Is breastfeeding publicly shameful?
Skin does not equal sin, and if the fashion shows, women-objectification advertisements and films do not bother you, even breastfeeding shouldn’t.
Well, have you ever walked on the road or a mall and realized you just saw a woman breast feeding in public? Did that make you feel uncomfortable, shameful and wonder, ‘why is the woman doing this in public?’ If yes, did you ever give a thought of how important is that feed for a hungry baby? Most of us don’t find it worth thinking. All we know is we don’t like seeing this ‘personal act ‘ in public.
We don’t mind seeing men pee in public but we raise eyebrows when we see a woman feeding her baby. Another reason for this is that for long, breasts have been sexualized. From advertisements to cartoons to reel life, breasts have always caught the fancy of Indian men.
Personally, I believe there is nothing unusual and sexy about the breast but they sure do get much attention. They are beautiful but the obsession with them is insane, ask a girl traveling in a metro or a mother feeding her little one and you would know!
Further, if men can walk bare shirt, why is there a problem when a women is feeding her baby and somebody gets to see her? What is so awkward about it?
Breastfeeding, is a significant part of every human’s life in the early age. It is something that people think you are not supposed to do in public. And so, most of the women are ashamed of feeding their baby publicly!
But when you are out with your newborn, and he/she needs food, and the only thing you can serve your child with is breast milk. So, we must not think of it differently. Like David Allen rightly said- ‘My opinion is that anybody offended by breastfeeding is staring too hard’, I wish all of us really believed it!
If we see a woman feeding her child openly at public places, we will stare at that women so awfully, that she feels embarrassed, Won’t we? And we say we are living in a modern society. Are we really modern?
Think about it…
Our clothes are not the only thing that makes us modern. We must realize that breastfeeding is not only a child’s need but his/her right and nothing is so awful about breastfeeding your child in public! People really need to understand that we can either have a wailing baby and an angry mother or a soothed child and a nursing mother in public. What’s your pick?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: This article is written by Ishita Kapoor. Ishita sees her passion in writing and hopes to change the world by not only giving them their piece of mind, but also receiving their opinion and then judging what’s correct. She is also the Co – founder of Respect Women and an initiator in making people get their voices heard.
