beauty

How strangers really feel about public breastfeeding.

Not at all what we expected.

Call me a pessimist but when I came across a thread on Reddit about thoughts on public breastfeeding, I expected to read comment after comment about how ‘offensive’ it is. How breastfeeding should be kept behind closed doors and not be done out in the open for the entire world to see.

Except as I kept reading, I came to a rude awakening when this wasn’t what I found at all. Instead, I read comment after comment from supportive strangers.

So if you’ve ever felt judged while you’ve been out breastfeeding in public, I suggest you read these comments:

1. “I’m all for that free the nipple movement. It’s weird to me that as a guy I can take my shirt off whenever I want but girls can’t. Who’s to say what’s proper? I don’t think we should all walk around with our clothes off all the time, but I don’t think a woman breastfeeding in public should be as taboo as people make it. She’s feeding her child? Anybody who complains is just a f*cking asshole in my opinion.”

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with a woman breastfeeding her child in public. It should not even be an issue."

2. "Doesn't bother me. It's more beautiful than it is lewd. I just can't understand peoples discomfort with it."

3. "No problem at all. If I see it happening, I just look away."

4. "None, I have more important things to think about."

5. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with a woman breastfeeding her child in public. It should not even be an issue."

6. "It's absolutely natural. I love to see a mother feeding her baby, and if her breasts are showing, so what? Great works of art have captured breastfeeding through the centuries - they were captivating then, and just as much now. Let's have more breastfeeding, not less, if it's the parents' desire to do so."

7. "I don't understand why it's a problem, ever. Baby is hungry. Baby eats. If you flip your shit over seeing half a boob in public, I'd say the problem is with you."

A group of mums discuss how they feel about breastfeeding in public. Post continues after video...

8. "I don't have any. Why would it bother me if someone is feeding their kid?"

9. "A kid's got to eat."

10. "I think its pretty f*cking pathetic that we live in a world where we've hyper sexualised everything so much that one of the most natural base structures of starting a human life is seen as something that needs to be done in a private setting as if it's some kind of abomination. Meanwhile people smoke and drink toxic substances, eat chemicals that are bad for them, and just generally live very unnaturally."

11. "I really admire woman who just do it. I hope to be one, one day. The odd thing is I would feel fine in front of strangers, weird in front of family."

12. "I have nothing against it. Do what you gotta do to keep the baby from crying."

13. "Hey, other mammals do it, why can't we?"

Amen to that.

Do you feel comfortable breastfeeding in public?

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