When Enedina Vance shared a picture of her six-month-old daughter on Facebook sporting a dimple piercing, she wanted to send a message to other parents.

Showing her daughter with a cheek 'piercing', Vance had Photoshopped the jewel into her daughter's face to prove a point. Her post has sparked a tidal wave of controversy though, racking up nearly 12,000 shares and over 120 comments.

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Some of her friends and family have jumped onto the satirical train. But others are enraged, labelling her a “bad mother” and even threatening to call child protection services for abusing her baby girl – these people clearly missed her “#sarcasm” at the bottom of the post.

View photos Mum Enedina posted her snap, not expecting the internet outrage that was to follow. Photo: Facebook More

“I can’t believe how many people actually believe my photo is real,” Vance tells Yahoo Beauty. “So many people are outraged at the thought of piercing my baby at such a young age, without her consent, and against her will. Yet, they don’t understand how other body mutilations, alterations, and modifications are the exact same thing for the exact same reason: aesthetic purposes.”

The mother-of-six became an activist against body alterations in children when she was pregnant for the first time. Her doctor asked whether she wanted to circumcise her baby or not.

View photos The photoshopped snap showed her daughter with a cheek piercing. Photo: Facebook More

“I went home and did research,” she says, “never before have I even thought about this; I grew up in a household with only women.”

Her first pregnancy turned out to be twin girls. However, Vance had to face the situation when she gave birth to a baby boy a few years later. She did more research on the subject and ultimately decided that circumcision was not the best choice for her family.

“I found out that research from around the world proves genital cutting serves absolutely no health benefits at all,” she says. “In fact, studies I found show genital cutting actually causes damage to the penis. Lifelong damage. It’s only here in the US that there are claimed ‘medical reasons’ or ‘health benefits’ for genital cutting, but they have all been proven false.”

View photos Enedina and her husband have carefully considered circumcision when it comes to their three boys. Photo: Facebook More