Woman Shares Pictures Of Cancer Scars On Facebook, So-Called 'Friends' Report Her

A lot of words sprung to mind when we saw breast cancer survivor Beth Whaanga's naked portraits on Facebook: beautiful, brave, inspiring, powerful.

Never - when looking at the multiple scars from the 32-year-old's double mastectomy, hysterectomy or navel reconstruction - did we think the images were in any way pornographic or offensive.

But some of Beth's so-called Facebook friends did.

Beth has revealed how many, upon seeing the images from her Under The Red Dress project, clicked the Facebook 'report' button and de-friended her.

Thankfully this familiar attempt by Facebook users to censor 'sexual' images, has only made Beth more determined to share her story. And the positive responses have been flooding in.

The Australian mother-of-four posed nude as part of her Under The Red Dress project, a collaboration with her friend and photographer Nadia Masot which exposes the true effects cancer can have on women's bodies.

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Diagnosed with breast cancer on her 32nd birthday, doctors revealed she had the BRCA2 gene. This gene greatly increases the risk of breast cancer and has seen stars such as Angelina Jolie opt for a double mastectomy.

But after undergoing surgery in November, Beth refused to cover up determined to use her body to promote much-needed cancer awareness.

See Also:

'You Can Still Be Beautiful Even When You've Had Parts Of Your Body Removed': Two-Time Breast Cancer Survivor, 35, Poses Naked For Cosmopolitan Magazine

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Before posting the images on Facebook, Beth issued the following warning:

"These images are confronting and contain topless material. They are not in anyway meant to be sexual. The aim of this project is to raise awareness for breast cancer. If you find these images offensive please hide them from your feed.

"Each day we walk past people. These individuals appear normal but under their clothing sometimes their bodies tell a different story.

"Nadia Masot and I aim to find others who are willing to participate in our project so that we might show others that cancer effects everyone.

"The old and the young, age does not matter, self examination is vital. It can happen to you."

What do you think of the images? Let us know in the comments below.