Here’s something I don’t want to see in my Facebook feed: your vagina. That’s why I cannot embrace the idea that Facebook should change its policy and allow naked or graphic birth photos to be posted to the site.
Milli Hill, founder of the Positive Birth Movement is currently having a barney with the social media site after she posted this awe-inspiring image of a woman giving birth (we have cropped it on this page but you can see it in full here [NSFW]) and Facebook suspended her account until she took it down.
I am one of the thousands who have criticised Facebook for applying this same approach to images of women breastfeeding (a policy they seem to be in the process of rightly dismantling after widespread protests) but I think the social media giant have it right with this particular rule.
Explicit birth photos can be beautiful and powerful to look at but they do not belong in my feed. I’m not talking about those taken immediately after the birth. Those are fairly standard (even though I know many people who are uncomfortably squeamish about any photo showing a newborn still coated in its mother’s bodily fluids). Facebook’s ban doesn’t apply to them – it’s about explicit photos taken DURING the birth.
The hard truth: as miraculous as it is, not all your Facebook friends want to see a baby emerge from your body. Those loved ones who do want to see the details were probably either at the birth itself or can ask for a private viewing. They can even watch the video of the birth some new parents proudly brandish on their phones. I looked at a friend’s birth video like that once. It was amazing and a privilege to see it. But she didn’t say, “Hey, wanna see a funny video of a cat?” and then spring her vagina on me. She offered to show me and I said yes. There was consent involved.