Facebook Removes Viral 'Birth Becomes Her' Video
Birth photographer Monet Nicole Moutrie takes breathtaking photos of, well, women giving birth.
Last Mother's Day, she made a stunning Birth Becomes Her video that shows moms meeting their babies for the first time. It quickly went viral on Facebook, amassing over 100 million views. Now, seven months later and with no notice, Facebook has removed the video and banned her entire account.
In a blog post, Moutrie writes that the video, which, btw, contains no explicit nudity, was removed for violating community standards, and she was also banned because of it.
Moutrie shares Facebook's community standards as related to nudity:
We remove photographs of people displaying genitals or focusing in on fully exposed buttocks. We also restrict some images of female breasts if they include the nipple, but our intent is to allow images that are shared for medical or health purposes. We also allow photos of women actively engaged in breastfeeding or showing breasts with post-mastectomy scarring. We also allow photographs of paintings, sculptures, and other art that depicts nude figures. Restrictions on the display of sexual activity also apply to digitally created content unless the content is posted for educational, humorous, or satirical purposes. Explicit images of sexual intercourse are prohibited. Descriptions of sexual acts that go into vivid detail may also be removed.
Moutrie writes that her video does not violate those standards, and that she is "saddened" and "quite honestly scared that the important work we're doing will be stifled and hidden behind false statements like 'community.'"
She continues:
Because there is nothing more antithetical to community than the restriction and censorship of birth, family and life.
Facebook, we are far more than usernames and passwords. We are living and breathing human beings, with real bodies, that were ALL born from real women. Have we reached a point in our obsession with apps and usernames that we've forgotten that behind our pixelated screens are real bodies that breathe and beat and love and birth and eventually die?
Facebook, LIFE should never be against your community standards.
Moutrie finishes the post by imploring Facebook to put the video back up and to reinstate her account, adding that she's "scared but hopeful."
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