Photographer Jade Beall's viral photo of nude mothers breastfeeding their children is back on Facebook again after it was reported on Facebook and was removed last year.Beall posted the image on Facebook of naked breastfeeding mothers on February 4. The post, which was flagged by male users and wiped from Facebook in 2015, is meant to show motherhood as natural, and not sexual, as the females' only visible private parts are their breasts. The photo furthers the notion that there is nothing sexual about breastfeeding and that shaming women for breastfeeding in public is unfair as such:
"I took this a little over a year ago and I was just reflecting how [Facebook] banned me from my account a year ago when I originally posted this for not blurring a nipple," Beall wrote in a Facebook post earlier this month. "Fast forward to today, nipples are allowed on [Facebook] if a child is breastfeeding."
Beall told Cosmopolitan last February that taking a nude self-portrait of herself breastfeeding her son inspired her to take the group breastfeeding photo, which she said celebrates the "beauty, 'flaws', shapes, and vulnerabilities of all mothers." She also said that her breastfeeding photo disappeared from Facebook last year after men complained about it being on the social media platform despite the fact that she blurred out the mothers' private parts.
"Then someone noticed I had missed blurring one nipple and the photo was again reported and finally removed," she told Cosmopolitan at the time. "I would love to post my nude breastfeeding mothers without blurring the nipples on Facebook, 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.'"
Many have taken advantage of the Internet and social media to call out the hypocrisy of people who shame breastfeeding yet have no problem with viewing breasts in a sexual manner. Actress Alyssa Milano is a well-known breastfeeding advocate and has repeatedly posted photos of herself breastfeeding her child on social media, as she appreciates the bond that breastfeeding has created between her and her offspring.
Though breastfeeding has been positive for Milano, she has faced backlash for sharing the above photos with her following. Milano told Entertainment Tonight in September that she finds it crazy that people don't want to see her breastfeeding photos yet celebrate when celebrities such as Miley Cyrus show their breasts in a sexual way.
"I think people are more comfortable sexualizing breasts than relating them to what they are made for, which is feeding another human," She said.
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