With sheer clothing dominating retail shelves and almost-naked pop stars on every channel, a natural sight like breastfeeding shouldn’t ruffle any feathers. Society seems intent on supporting artists who objectify women while shaming mothers who need to feed their kids.
Women who breastfeed their children in public show less skin than most people at a nightclub or on the beach. It’s about nutrition, not decency. It should be a given to support mothers trying to give their precious offspring the healthiest start possible.
Moms such as Brea Rehder, who claims an Ikea manager called her “disgusting” as she nursed her daughter in a checkout line.
Instead of support, publicly nursing moms face judgment and awkward glances. As the alleged Ikea incident and a similar recent case in the U.K. show, mothers continue to deal with unreasonable scrutiny – even disgust – when trying to feed their kiddies at the pool, park, furniture store or restaurant.
Ikea has subsequently claimed that its investigation shows that the incident didn't occur. But, whether or not it happened, the fundamental issue remains.
There’s a problem when a young British mother is branded a “tramp” for breastfeeding on the steps of a restaurant, or when Rehder is asked to hide her nursing in the restroom. Evidently societal attitudes haven’t caught up with legal privileges.
This discrepancy between legal rights and social acceptance is not a new problem.
In late 2013, a Montreal mother was told to take her breastfeeding to a private room in the shopping mall. It’s the same type of incident popping up on a semi-regular basis around the world.
The result seems to be a society that shuns nursing mothers and scares away prospective breastfeeders.
Women have the right to breastfeed at any place and any time they wish, whether that place is a designated nursing room or in line at the cash register.
In Ontario, all individuals are protected against discrimination on the basis of pregnancy or breastfeeding under the province’s Human Rights Code.
If the legal rights are so clear, why is public breastfeeding still such a hot debate?
One of the reasons is because society has sexualized even the mere hint of naked breasts. So much so that public breastfeeding is sometimes lumped in with questions of “indecent exposure.”
A women’s breasts have become so sexualized they’re now unrecognizable as a source of food, despite the fact that nursing is, indeed, their biological purpose.
Desexualizing breasts is the only way to reduce this stigma and in turn foster a broader understanding and acceptance of breastfeeding.
We need to change societal attitudes so that more mothers feel comfortable and safe breastfeeding in public.
It’s the goal of events such as the recent “flash feed nurse in” session at Ottawa’s Ikea. Mothers gathered on the store’s couches to acknowledge the company’s support of public breastfeeding and to fight against the social taboo of bared breasts.
If more mothers – even those who may be a little wary of the idea – engaged in public breastfeeding, the stigma might begin to dissolve. But what it will really take in the long term goes far beyond a cute nursing cover or gentle encouragement of hesitant moms.
The only sustainable solution is a complete unpacking of the media’s sexualization of breasts.
Society needs to commit to debunking myths about the “appropriateness” of public breastfeeding, and see the practice for what it is: a source of food for the next generation.