Julie Bell, a registered nurse, certified doula and herbalist, shared a photo of a newborn baby resting on his mother’s chest, and when doing so she didn’t even question whether or not to post the remarkable photo to Facebook.
Shortly after posting the powerful image though, Bell received a seven-day ban from Facebook and was sent a warning that her account would be unpublished if she breached the social networking sites guidelines again.
Julie spoke to Kidspot and said, ‘There’s no adult nudity whatsoever in this photo, the only nudity is the baby’s bottom.’
Bell also explains that the image was incredibly significant for the mother, as she had previously experienced a traumatic birth experience and was now celebrating the successful and beautiful birth of her newborn.
‘We get dismissed and fobbed off when we protest accounts and pages that are blatantly violent, pornographic and misogynistic,’ Bell said. ‘We are censored and censured when we seek to educate and empower women about our bodies in ways that have nothing to do with sexually servicing men.’
‘We experience the loss of business and revenue as a result of this apparent discrimination against normal healthy womanhood, birth and breastfeeding.’
Julie isn’t the only woman experiencing the ‘community standard’ guidelines though.
Lacey Barratt, an award-winning photographer from Victoria, has received two 30-day Facebook bans as the result of the images she posts of women’s birthing experiences.
Barratt claims that she doesn’t post photos of birth to be confronting or provocative, but rather believes it is one of the most raw and powerful moments a person can undergo in their lifetime.
She says, ‘I never post anything just for the sake of it, there’s always an underlying message to my image.’
Lacey regularly posts images that advocate for the Stop Censoring Birth movement, a social media campaign that encourages women to post their raw and incredibly intimate birthing pictures.
Angela Gallo is also a well-known doula, photographer and educator who is fighting for uncensored birth images to be allowed on social media.
She said, ‘The core of it is that birth, on Instagram and Facebook is viewed as pornographic, crude, offensive material, and as such it is constantly being reported.’
‘We are trying to furiously improve birth-culture in a positive way,’ Angela continued. ‘These accounts are being shut down for no good reason, such as a nipple or a buttcrack.’
Angela claims there has been some progress with women getting their accounts reinstated by Instagram after a ban. She also says Facebook are also listening and trying to improve their policies to help empower the birthing community.
This article originally appeared on New Idea.
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