The birth photos Facebook banned but that the world needs to see.

Last week, Mamamia publisher Mia Freedman’s wrote a post called: “There’s no need to post your birth photos on Facebook. Really”

Mia’s post was written after a woman named Milli Hill, who is the founder of the Positive Birth Movement, wrote a blog post criticising Facebook for taking down an image of a women giving birth. (We have cropped it on this page but you can see the image in full here [NSFW])

This post was written in response to Mia and Milli’s posts and it written by the photographer who took the photo that was taken down.

It seems there is a storm brewing between Milli Hill of the Positive Birth Movement and Mia Freedman of Mamamia regarding the posting of graphic birth images on Facebook. The image at the centre of the argument happens to be one of mine and was never posted by myself on Facebook.

After the worldwide amazement of the baby in caul series, which reached over 500,000 people and was shared over 3000 times from my Facebook page, people were asking about the background to the image. With Natalia’s blessing, I wrote a short blog post including the image because I think it is incredibly powerful.

The image of Natalia enthralled with the birth of her baby is incredible captivating to me and there is just so much to love about it. Firstly, one cannot help but notice she is actually enjoying the experience, look at that smile as she welcomes her babe still in the caul.

Yes, birth can be ecstatic, pleasurable and joy-filled. The transformation from maiden to mother is a journey to be embraced, a far cry from the painful event that our culture likes to control and endure. It also shows the fearless power, strength and beauty of a mother, she has complete trust in the process of birth as do those encircling her.

What I also love about the image is the normality of it. Birth is as normal as life gets and yet in all of the normality, a lounge room on the NSW Central Coast, there is this grand once in a lifetime event taking place. She is certainly an inspirational woman and our hope together is to touch the lives of others and allow them a glimpse into the world of empowered birth.

I find it amusing how each journalist has mentioned the ‘poo’ in the water. I didn’t edit that out on purpose as I wanted to maintain the raw beauty of the moment. You see we live in a culture that tells us what constitutes beauty.

Images and experiences are ‘photoshopped’ for them to appear more desirable than what they really are. As a midwife as soon as we hear the words, “I need to poo’, it’s time to get excited, a babe is ready to be born. It is completely normal, a new life is on its way, what a miracle.

A few moments later and this is what it’s all about.

As a photographer, my goal is to show the reality of motherhood, not some prissy edited version. Our culture says we fall short on so many occasions and its my goal to show the beauty of motherhood in all its normal glory so it is attainable for us all despite our shortocmings.

There is definitely a time and place for everything and that is why I didn’t post this particular image on Facebook. I don’t think Facebook is the right platform to show images of this intensity.

I am, however, a strong believer that girls/women need to be exposed to positive and fulfilling birth images and north stories. We are bombarded with the sexualisation of females and fear inducing negative birth images, no wonder our birth stats are alarming and post-traumatic birth is rampant, we seem to have forgotten what our bodies are actually created for, we are breeding ourselves out of the ability to birth without intervention.

We need a platform to counteract all the negative with positive images like that of Natalia’s so that we are all made aware of the heightened empowering physical accomplishment and emotional bond normal birth promotes.

My personal gripe is if Facebook puts rules in place then they need to abide by the rules themselves. I constantly see sexually graphic and violent images on Facebook, why on earth are they there when they so obviously break the rules of conduct?

A few months ago I had this breastfeeding image removed and a three day ban put in place because it ‘Violated Community Standards’, however I was under the impression that Facebook supported breastfeeding images.

In this beautiful moment in time I see a mother who is giving her whole self to her children, phsyically, emotionally, spiritually, loving them, nurturing and nourishing them. I also see two children obviously have a close bond, holding hands while they feed. I certainly do not see anything sexual, I don’t even see a nipple or areola. Just a breast doing what its meant to do.

Just last night I had another image removed because apparently it contains ‘nudity’. All I see is my leg and a gorgeous squishy vernix covered head being caught by my own hands.

“As a 17 year old girl I looked at that shot and was amazed. Not often is this shown to young yeomen and I think it provides an insight into the beautiful moment all young women have waiting in their futures”.

Now that makes my heart sing!

This image (a caesarean birth) has been on my page for over a year, an upper things replaced by a bare stomach. It hasn’t been reported yet and its still the birth of the a baby, covered in vernix and a small amount of blood as is the above image. Perhaps it is what we don’t see in the above image, that which our imagination places in there i.e. a vagina, that makes it explicit?

So, even within my own photography page there seems to be no constancy regarding the banning of photos. And then one looks outside my page to the world of pornography and violence where the inconsistency is outrageous.

Personally, I would prefer to see an image of a precious babe being born before any kind of violence, slavery, or cruelty.

It is a sad reflection on our society when we cannot celebrate the beauty of north which builds family connection and self worth and yet the world’s pornography and violence seem acceptable, but are tearing families and our community apart.

This post was originally published at Jane McCrae Photography and has been republished here with full permission.

Jane McCrae lives on the Central Coast of NSW with her husband and 4 beautiful children. With a background in Midwifery she is known for combining her two passions in promoting positive and inspiring images of women through the pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding years. Her award winning images have been published both nationally and internationally. You can browse her photography here, and her Facebook page here.