Facebook Breastfeeding Kerfuffle Spreads to the Real World

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, such as removing images of breastfeeding babies deemed obscene on Facebook. Enforcing the no-breast policy led to the creation of a Facebook group called "Hey Facebook breastfeeding is not obscene," which gained steam last weekend after protesters organized a virtual "nurse-in" (11,000 members changed their profile pictures to photos showing themselves breastfeeding) and organized a protest in front of Facebook's Palo Alto headquarters.

The real-world protest, organized by Stephanie Muir, an Ottawa woman and mother of five, drew a few dozen women out of the group's 87,000 members, who broke out in song and breasted their children while pacing outside the site's headquarters. The protest didn't attract a large crowd, but the group hopes its message will spread and encourage Facebook to change its policy.

Facebook contends it has no problem with breastfeeding, but does take issue with fully exposed breasts when a user complains.

"Photos containing a fully exposed breast (as defined by showing the nipple or areola) do violate those terms (on obscene, pornographic or sexually explicit material) and may be removed," Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said in a statement. "The photos we act upon are almost exclusively brought to our attention by other users who complain."

Is Facebook in the wrong? Hit the jump and tell us what you think.