New mums are constantly being bombarded with the ‘breast is best’ message and encouraged to breastfeed their babies for as long as possible, but Facebook is sending contradictory signals by deleting photographs which depict women breastfeeding. In some cases, the social media site has even deactivated the accounts of those it deems to be in breach of their policy on ‘sexually explicit’ images.

Outraged at the suggestion, a group of breastfeeding mums from around the world organised a synchronised global protest against Facebook's treatment of breastfeeding women.

The Sydney protest, which took place this afternoon outside Facebook's Sydney office, comes as daily image deletions and account suspensions continue, despite growing community support, and attempts by participants to engage in open dialogue with Facebook management.

Facebook’s official policy on breastfeeding images states that they support women’s right to share such images with others on Facebook, however daily image deletions and account suspensions continue, and more than 257,000 users who joined an official petition group found themselves removed from the group without warning or explanation.

‘Facebook obviously needs to find a way to stick to their own policies,’ says April Bevin, one of the protest organisers. ‘I was outraged when I was told that a picture of my daughter having a meal had been deemed sexually explicit.’

Another breastfeeding advocate, Emma Kwasnica, spoke to senior members of the Facebook team in late January with the hope of resolving the issue without the need for protest. While Facebook concedes that the deletions were at odds with their official policy, they blame individual staff members for the deletions, saying Facebook employees each have different personal sensitivities to indecency.

Today, Facebook staff refused to meet with protesters, but allowed a representative from their building management to collect letters written by the protesters outlining their concerns.

GALLERY: Pics from the protest

Australian protest co-ordinator Lucy Allen was thrilled with the turn-out, and says participants travelled from as far away as interstate to be there.

‘We are honoured to be part of a global movement of women who are standing up for our right to breastfeed anywhere that we are legally permitted to be, both online and in real life.'

According to current NSW legislation, it is illegal to discriminate against a woman because she is breastfeeding, and this includes breastfeeding in a public place. Ms Allen argues that Facebook is the ultimate online equivalent of a public place.

Mum-of-six Michelle King says the one of the aims of the protest was to generate awareness around breastfeeding, in an attempt to help society 'normalise' it.

'Breastfeeding is perfectly natural, yet some people still see it as something to be hidden away or ashamed of,' Ms King says. 'We want to open it up so that it's no longer seen that way.'

In addition to those who attended the protest, hundreds of others who weren't able to attend showed their support for the cause by changing their Facebook profile pictures to breastfeeding images and protest slogans.

The women also have the support of South Australian Minister for the Status of Women, Gail Gago, who has said she intends to personally write to Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg to request a review of the situation.

'Breastfeeding your baby is a normal and natural thing to do,' Ms Gago said in a statement yesterday. 'There is no valid reason for any social media network to ban legitimate pictures posted by women of themselves breastfeeding their own children.'

'Boob out' protests have also taken place outside Facebook offices in Dublin and London, and others are scheduled to take place in the United States over the next 24 hours.

What do you think? Should mums be allowed to post breastfeeding pictures on Facebook? Vote in our poll, and have your say on our forums.

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