Last May, Heather Bays posted a breastfeeding selfie (now known as a #brelfie) and her Instagram account was immediately deleted. Bays complained and the account was put back up, but she didn’t stop there—and neither did women everywhere. #Brelfies became an Instagram and Twitter movement fighting for women’s rights to bare breasts, especially when it comes to actively nursing your child.
The nature of a nude photograph of a woman is sexual, or sexualized. This is problematic, but it is neither here nor there when it comes to a woman breastfeeding, which should be a natural and publicly acceptable act, void of sexual innuendo. Well, it seems Instagram finally agrees: The platform recently changing its guidelines.
“Photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed. Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK, too.”
Here are some of our favorite #Brelfies that changed Instagram’s mind.
Miranda Kerr jumped on the breastfeeding-bandwagon.
This tattooed goddess and her towheaded angel.
Model and mother, Jaime King, got on board.
Giselle Budschen shows she can nurse while preparing for a shoot.
Alyssa Milano posted a #brelfie, along with a sweet poem singing the praises of breastfeeding.
There will of course still be people who find images of women breastfeeding offensive, and to them Instagram staff has the perfect solution (that should have been totally obvious.)
“You may find content you don’t like, but doesn’t violate the community guidelines. If that happens, you can unfollow or block the person who posted it, and if there’s something you don’t like in a comment on one of your posts, you can delete that comment.”
Long live the #Brelfie
Images via Twitter, Instagram
