It’s nearly 2009, but apparently life has not improved that much for women when it comes to breastfeeding. The social networking site Facebook has removed photos that show too much of a mother’s breast while feeding her baby so that the site remains safe and secure for all users, including kids, Reuters reports.

"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," a Facebook spokesman said in a statement, Reuters reports. Some users are angry about the ban—including the American mom whose photo was removed by Facebook—and have launched an online protest dubbed, “Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!”

It strikes me as odd that Facebook is attempting to protect kids from seeing the most natural of life’s functions—a baby eating. For many years, it has been generally recognized that breastfeeding is best for baby, yet it’s a life act fraught with taboo. As a mom, it’s hard enough to breastfeed (sore nipples and exhaustion) without having to worry that someone thinks you’re doing something obscene. By the way, why is it that men’s nipples aren’t considered obscene?

It still isn’t easy to find places to breastfeed in private, although I believe things have improved somewhat in that respect over the past decade or two. I remember my sister working in Manhattan 15 years ago would have to sneak into a restroom (ugghhh) to pump her milk as she didn’t have a private office. Invariably, someone would come knocking on the door, heightening the tension as she tried to think those pleasant thoughts that made milk flow.

Since then, I’ve breastfed in public during baseball games and even checked with a priest if it was OK to do so in church during my baby's baptism. The answer was yes. But evidently there remains a reluctance to accept the female breast for what it is: Not just a sexual object, but also the purest form of a mother’s nurture.

If you’re a breast-feeding advocate or breast-feeding mom needing support, check out our other links on breastfeeding: Breastfeeding support in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill; Study: Breastfeeding not likely cause of post-pregnancy drooping breasts; Fashionable nursing wear and breastfeeding supplies. And If you’ve got a viewpoint on breastfeeding, we've love to hear from you.

 — Written by Odile Fredericks, Carolina Parent Web Editor