To be perfectly honest, a majority of my time these days is spent nursing Aidan. He’s three months and huge (and I think just beginning to crawl) – basically because he does nothing but eat and then eat some more. So breastfeeding is by default on my mind these days, but it has also recently caught the attention of the media yet once again.
A few years ago breastfeeding made major headlines when Mothering Magazine was pulled from various store shelves for featuring a breastfeeding baby on the cover. As I recall the general response I heard (mostly from Christians online) was that the cover was inappropriate – potentially causing men to stumble. The response revealed the assumption that breasts are solely sexual (as opposed to maternal and nurturing) – an assumption deeply ingrained in our culture. Well in the recent Sept/Oct issue of Mothering Magazine Professor Sarah Rubenstein-Gillis’ article “Reel Milk” explored the depiction of breastfeeding in popular films and what that has to say about our culture. And the article has once again caused quite a stir as the media is forced to examine its assumptions and objectifications of women.
Despite being recommended by the WHO, CCD, and AAP and the way God created women to feed their children, breastfeeding is still difficult for women in America. From hospital nurses insisting on feeding newborns formula, to lack of pumping time at work it is an uphill battle that many American women abandon after just a few weeks. So as the article explored, cultural conceptions and presentations of breastfeeding can affect maternal habits. As the author writes –
while it seems unlikely that the way infant feeding is depicted in any given film would, by itself, make or break a viewer’s resolve to breastfeed her child, each portrayal becomes part of a cumulative set of images and perspectives gathered over a lifetime that, consciously or not, can influence the way a person thinks and feels about the subject. If specific messages are repeated often and strongly enough, they can begin to seem like “the norm” – and norms, as most sociologists would argue, often dictate behavior.
So how does Hollywood depict breastfeeding? Generally as either a joke or as sexual imagery. Men are shown fantasizing as women nurse, or prostitutes encouraged to breastfeed for the novelty factor for their clients, or the act of breastfeeding is the opening to an affair. And then there are the jokes (such as the “Mannary Gland” in Meet the Fockers)- apt to our culture’s tendency to make light of whatever we are uncomfortable with or would rather not have to think about. And children’s movies seem to send the message that nursing is for animal babies and bottles are for humans – shaping perception of what is normal for years to come. There are of course a few films that contain positive and natural examples of breastfeeding, but they are (of course) mostly independent and foreign films. The typical American blockbuster sends the message loud and clear that breasts are sexual objects only – to be ogled, objectified, and joked about.
Unfortunately even women play along in this objectification and discomfort. I found it amusing recently that at the MOPS group I attend the women (in a room full of other women) either leave the room or cover up to breastfeed. Feeding our children must be hidden. And I am part of that. I use a nursing shawl in public because I really don’t want to deal with the crap (strange looks, requests to leave/cover-up) I get from complete strangers. But of course my cowardice to confront those who objectify me when I breastfeed only allows them to continue in that pattern.
So what do you think it will take for breastfeeding to be portrayed (and practiced) as “the norm” in America? Can breastfeeding be seen as natural and maternal, or is it impossible for our culture to see breasts as anything but sex objects?