Facebook is deleting pictures of placentas. They are generally being flagged as “violent imagery”. I am at a loss to understand how a placenta, a product of birth, a bringer of life, can in any way be construed as “violent”.
Birth itself can be violent. Women have been strapped down (whether with actual restraints or just via hospital policies that require routine fetal monitoring), babies pulled from the womb before their time under the guise of safety or even convenience. Women are supposed to be quiet and sedate (and often sedated) in order to birth in a way that is comfortable for the people around her. Our society finds these practices completely acceptable. Yet a photograph of a placenta is inappropriate, even violent?
Earthside Birth Photography posted this picture of a placenta on her Facebook page. Somebody flagged it as inappropriate, and it was removed. When others posted pictures of placentas in support, they were deleted as well. In talking about this situation on my Facebook page, several other mothers said that their placenta photos were deleted from among the pictures of their birth that they had posted. So this isn’t a singular, unique experience.
I think this is ridiculous. I’ve started a simple petition that you can sign online, aimed at Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook. It is meant to demonstrate that while we placenta fans may be few in numbers, we are passionate about placentas!
Facebook: Let us post pictures of placentas!
In honor of all the beautiful placentas born each day, I’d like to share a few of them with you here. And yes, I will be posting this to Facebook! Special thanks to Job Description: Mommy for alerting me to this situation.
Thank you for taking the time to look at these placentas. The more we open our eyes and really see what our amazing bodies can create, the more we can appreciate these miracles. Each one of these placentas nourished a baby and helped bring them into the world. I don’t believe that a sane person could declare any one of these photos as “violent imagery”.
If you have a Facebook account, I know we’d all appreciate it if you’d take a moment to “like” these pages.
Earthside Birth Photography
Job Description: Mommy
Placenta Benefits
