When exactly did we stop thinking of breasts as purposeful parts of the female anatomy and start objectifying them as sexual objects? I hadn’t given public breastfeeding much of a thought beyond reading those sensationalized articles that pop up on my Facebook and news feeds, where women are denied the right to feed their babies in public places.

It shouldn’t surprise me, in this age of male sexual sensitivity, where girls and young women are forced to wear certain things or not allowed to wear others, as to not distract the male half of the population. Which I think is more discriminatory towards men, because it assumes that they have no self-control or common sense.

See what LadyLike did in reaction to an article where a female student was made to wear band-aids over her nipples so they were less of a distraction to the boys in her class.

How did we go from breastfeeding being a natural part of everyday life and child-rearing to it being a disgrace or disgusting? In a western society that values and (for the most part) encourages oversharing and sexual freedom, why are women made to feel as though their breasts are just there for the sexual enjoyment of men?

Why is this relevant, you ask? Firstly, I am a strong, opinionated woman, who believes that it is a person’s right to do as they wish, as long as the action is not illegal or putting themselves or others in danger. Secondly, at the end of the year, I will have to contend with the nay-sayers when I venture out into the world with my newborn son who will (hopefully) be breastfeeding instead of formula feeding.

It seems to be the more liberal that we become as a society, where sex on TV, in advertising and all over the internet is more socially acceptable, the less we are ok with the original function of our bodies, especially, women’s bodies.

The changing views of breast exposure

Up until the late 1800’s breastfeeding was still socially acceptable… women were still seen as property though, so it’s not all positive.

But as women gained further equality, like the right to vote, the right to choose a career over having a family, the right to choose their sexual partners and to dress the way that we want, we have inadvertently taken away that ‘motherly’ perception of women and we have replaced it with a new ‘empowered’ woman who can openly flaunt and take advantage of her sexuality.

In this world of empowerment, it has become commonplace to see half naked or completely naked women on our TV screens or on the internet. We are constantly bombarded by advertising that contains partially covered breasts. Don’t believe me? Go check out your current Big W or Kmart catalogue or take a walk around your local shopping centre, you’ll be surprised at how many store banners and backdrops have partially exposed breasts.

Check out what Vlogger mummy, Kristina Kuzmic has to say about breastfeeding in public.

Why do women have breasts?

When I search for the reason that women have breasts, I came across mostly articles about nourishment of our babies. Not that breast are only there for male amusement. All mammals develop breasts when they are nursing their young… do we now train all nursing mammal mothers to hide in a corner or use nursing covers?

What is considered to be an acceptable use of breasts?

Image: Breastfeeding in public

There are also a plethora of social experiments that had been conducted over the past few years that really highlight the huge gap between what we consider acceptable use of our breasts.

Click the video link to watch a social experiment that highlights sexy v’s breastfeeding.

At what point did we, as women, allow men’s opinions and feelings dictate what we can and can’t do with parts of our bodies? Also, why is perfectly ok for men to go shirtless… even if they have gynecomastia (affectionately known as man boobs)?

The findings of my Facebook survey about the use of breasts

I asked my Facebook friends to fill in a short survey about breasts:

40% said that breasts were for fun and they enjoyed playing with them versus 60% that said that they were for feeding our tiny humans.

It was interesting to see when asked when was an appropriate time to ask a woman to ‘cover up’ that no one selected ‘when breastfeeding her baby’ and the majority of people considered it none of their business whether a woman has her breasts out.

But when asked if they thought that breasts were only for sexual pleasure, the response was mixed. 40% strongly disagreed, 20% agreed, 20% strongly agreed and 20% chose not to answer the question.

What was encouraging, considering the responses to the first and previous questions, was that all participants said that they were ok with breastfeeding in public.

So I guess it’s not all doom, gloom and lost confidence in humankind. Only time will tell what my experience will be with breastfeeding in public versus heading out for a night on the town with my cleavage in full view. Wish me luck and watch this space for further ranting updates.

Author: Mia is a consultant from Oh Zone Adult Lifestyle Centres

Jennifer works marketing at Adultsmart an online sex toy shop. She has a non-judgemental approach to sex, sex toys and sexuality. Her favorite saying is if it feels good and right and is not illegal then why not! adultsmart.com.au

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