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BREASTFEEDING SUPPORT GROUPS ASKS FACEBOOK TO STOP CALLING BREASTS OBSCENE

01.04.2011– Houston, TX – The Leaky Boob (http://leakyboob.blogspot.com), a breastfeeding support site for parents, is asking Facebook to reconsider their obscenity and vulgarity position on the word “breast” after having “The Leaky B@@b” fan page removed from Facebook for obscenity. “There is nothing obscene or vulgar about breastfeeding,” said Jessica Martin-Weber, founder and editor of The Leaky Boob. “With all the positive attention for breast cancer awareness and prevention, and the vital importance of breastfeeding, it seems staggering to me that I’m asking Facebook to do this in 2011.”

Martin-Weber’s Facebook fan page was taken down Sunday, but Facebook has been typically silent about any particulars. Martin-Weber has gotten only a form letter saying that the page violated Facebook’s terms of service, and hinting at vulgar and obscene content. “It’s ridiculous that breastfeeding is confused with anything vulgar and obscene,” says Martin-Weber. “Especially when there are so many truly obscene or vulgar pages with thousands of followers currently on Facebook.”

Martin-Weber says she understands and approves of Facebook’s stance on obscene content, and she’s fully in support of that position. “I have children and they will use Facebook when they are old enough. I don’t want to see pornographic content when I’m using it now,” she explains. “But it’s time for Facebook to give sites that mention the word “breast” for health and wellness reasons a way to be exempt from the obscenity filter.”

Martin-Weber says she decided to go public with the situation, and publicly appeal to Facebook to support breast health because of the thousands of women who are helped by the page every month. “We get an average of 16,000 impressions on our posts, and reading the posts on our wall from women with urgent questions has committed me to find a way to provide real-time support in a safe atmosphere.”

“I want to be clear that this issue is not only about breastfeeding,” adds Martin-Weber. “There are a number of breast cancer prevention sites that have similar word usage and are in danger of also being considered obscene by Facebook. This is an issue about breast health and wellness, and Facebook needs to provide a way for pages who deal with these issues to be approved. Facebook needs to stop treating breastfeeding and breast health related terminology, images and pages just as they would obscene materials. There is a significant difference.”

“Many women don’t have other resources if they have a question in the middle of the night, or don’t know where else to go for referrals to help in their local area,” Martin-Weber explains. “The Leaky B@@b fan page provided that, and Facebook was wrong to take it down. Thousands of women lost their support community when our page was removed.”

Martin-Weber is asking supporters to respectfully and clearly let Facebook know how they feel, either by posting on Mark Zuckerburg’s fan page, blogging and posting about the issue, emailing Facebook or asking their local media to cover the issue. “Facebook has done this many times in the past, and they have reinstated pages at times. This isn’t over.”

Martin-Weber is available for media interviews and additional information. Contact Sheri Wallace, Organic PR, sheri@organicprpro.com.