Breastfeeding photos function as community badges of belonging, not mere records.

Evidence

The act of taking the photo in the first place, sharing it with friends, and publicly posting it to a supportive Facebook group was a way to celebrate what they had achieved. Though most of the photos removed by Facebook were amateur shots, some were professionally done and carefully composed. Many felt that breastfeeding was aesthetically beautiful, a powerful representation of the bond between mother and child, and that this further argued against Facebook’s deletions (though the site’s policies do not weigh in on aesthetic quality). … More often, a breastfeeding photo is a symbolic token, a badge of belonging to a community that would rally around a new mother. — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet, 451

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Women’s self-display of bodies carries meanings beyond sexualized objectification. — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet: Platforms,…, 429; Rules draw lines through communities that then adjust around them. — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet: Platforms,…, 421; Photographs do not merely reflect social hierarchies but actively produce them — Sherene Razack, Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims…, 157

Broader Connections

• Photographs do not merely reflect social hierarchies but actively produce them #expands (0.78) — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 157