“He wants a refund because I’m breastfeeding my baby”: A thematic analysis of maternal stigma for breastfeeding in public.

Abstract

Breastfeeding in public continues to be controversial in the United States and other developed countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia. This study conducted a thematic analysis of online comments posted in response to a news story describing an incident involving public breastfeeding to assess strategies people used to communicate and manage stigma, as well as reasons people use to justify stigma. Stigma was communicated by negative attributions and use of faulty analogies equating breastfeeding with illegal body exposure. A predominant theme characterized the nursing mother as a disrespectful exhibitionist. Other themes included equating breastfeeding with objectification and descriptions of nonverbal disapproval toward breastfeeding in public while downplaying any health benefits of breastfeeding. Attempts to manage stigma in online comments were met with resistance and opposition. Results suggest that in spite of laws protecting public breastfeeding and campaigns promoting breastfeeding, prevalent attitudes continue to stigmatize mothers for breastfeeding in public.

Racism and Resistance: A Qualitative Study of Bias As a Barrier to Breastfeeding

“…Many mothers report feeling uncomfortable or stigmatized when breastfeeding in public. 33,34 Although participants did not expound on this connection, public shaming and stigmatizing of Black mothers while breastfeeding may be linked to long held norms about the role and position of women. Through chattel slavery, Black women could not comply with antebellum America's Cult of True Womanhood principals of piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity.…”

Article: “Too Old” and “Too Cold”: Discomfort Towards Photographs of Breastfeeding Beyond Infancy and Public Breastfeeding in Nova Scotia, Canada

“…Breastfeeding in public is an important part of successful breastfeeding (Scott et al, 2015), and a "supportive audience" has been identified by breastfeeding mothers as one approach to enhance acceptability of public breastfeeding (Hauck et al, 2021). While 68% of adults in a nationally representative American survey say they "believe women have the right to breastfeed in public" (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019), and 75% of adults in a large survey in Ontario agreeing that it was acceptable to breastfeed in a restaurant or shopping mall (Russell & Ali, 2017), instances of discrimination for public breastfeeding are commonly reported (Bresnahan et al, 2020) and reactions to this discrimination reveal a divide in public opinion. For example, public backlash occurred after a woman in the United Kingdom was kicked out of a shop for breastfeeding, however analysis of the public response to the backlash revealed overwhelmingly negative reactions towards breastfeeding, including sexualization of breasts and abusive language (Grant, 2016).…”

“…However, instances of discrimination have been documented in local news reports since the implementation of this policy, for example, a lack of action around harassment of women for breastfeeding ( Sullivan, 2018 ). Breastfeeding in public is an expected practice if mothers practice responsive feeding and maintain their daily activities, yet maternal anxiety and discomfort with public breastfeeding is common due to perceived societal disapproval ( Bresnahan et al, 2020 ; Scott et al, 2015 ). The perceived deviance of breastfeeding in front of others has been associated with concealing breastfeeding with the use of nursing covers while in public ( Hauck et al, 2021 ).…”

An ‘incredible community’ or ‘disgusting’ and ‘weird’? Representations of breastmilk sharing in worldwide news media

“…These affect how women's actions are perceived and influence societal understanding and acceptance of their behaviour, including in relation to the exchange and use of human milk (Cassidy, Dowling, Dykes, & Mahon, 2018;Cassidy et al 2019;Kent, Fannin, & Dowling, 2019). Breastmilk sharing is undermined by the stigmatisation of breastfeeding in the global North (Tomori, Palmquist & Dowling, 2016;Grant, Mannay, & Morzella, 2017;Bresnahan, Zhu, Zhuang, & Yan 2019), the sexualisation of breasts (Dowling, Naidoo, & Pontin, 2012;Grant, 2016;Haucka, Bradfielda, & Kuliukasb, 2020) and the dichotomy whereby breastmilk is both perceived as dirty/'matter out of place' and as 'liquid gold' (Douglas, 2002(Douglas, [1966; Dowling, 2019)-contributing to the 'yuk' factor which may be invoked when discussing the use of another mother's milk (Shaw, 2004). Women who use other mother's milk may feel inhibited in discussing it, both because of these perceptions and because of their feelings about not being able to breastfeed their baby as they would wish (Esquerra-Zwiers et al, 2016;Shafer, Ashada, & Palmquist, 2018).…”