I cut and copied this entire  column from the San Jose Mercury News. This guy 
got it right!
Herhold: If Facebook can ban breast-feeding, time we  cover up statues
_ 
By Scott Herhold 
Mercury News _ (mailto:[log in to unmask] Jose Mercury 
News: Herhold: If Facebook can ban breast-feeding, time we cover up statues) 
Posted: 12/29/2008 03:40:14 PM  PST
I've always been grateful my mother took the time to  breast-feed me. It's a 
reason why I've escaped the worst of my family's  allergies. 
Until the flap at Facebook, I never realized how dangerous an environment  
breast-feeding created, a threat only a little less formidable than the bubonic  
plague. 
Silly me: I didn't understand that pictures of a mother's nipple or areola in 
 an infant's mouth could threaten children. I labored under the false idea it 
was  about food. 
You may know the story. A cadre of breast-feeding mothers, backed by legions  
of online followers, is protesting Facebook's removal of breast-feeding 
photos  that reveal the nipple or areola. 
The Palo Alto social networking site says the crackdown is meant to maintain  
a safe, secure and trusted environment. Because it's a private company, it 
can  set the rules. (For the record, the Mercury News has similar rules.) 
If the Facebook people really want to eliminate all such threats from their  
community, however, they need to beef up their police force to Homeland 
Security  levels. 
Frankly, it can't be done soon enough. With Democrats returning to control  
the White House, we inevitably will have to deal with male leaders baring their 
 chests. 
Now I had huge differences with outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney. But he  
at least had the profound wisdom not to go shirtless. 
Bill Clinton, by contrast, has allowed topless images of himself all over the 
 Internet. So has Barack Obama. I shudder to think of the image of Bill  
Richardson.  
What is to be done? Since Facebook cannot squelch every shot of a Democratic  
nipple, the company should create a digital pastie that can be neatly placed  
over the chest. 
The pasties can also be used on paintings by Old Masters, who — let's face it 
 — have gotten away with incredibly nasty stuff in the name of art. 
Somewhere on Facebook, a tender mind is gazing at Titian's "Rape of Lucretia" 
 or Raphael's "Adam and Eve" and forming lewd thoughts. If Facebook is 
serious  about creating safety, the company needs to filter the view. 
The prominence of the artist shouldn't matter. It's past time Michelangelo's  
"David" got duds. On Facebook, David can have digital cargo shorts with a  
click. 
To assure consistency, the Facebook cops should also ban less literal  
versions of sensitive parts. Start by forbidding mention of mechanical nipples,  
whatever Joe the Plumber has to say. 
And as for sockets or rotors that have male and female parts, a new  
vocabulary is urgently needed to assure trust. "Thingumajig A" and "Thingamajig  B" 
will do. 
I know I'm asking a lot. But the breast-feeding incident has robbed me of  
naiveté. We can't afford to shirk any effort to protect our children. 
What about babies now suckling at their mothers' breasts? Facebook does allow 
 photos that don't show the nipple or the areola. And that gives me an idea. 
Using "No Child Left Behind" as a model, the Palo Alto company should lead a  
national campaign to teach infants to suck more effectively. By the age of 
four  weeks, every child should be able to take the nipple and areola into his 
or her  mouth for at least 10 minutes.  
This will have benefits not just in making America competitive again, but in  
eliminating the embarrassing view of any intimate parts.  
Any straggler will endure the ultimate loss of face: The kid won't get into  
Harvard. 
Kathy Boggs, RN, IBCLC 
Mountain View ,CA

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