Leilani Rogers is the photographer behind the Public Breastfeeding Awareness Project "Breastfeeding in real life" project involving more than 60 photographers from around the world and defending breastfeeding in public. It aims to normalize breastfeeding through the dissemination of beautiful images of mothers breastfeeding their babies in public places.
This year, he hit the spot with an incisive question: What views would you prefer? alluding to babies who end up being breastfed in unpleasant places like public toilets or inside a car. Why do mothers and babies have to hide because others are bothered to see an act as normal as feeding?
Leilani rogers "There are other places to do it"
One of the most used arguments by those who do not approve of breastfeeding in public is that there are other places to do it, such as breastfeeding rooms or private spaces where moms can breastfeed their babies quietly.
It is certainly a great solution, as long as the mother wants to do so and not because others bother to see them. That is when breastfeeding rooms can be considered a private space or a hiding place, depending on how you look at it.
Eating with others
But if you asked anyone where they would rather eat, they would certainly prefer at the table with family and friends instead of inside a car or in a public restroom (there is no less hygienic place to eat). Are babies less? Of course not. The drawback is that instead of feeding on a plate, they feed on a tit, a part of the body prone to breastfeeding being absurdly confused with sexual provocation.
Opinions like this and disapproving looks mean that many women do not feel comfortable breastfeeding in public, but this would not happen if everyone started to see breastfeeding in public as it really is: a normal and natural act to which all babies and their mothers are entitled.
