The #Freethenipple campaign celebrates a small victory today, now that Facebook has relaxed its policies on showing exposed nipples of breastfeeding mothers. #Freethenipple has garnered a lot of press as of late, thanks in part to Rihanna getting banned from Instagram for posting a photo of her nip-tastic Lui magazine cover. Scout Willis has also showed tremendous support to the movement, posting photos of herself walking around Manhattan completely shirtless to Twitter, which actually does not have a ban on women showing their nipples. Miley Cyrus is also a fan but…we kinda think she’ll support anything that gives her more attention allows her to show her assets.
#Freethenipple is all about equality. Why are women’s breasts sexualized, even when they’re being used for non-sexual, functional purposes? Why should we be ashamed to show our nipples, but men, some of whom also have breasts (bigger than some women’s) are free to post shirtless photos as they please? Supporters of the initiative have been putting pressure on social media outlets to stop banning users who share breastfeeding photos in particular, which are at risk of being flagged as pornography–even though there’s nothing really pornographic about a mother feeding her child the way nature intended.
It looks like the people at Facebook are finally sitting up and paying attention. The social media outlet has lifted the ban on exposed nipples for breastfeeding mothers, which prompted activist Paala Sector to post a snap of her feeding her son. “I didn’t share it before because I didn’t want to be banned for having a female nipple exposed. I do not consider myself an extremist in any way. I am not a nudist in my real life, walking around in the buff all day long, just at home, but I don’t shame people who do feel more comfortable that way.”
Sector’s photo has been flagged and removed twice, although upon further review, Facebook said it did not violate its new image policy. “We reviewed the photo you reported for containing nudity and found it doesn’t violate our Community Standards,” the outlet wrote to a user.
Of course, we have a long way to go, but the fact that breastfeeding mothers are allowed to share their personal photos of a natural, beautiful process without having them be flagged as pornography is a huge step.
Here’s hoping Facebook eventually frees all the nipples.
[via HuffPost UK]
