Breast milk is regarded as one of the best food for the infants, and exclusive breastfeeding is highly recommended. For breastfeeding to become exclusive, mothers often face situations where they will be required to feed their young ones in public areas whether outdoors or indoors. Nevertheless, many people do not accept public breastfeeding. Numerous social, cultural, religious, and legal factors play a role in the acceptance of breastfeeding in public places. Public acceptance has thus had a significant effect on the rate of breastfeeding in regions and communities. Some countries such as North America and Europe have made various legislative attempts to institute the legitimacy of breastfeeding especially in the public areas and also the right to pump milk or breastfeed a child in the workplace. The United States is one of the countries that do not allow mothers to breastfeed public and as such, public breastfeeding is often met with hostility and ridicule. In the United Stets, women who have attempted to breastfeed at work have been threatened with termination.
Breastfeeding is regarded as a natural activity, and as a result, every individual should accept on that. In many countries, public breastfeeding is often protected by the law (Hannan et al., 2005). However, my opinion on the topic is entirely different. As for me, I think that natural activity does not mean that breastfeeding should be done publically. Social norms deal with is accepted and what is not accepted in the public settings. Part of the social norms is who defines them and how particular activities or parts of the body are considered acceptable or not ( Hannan et al., 2005). The whole issue of breastfeeding is entwined in different social and cultural norms about sexuality, nature, and how people think about women’s bodies to the larger issue of the social body. Breasts are considered to be private parts, and no one should know one’s private parts. When people think of breasts, they associate them with privacy. This is one aspect that many mothers do not consider. As they breastfeed, those private parts are usually exposed to everyone. This becomes more embarrassing when one breastfeeds in the presence of other individuals. It does not auger well when mother expose their private parts to everyone. That is why believe that there is no problem with our social norms. Women are supposed to breastfeed privately. They have other options to feed their babies rather than breastfeeding in public. For instance, to avoid breastfeeding at work or in public places, these women should either pump breast milk using a breast pump while at home or they may use a formula to feed their babies.
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In the past, culture did not allow women to breastfeed in public (Hannan et al., 2005). Still, in the past, women were supposed to choose between their career and family. Today breastfeeding women still need to choose between having a career and breastfeeding at work because breastfeeding a child in front of other people is seen as seen as a taboo. Thus, the social norms of breastfeeding should remain the same in the United States, and women should not be allowed to breastfeed in the public so as to maintain privacy.
In summary, it is clear that public breastfeeding varies across the world. The United States is one of the countries that have established legislation that does not allow public breastfeeding. Our social norms do not have a problem as far as breastfeeding is concerned. All mothers should thus be engaged in education that provides them with knowledge on the alternatives to breastfeeding. To protect our social norms, mothers should be taught that breastfeeding is not the only option for feeding their babies. They can use other means to feed infants when they are in public places or at work.
Reference
Hannan, A., Li, R., Benton-Davis, S., & Grummer-Strawn, L. (2005). Regional variation in public opinion about breastfeeding in the United States. Journal of human lactation , 21 (3), 284-288.
