Well, it’s the start of the new year and I can’t think of a better way to dive back in here than to tackle that heated, controversial topic . . . breastfeeding. It seems every couple of months, we hear of a news item about a nursing mom who was asked to leave a store, shopping mall or restaurant because she had the nerve (insert sarcastic tone here) to breastfeed her child in public. Oh, the horror! Of course, this being the 21st century, we now don’t have to settle for such infantile behaviour occurring in the real world; now we see it being brought onto the internet, thanks to social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook deeming pictures of nursing mothers as “pornographic” and “obscene”. Excuse me a minute while I pick my jaw up from the floor.

Well, thankfully, breastfeeding moms are not taking this lying down. Kelli Roman is one of several women who have had pictures they posted of themselves breastfeeding their child removed from their Facebook page and being given the cursory explanation that the site doesn’t allow images that are “obscene, pornographic or sexually explicit” in nature. Roman’s response to this censorship was to start a new Facebook group called “Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!“, a group that today has a membership of over 97 000 Facebook users.

Now, I’ve read how some of these pictures were removed by Facebook and MySpace on account of other members citing them as violating the site’s Terms of Service in regards to the posting of inappropriate images. So after some digging around the Net, I was able to find an example of one of these pictures that ended up being banned by Facebook just this past week on December 28, 2008 because it was deemed “pornographic” and/or “offensive”. Click here to continue reading »”Yet Another Breastfeeding Controversy – Here We Go Again”

One of my favourite websites that I love to peruse is TED.com. It’s a site that shares with the public presentations given by some of today’s most insightful thinkers and gifted creators as a means to help spread knowledge and the sharing of ideas. Now who wouldn’t love a site that tries to accomplish that.

A few days ago, TED.com posted a new talk given by poet/author Chris Abani called “Telling stories of our shared humanity“. Don’t let the title fool you – this is a powerful presentation that will have you laughing and crying all in the span of 15 minutes. Click here to continue reading »”Chris Abani on TED – A Wonderful Look At Our Humanity”

Well, here’s news that I think the blogsphere should be buzzing over as something that was long overdue. This past Thursday, the UN Security council unanimously passed Resolution 1820 which demands the “immediate and complete cessation by all parties to armed conflict of all acts of sexual violence against civilians”, including children and going so far as to state that “rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide”. This means that armies and their leaders who are accused of such acts can now be tried for committing crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Click here to continue reading »”UN Security Council Resolution 1820 – It’s About Time”