The Mom Photo Facebook Deleted
"I have been photographing women for 15 years," says photographer Jade Beall, above, “but it was a nude self-portrait I took of myself breastfeeding my son (when I was 80 pounds heavier), that sparked my desire to photograph and celebrate the beauty, ‘flaws’, shapes, and vulnerabilities of all mothers.”
When Beall recently posted one of her group portraits of mothers breastfeeding to her Facebook page, she was overwhelmed with responses.
"This photo received a lot of traction quickly," Beall told Cosmopolitan.com. “I received many private messages (all from men) telling me I should remove the photo, though I’d posted the image with nipples and genital areas blurred (because I have had images removed before by Facebook where a woman’s nipple was shown). Then someone noticed I had missed blurring one nipple and the photo was again reported and finally removed.”
While Beall understands Facebook’s anti-nipple policy, she sees this as a larger overall issue. “Do I think it’s silly that men can have exposed nipples but women cannot as a rule for this platform? Sure,” she says. “But that’s a cultural thing, not simply a Facebook thing. 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.’”
Have a look at the censored and uncensored versions of the image below.
Censored:
Uncensored:
PHOTOS: Jade Beall
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