook how important this issue is to you. Please pick one thing from the list below and DO IT NOW! (Or heck, do 'em all!)
1) If you haven't already, please come by "like" the page:
2) Post Ann Douglas's excellent article, "Facebook’s attack on breastfeeding hurts women: Douglas" in your Facebook status. http://bit.ly/staronbfingfb
3) Share the YouTube videos- 30 second teaser: http://bit.ly/facebookbreast30sec- full video: http://bit.ly/youtubeFBbreast
4) Tweet about it! Put this out in your Twitter feed: Hey @facebook, take our hands off our breasts! Leave #breastfeeding pics alone. http://act.ly/5dj RT to sign
5) Take the survey: http://www.facebook.com/StopHarassingKwasnicaAndALLBreastfeedingWomen?sk=app_127709503932081
Action items: January 15, 2012:
This is Emma Kwasnica's statement to Facebook after they offered an apology.
Emma says she'll accept Facebook's apology when they fix their policy, right the wrong by reinstating accounts, take real steps to make sure it doesn't happen again, and put a real person in charge of solving further problems.
Facebook's response? They deleted her statement.
It's not malicious, they just don't appear to have control of their network. Emma has heard from them again and the statement is back up. But accounts are still being deleted, as I write this.
ACTION NEEDED NOW: 1) Pass Emma's statement on to all of your contacts - share on Facebook, send it out on Google+, Tweet, shout it out.
2) Send it to news outlets who have been covering this story
3) Use your voice and tell Facebook we want the harassment to stop
More info and action items below. Check out the video, featuring the catchy "Why are we busting the breast" by Bowser and Blue.
Uploaded by BfingRights4FB on Jan 11, 2012
Breastfeeding and Facebook
Sarah Dufton
Sarah Dufton
Breastfeeding images continue to be deleted from Facebook. Often when this happens, people are blocked from accessing their Facebook accounts for periods of time – 24 hours, 3 days. Sometimes Facebook disables or deletes their accounts. Although US and UK news media recently reported Facebook has made an about-face and apologized for removing breastfeeding photos, the harassment, bullying and intimidation continues.
This has gone on for years. Even though over 200,000 people signed an official petition to Facebook calling for them to stop. Even though in 2008 mothers protested outside Facebook’s headquarters, they continue to remove photos of breastfeeding women.
We want Facebook to:
- leave people who post breastfeeding photos alone
- change their policy to stop including breastfeeding photos with their policies prohibiting pornographic or sexually explicit material or nudity
What else can I do?
1) Join the Facebook Page – your “like” on the page is like signing a petition to Facebook
Check the “Info” section of the FB Page for further action items.
2) Nurse-ins are planned at Facebook’s headquarters, and at Facebook offices around the world. Plan to attend.
3) Show your support on the Nurse-In Day by changing your status picture on Facebook.
4) Continue to share pictures of breastfeeding as part of normal, day-to-day life on Facebook and elsewhere in the way you always have, with whatever levels of privacy you wish.
5) If you are on Twitter, sign the Twitter petition.
6) Share the Youtube video - the full version above, and there is also a 30-second teaser.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgiTvj1UasE
Post about this issue using your own social media channels. Post on Facebook. Tweet. Blog. Talk about it! Help people understand that women are advised to breastfeed exclusively for the first six months of their child’s life and then through the second year of life, and beyond for as long as both wish.*
*Global strategy for infant and young child feeding, World Health Organization, r. 2003