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FEMALE FACTOR: BREAST CANCER

25 Jun 2012
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Four British women are taking a stand against a Facebook ban that branded one woman’s photographs of her mastectomy ‘pornographic’.

Last month, breast cancer survivor Joanne Jackson posted pictures of her mastectomy scar. These photographs were removed from the social networking site after a complaint that they were offensive. For Joanne, Facebook was how she dealt with her diagnosis, using the site to tell friends and family what was happening with her health. She’d posted the images of her scar to let everyone know she was doing well after her surgery.

But then, says Joanne, ‘I got a warning from Facebook to say someone had reported my pictures as offensive. They said their policy was not to show anything that was pornographic, sexually explicit or nude. But I couldn’t see how my pictures were any of those things’.

This is not the first time that photographs like Joanne’s have been banned from Facebook. Now, to show that they are not ashamed of how their bodies look after beating the cancer, Joanne and three other women have come together to pose topless – proud of their scars rather than subdued by them.

Tell us what you think of the images and the Facebook ban. Should they be considered pornographic and banned, or can we see them as part of the healing process for breast cancer survivors?

Images from We Heart It

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Connie on 7/1/2012: Although I do not view the photos as pornographic, I find Facebook to be a social media and not the correct platform for the pictures to have been exchanged with relatives to show that she is doing well after her surgery. I am a breast cancer survivor, I have also had a mastectomy,I do not allow anyone to see my scar, not even my boyfriend or closest friends. Everyone deals with their grief of the illness in their own way. Someone elses coping mechanisms may be different from anothers. I deal with mine by laughing, talking and making jokes about it, she deals with it by posting it on Facebook. Not the wrong approach, but definately not the right platform.