Let's Talk about Breastfeeding in Public
Why do we fetishize breasts so much? In India, women’s breasts are always under wraps. Literally, layers of clothing, to cover it up, a bra, another slip on top of it if nipple shows, a shirt and then a shawl on top of the shirt so that the shape of the breast doesn’t show. All of this in the hot and humid weather of India. This is the usual routine, and I never thought about it much. I bought decorative shawls, I had two baths a day to keep the stickiness away.
Those were the ignorant blissful days!
Until I attended a prenatal class on breastfeeding. The instructor was holding a netted model of a breast which could be squeezed to make the nipple stand up. It was a couples’ class and just the sight of her holding the model next to her breast and explaining how to massage it in front of a mixed group of expecting moms and dads made me cringe. As the class went on I realized how little I know about this fatty sexy part of me, except to hide it away.
It was a couples’ class and just the sight of her holding the breast model next to her breast and explaining how to massage it in front of a mixed group of expecting moms and dads made me cringe.
My instructor explained how full exposure(not just opening a hook here and a button there) to maximize skin to skin contact makes all the difference. She went on and said how women being comfortable feeding anywhere, be it in public or at home is a very important factor in continuing breastfeeding.
How tangential this is to all the things I had been taught culturally! I feel outraged that society would drill in an aspect of modesty to make things harder on women even when they try to achieve the well approved and conventional goal of motherhood.
One side of the problem is that men are not used to looking at exposed breasts in public without a sexual angle.
The other side of the problem is that there is a notion of honor associated with women hiding breasts. The woman herself when trying to feed in a hypothetical space where men won’t look would feel terrible because of her upbringing.
This impacts the mobility of breastfeeding mothers who need to forage hygienic and private places while they are out.
Very few public spaces, mostly privileged ones, like airports, are where this kind of support system exists. Breastfeeding is a huge challenge world over and directly impacts the health of infants and the future at large. There are many obstacles for a new mother getting comfortable with feeding her infant, like inverted/cracked nipples, engorged breasts, lack of awareness about hunger cues from the baby, baby positions, latching techniques, lack of a support system from the state in the absence of family and poor maternity leave policies.
Amongst all these obstacles, many developing countries have this cultural stigma that breasts are meant to be hidden in order to maintain seemingly exclusive visual access to the husband.
Covering up while feeding might make things harder for a mom who is just practicing holding and latching positions with the baby.
Also, breastfeeding gives moms an actual chance to be mobile along with a newborn, without having to tow a bag full of bottles, sterilizers, and nipples. When humans were foragers, infants are believed to have suckled all day since they were hung around their mother’s breasts, while the mothers walked around hand in hand with the male counterparts of their tribe. Modern society has made it close to impossible to do this.
Also, breastfeeding gives moms an actual chance to be mobile along with a newborn, without having to tow a bag full of bottles, sterilizers, and nipples.
Like many of the problems that women face today, there is no easy solution to this. However, I do think that the more we go out there and do it in public the more chances are that people would start viewing it as normal. This could even be the first stepping stone to help get to a point in the future where breasts don’t have to be hidden at all, irrespective of whether you have an infant with you or not.
