What or who are lactivists? Well, they are women (and I guess to be fair men as well) who believe that there is some political war to be waged in defence of Breastfeeding.
Last I checked breastfeeding is a socially acceptable practice in most developed societies, provided you display an element of common-sense in terms of how you do it so as not to bother anyone else.
Of course, this is the crux of the Lactivist argument. They shouldn't HAVE to moderate this natural activity in order to not offend anyone, it is their RIGHT as mothers to breastfeed however and wherever they want.
The wider world wouldn't have to even deal with this were it not for a recent dispute between one particular Lactivist and everybody's favourite networking site - facebook.com
Facebook has suspended the account of fellow blogger Karen Speed due to her violation of the Facebook Terms of Service. As you have no doubt deduced, she has posted images of herself breastfeeding her child on the site.
Ms Speed and her ilk are challenging the suspension on the grounds that it is discriminatory. The facebook terms of service clearly offer two key clauses to defend their position.
Users must not:
upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available any content that we deem to be harmful, threatening, unlawful, defamatory, infringing, abusive, inflammatory, harassing, vulgar, obscene, fraudulent, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
nor must they:
upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available content that, in the sole judgment of Company, is objectionable or which restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying the Site, or which may expose Company or its users to any harm or liability of any type.It seems to me that the Lactivists are basically screwed by default. They agreed to these terms implicitly when they signed up, they are not paying a cent for the service, so as far as I am concerned, they can suck it up. Excuse the choice of words.
My REAL concern with this whole affair isn't anything to do with censorship, discrimination or even the acceptability of breastfeeding itself.
What bothers me is that a small group of mothers aren't content with merely enjoying the intimate bonding experience of breastfeeding their child. Instead, they feel a need to create a self-appointed class of oppressed peoples who must fight against some perceived patriarchy in order to preserve their right as women, nay MOTHERS, to breastfeed their children and to do so without hindrance or impediment.
Last I checked, no-one has any problem with them breastfeeding! The only problem here is that they're picking a fight with Facebook despite the obvious legal agreement they have entered into.
Come on guys, why make a war out of nothing? If you want to set up a lactivist site, why not do so? Just go and do it somewhere where the Terms of Service - and thus the law - will be on your side.
