(cross-posted to Vermont Watch, here)

*Update*: After doing some further searching, had managed to come across word on the Bring Back Sarah Lavigne Facebook page set up on her behalf which indicates that as of the early evening of Monday, January 31st, Sarah had gained access to her account once again.

*Updated*: (with the usual edits)

Breastfeeding mom wants answers

By JOSH STILTS / Reformer Staff

Tuesday February 1, 2011

BRATTLEBORO — A local woman who had her social networking and business account disabled for posting pictures of her breastfeeding her son wants answers.

Sarah Lavigne, 36, of Marlboro, said she never though she’d be at the center of such a large controversy but that people need to understand that breastfeeding isn’t pornography.

In January, Lavigne had her personal and business pages removed from the social networking site, Facebook, for allegedly violating the website’s Terms of Use by posting a photo of herself breastfeeding her infant son, Basil Leoniak.

[…]

The group Bring Back Sarah Lavigne has 840 Facebook users who “like” the page and it’s growing daily.

Lavigne said she hopes Facebook reinstates her account if for nothing more than to be able to get contact information for people.

[…]

Read the entire article (via Brattleboro Reformer), here.

(the following was posted by me as a comment post to the above article and is shared here to both help raise awareness as well as to attempt to help spread the word to others who might be as concerned and outraged regarding these matters as I am)

Say what!?

Say it ain’t so Facebook.

Am glad I wisely dumped my account a while back or I’d be raging on Facebook for hours about this.

Both my son and daughter, who were born in the mid-80’s, were breastfed by their mother.

As I recall, when there was day-work available from the professional temp service she worked for as a bookkeeper or whatever was the job on a given day or week and it was for day-long, my daughter was oftentimes breastfed at their mother’s workplace around or during lunchtime on those days she had me bring our son and daughter there to pick up breast milk she had pumped out earlier.

This way the breast milk she pumped out could be brought home in our little cooler — that was just big enough to hold the reusable freeze packs and also breast milk — and then stored away when the three of us arrived back home and later used when needed.

Although this was not within Vermont, the city we lived in was a fairly conservative one compared to others elsewhere within Massachusetts at the time. Yet there was never a fuss raised by anyone, ever, at least not as I can best recall anyway.

Yeah, I was a stay-at-home dad during this time period, offering to do so since she wanted to work badly and she could also bring home much leaner bacon and way more of it than myself. No shame in that either. However, when we needed more income and work was available on my end, I also worked night shifts at times during that particular year or so. Anyway, I digress.

Back on the subject, …

Maybe the youngsters at Facebook were never breastfed, either that or they forgot their experience?

Because, if they were breastfed as well as managed to remember anything from their experience, they would well know breastfeeding is not only good as this article mentions, but it is also not something to ban or punish someone for doing.

They would also know, as the mother in this article said, breastfeeding photos are not pornography. Too bad the youngsters at Facebook can’t get a life and quit playing nanny over what is clearly nothing to be shunned.

If those involved in setting and enforcing policy at Facebook were actually breastfed however, it appears they are sorely in need of a lengthy and passionate heart to heart talk with their mothers. Imagine if only their mothers were in charge of Facebook and setting sound policy on such matters?

Who is in charge at Facebook, the lawyers or what? It is high time Facebook revised its “Terms of Use” policies and rules as well as then get all your[their] monitoring nannies on the same page. It also might help if they found one’s who were breastfed or at least have them be screened for whether they find breastfeeding photos as being obscene and as pornography.

Not really wanting too put words in the mouth of my ex-wife and probably catch trouble for doing so, I would not at all be surprised if she were to come across this article or word about it she just might be heard screaming: Get over it Facebook!

— 55-year-old proud Dad to two breastfed, well-raised and now grown and healthy as well as on their own adult, kiddos (their mother deserves all the credit of course).

P.S.

When going over the rusty memories within my mind from way back then again, had found myself not being quite sure whether the breast feeding mentioned happened while our son may have still been breast feeding or later, after our daughter was born. However, whichever is the case, am fairly certain that the rest of the story is as correct as I can best recall.

*Note*: made several, mostly minor, edits for the purposes of clarification and readability; also posted an update (P.S. at bottom of post); last updated on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 8:18 AM (EST).