17 Women Who Fired Back at Breastfeeding Shamers
No matter where they are - the gym, a restaurant, on an airplane - breastfeeding moms are constantly being told to cover up. Even though they're just trying to feed their kids, it seems like some people are always going to be uncomfortable around exposed breasts. Thankfully, many women shamed for nursing in public have put haters in their place. Find inspiration in these 17 women who brilliantly fired back when they were shamed for breastfeeding.
1. Jade Beall
Arizona photographer Jade Beall felt like she was forever being judged for breastfeeding her 3-year-old son in public, so she's shared photos like the above and wrote on Facebook that she wanted to "promote and support feminism" with the image.
"I admit that I never breastfeed my son in public anymore," Beall confessed. "I feel like somehow I would be committing a criminal act when all I am doing is providing comfort and nourishment for my son. I still have milk, he still wants his 'nah nahs' as he calls it and nothing, absolutely nothing soothes him better. I have tried to wean him multiple times and I have at last surrendered to the flow of my relationship with my son. If this offends you, ask a [sic] me a question rather than call me names."
2. Ashley Kaidel
Late last year, Ashley Kaidel shared on Facebook that a woman in public was looking at her "with disgust and shaking her head with judgement" in an attempt to shame her into covering up. In response, she wrote, "You should not ever feel shamed, belittled, embarrassed or wrong for feeding your baby the way nature intended," and signed it, "a badass breastfeeding (uncovered) mama." It has wracked up 424,000 likes and 124,000 shares to date.
3. Aidan Johnson
While breastfeeding at the bistro of her local Ohio gym, Aidan Johnson was approached by a human resources rep who wanted to "just make sure" that she was accommodated and told her she could go up to the kids' area, which is private, or another room that wasn't occupied until the afternoon. She wrote on Facebook that she was left feeling "hurt, sad, embarrassed, and ANGRY" about the experience. But the mom of two got the last word, thanks to her viral post, in which she asked, "Why should feeding my son be a concern to anyone?"
4. Emily Locke
Emily Locke, a mom from Pennsylvania, was taking photos for her sister's wedding last month when she took a break to breastfeed her 9-month-old. She shared in a Facebook post that a staff member told her, "You aren't allowed to do that here." Locke responded by saying that she was legally allowed to nurse her child and stood her ground until the employee gave up.
"I have posted this with my photo," Locke said on Facebook. "You can decide for yourself if it was a beautiful family moment or a disgusting act of exhibitionism."
5. Luci White
When White, who was breastfeeding her 7-month-old son at the mall food court in Bendigo, Australia, was asked by a staff member to leave and use a special feeding room, an entire community of moms turned out to stage a protest. Yes to solidarity.
6. Haddas Ancliffe
Haddas Ancliffe, a 21-year-old blogger who lives in Australia, posted the above photo a couple of years ago after experiencing judgment for breastfeeding. "I couldn't decide if I should post it but now, the more I look at it, the more I want to share it," she said. "I know I've talked about it before but I really do love breastfeeding and I'm so passionate about it. I'm happy to be able to say I'm confident enough now to ignore people's stares and just enjoy bonding with my baby. I wish moments like these could last forever."
More recently, Ancliffe's gorgeous Instagram photo of herself breastfeeding her son Jonah at a wedding went crazy viral. She captioned the photo, "Just me and my baby having a drink. (Gotta do what you gotta do, wedding or not.)" and added the hashtag #NormalizeBreastfeeding. The post received more than 2,600 likes and 220 comments on Instagram.
7. Dylan Downing
Downing was breastfeeding her 2-month-old at a sushi restaurant in Texas last month when the waitress threw a napkin over her, because she said three male customers nearby were complaining. "I ripped it off and said, 'Why are you touching me and covering my child?'" she told KHOU 11. Downing refused to tip her server after the meal and even took to the KHOU Facebook to post her receipt, which stated, "Do NOT touch breastfeeding women!"
8. Alyssa Milano
The actress, who has been super outspoken on social media about her desire to normalize breastfeeding, butted heads with Wendy Williams while appearing on her show in January. Williams said of women who breastfeed in public, "I don't need to see that." "But would you eat under a blanket?" Milano asked. "What I would do is I would go to the car and not on the bench in front of the big-box store," Williams responded.
Milano said that breasts' biological purpose is for feeding babies and had the last word in the whole debate, telling Williams, "All over the world, you're the not-normal. You're lucky the baby's not here, I'd whip 'em out right here and feed [her] on your show!"
9. Rebecca Dunbar
Last Christmas, Canadian mom Rebecca Dunbar got a photo taken while breastfeeding her son on Santa's lap, because she thought it would be funny. "Honestly, we were just in line and my little guy, who has the patience of nothing, decided he was hungry in about two seconds," Dunbar told Global News. "He would have just screamed the entire time so I started nursing him. And we were next in line."
She shared the image on her Facebook page, and cue the shamers. Dunbar said tons of people were calling the photo "trashy." "I think breastfeeding should be made more acceptable in all ways," she said. "It shouldn't deserve a comment one way or another because it shouldn't be seen as abnormal."
10. Karlesha Thurman
In 2014, a mom from California named Karlesha Thurman was on a Facebook page called "Black Women Do Breastfeed" and read another mom's post about how she had received dirty looks after breastfeeding in public. Thurman showed support for the other mom by posting a sweet photo of herself breastfeeding her baby during her graduation from California State University, Long Beach. Of course haters came out of the woodwork to give Thurman a hard time about her photo, which she told ABC News she didn't post for attention, and it has since been deleted from Facebook.
Of breastfeeding at her graduation, Thurman said, ""Nobody there had a problem with it. I was facing the other graduates. The crowd couldn't see me."
11. Sarah Stage
The lingerie model, who went viral for having a six-pack when she was pregnant, shared photos of herself breastfeeding her baby boy last summer. Instagram removed it because someone reported it, so she reposted it with a caption that read: "unfollow me. No need to hate on a beautiful moment with my son ✌🏾️#normalizebreastfeeding."
12. Tiffany Hoag
Last year, Tiffany Hoag, a mom from Oklahoma, had just finished working out at her local YMCA when she decided to breastfeed her son in the women's locker room. Another mom was doing the same. She says a staff member approached them and asked her to move to the "family" locker room, which turned out to be nothing more than a bathroom with a shower and a small plastic seat.
In response to the incident, Hoag shared photos of the space, writing, "Please share this post and realize that nursing my child has been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life." Later, she and others organized a small "nurse-in" at the YMCA.
13. Karina Gomez
Last year, a mom named Karina Gomez from Portland, Oregon, shared on Facebook that, during a recent trip to Marshalls, an employee had denied her access to a dressing room to feed her daughter and instead directed her to the ladies' restroom. She posted the above photo to Facebook, writing, "What a way to treat breastfeeding customers, shaming them for breastfeeding, making them feel embarrassed that you need to feed your child. I am angry, upset, but more so humiliated. My rights have been violated." After the incident, two dozen moms supported Gomez by holding a "nurse-in" at Marshalls.
14. Conner Kendall
Conner Kendall was breastfeeding her son at an Indiana TGI Friday's when a man took a photo of her and shared it on social media. "I went [sic] to know if this is appropriate or inappropriate as I'm trying to eat my Fridays, there are little kids around," the man wrote along with the photo, according to a screenshot shared by Kendall. "I understand feeding in public but could you at least cover your boob up?" Kendall wrote a lengthy response to the man on Facebook, which went viral, and the best part has to be how she concluded: "ALL MOMMIES SHOULD BE ABLE TO FEED THEIR BABIES WHENEVER, WHEREVER, AND HOWEVER THEY CHOOSE!"
15. Juliet Thomson
Juliet Thomson was on a United Airlines flight from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles back in February when she was reportedly told to "cover up" after nursing her 4-month-old daughter, Charlie. In an interview with YouTube star JoeySalads, Thomson said a female passenger on the plane called her "disgusting" and complained to a flight attendant. She says a flight attendant then approached her and said, "Listen, I know it's natural, but it's offending this woman. So if you don't mind covering up, it seems your baby is asleep now."
Thomson has since started a social media campaign encouraging moms to boycott United with the hashtag #MomsDontFlyUnited, and posted the above photo to Instagram, writing, "I'm sorry this offends you, but the well being of my daughter will always be more important to me then your thoughts and public shaming."
16. Caryn Canatella
Vlogger Caryn Canatella said she made the above viral video, "Where to Breastfeed," after being judged multiple times for breastfeeding her daughter in public. Canatella explained to TODAY Parents: "It is incredible the amount of opinions you face for every parenting decision, but how you choose feed your baby seems to suddenly be of interest to everyone you know - even strangers on the street. Being told to cover up when I'm feeding my baby, which has happened on several occasions, is silly and unnecessary."
17. Kassondra Coxson
A photo of Kassondra Coxson, the co-owner of Designed by Geeks and a blogger at Motherhood Community, tandem breastfeeding her baby and toddler in a milk bath went viral earlier this month. Photographer Jen Pritchett shared the image on her Facebook page with a disclaimer cautioning her followers to be kind, but trolls posted about the image anyway.
Coxson told SheKnows, "The comments that affected me weren't about my daughter being too old to breastfeed or the fat-shaming. It was more about why I was breastfeeding a child with different colored skin." She had the last word, though, posting this in response:
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