Images of Breastfeeding on Instagram: Self-Representation, Publicness, and Privacy Management

Abstract

As recent feminist studies have recognized, breastfeeding is an interesting area of investigation since it encompasses several social and cultural issues involving both the private and the public sphere. These range from how motherhood is lived and interpreted, the representation of the body, how children are reared, women’s self-representation, breastfeeding support, and maternal work. The article illustrates a qualitative analysis of a sample of Instagram images tagged with breastfeeding-related words, with the aim of analyzing how breastfeeding is represented and the relationship between private and public discourses. For this reason, images coming from both mothers and breastfeeding promoters were analyzed. The analysis shows that breastfeeding representation on Instagram confirms, and also goes beyond, the common image of breastfeeding a newborn, showing toddlers’ breastfeeding or mothers pumping breastmilk. It also shows that breastfeeding may be connected with a wider approach to parenthood, based on proximity, and that children are active subjects of the decisions taken. The research indicates that the relationship between public and private discourses is an overlapping of shades. On one hand, research results showed several strategies enacted by parents for protecting their children’s privacy; on the other hand, the functions of images posted veer between fixing a private moment and creating public discourses using specific hashtags aimed, for example, at normalizing public breastfeeding or offering new types of support. Instagram appears, then, as a platform where personal choices and beliefs can flow into public discourse and a place for investigating how public discourses and social and cultural issues (such as breastfeeding promotion and representation) shape the way that breastfeeding is lived.

Protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding on Instagram

“…They also include images of breastfeeding‐related objects, clothing, and food, as wells as creative graphics, illustrations, and memes. This diversity of images is consistent with the qualitative analysis conducted by Locatelli (), which also showed a wide range of images related to breastfeeding on Instagram. Still, people‐focused images were the most common type of image observed, and breastfeeding was the most common activity depicted.…”

“…Studies have shown that breastfeeding mothers use social media for education, advice, and social support (Asiodu, Waters, Dailey, Lee, & Lyndon, 2015;Tomfohrde & Reinke, 2016). Although some social media platforms have been criticized in the past for forbidding images of breastfeeding (Locatelli, 2017;Moss, 2015), Instagram's current policies are breastfeeding-friendly, stating explicitly that photos of breastfeeding are allowed (Instagram, 2018). To our knowledge, only one small qualitative study has analysed breastfeeding on Instagram (Locatelli, 2017).…”

Reframing Current Debates on Young People's Online Privacy by Taking into Account the Cultural Construction of Youth

“…Moreover, a study on privacy in India and Brazil shows how privacy is evoked to limit and stigmatize young girls' public -online and offline -behavior [62]. In a similar vein, Locatelli [63] illustrates how women on Instagram combat the stigma of public breastfeeding by voicing critiques on the enforced 'private nature' of the motherchild care relationship in patriarchal society. The liberal and Eurocentric notion of privacy is also found to cause adverse effects on the social fabric of indigenous communities because it serves the purpose of reproducing western values [e.g.…”

Imágenes post-matern en instagram: el selfie como narrativa personal

“…Además, hay que añadir el relato familiar más descriptivo que tendría en común con muchas mujeres que comparten imágenes de sus hijos en diversas situaciones como el co-lecho, alimentación, ropa, etc. (Locatelli, 2017) y que también están presentes en el siguiente caso a analizar. Finalmente, podríamos remarcar que este perfil desarrolla un discurso sobre la maternidad basado en resaltar la naturalidad del parto y una cierta exaltación del cuerpo femenino como aquel que es capaz de producir vida.…”