This Woman's Empowering Nude Childbirth Photo Was Removed From Facebook

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Francie, who is a hand breastfeeding consultant and runs The MilkinMama, says giving birth to her daughter was the "single most transformative experience of her life," according to Mashable. In honor of her daughter's first birthday, Francie uploaded an image of her home birth to a private Facebook group of 836 members called NYC Birth, according to New York Magazine. Within an hour, someone flagged it for removal as violating the site's terms of use. 

"Today it's been one year since this happened," the caption of the now deleted photo read, according to New York Magazine, where the photo can be seen. "Where do I even begin? I am humbled. I am grateful. I am speechless, I am a badass. I am so glad my baby is one year old. And I just can't believe it." Francie had shared the photo with "the sense of empowerment I gained with my birth and my daughter's entry in the world could empower other women," she told Mashable

Read more: Can You Guess Which of These Photos Got Banned by Instagram?

She wasn't allowed back onto Facebook or the group until she deleted the picture, and others in which she was fully clothed but deemed "sexually explicit" by Facebook. 

Leonardo Mayorga

Facebook's anti-nude policy holds all photos, even those in private groups, to the same standards, and it also doesn't distinguish between what is sexual and not. Genitals, buttocks and female breasts showing nipples are banned. In 2014 after campaigning, only women actively breastfeeding or showing mastectomy scars were allowed. 

"I am sincerely perplexed by the act of shaming a woman by removing her picture simply because you have the power to do so, a picture a woman posted to show off her birth, her body's beauty, her bravery, where their response was so positive, full of praise, and in a private group where the members have asked to be part of that group," Kimm Sun, owner of the NYC Birth group said to New York Magazine. "That is the very definition of disempowering a woman."

Elizabeth Sweeney, administrator of the group, is now protesting Facebook's nudity policy regarding childbirth, Mashable reported.

Francie herself was surprised but not angry with the flagging, understanding that her explicit photo was graphic in nature. "If any person can look at the picture and walk away from it thinking, 'I can do that thing I think I cannot do,' [or] maybe the definition of what's possible has changed, then it's worth it," she said to Mashable