Supermodel Sends Powerful Message with Breastfeeding Photo
Dutch model Doutzen Kroes took to Instagram to make a statement on breastfeeding — and the intersection of motherhood and sexuality. (Photo: Instagram/Doutzen)
Doutzen Kroes — the Dutch beauty and former Victoria’s Secret Angel — has become the latest supermodel to join the sisterhood of moms who breastfeed in public. On Friday, Kroes, now the face of L’Oreal, took to Instagram to post a tender photo of herself nursing her 10-month-old baby daughter Myllena.
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“Sweet dreams,” she captioned the photo. Kroes then reposted it side-by-side with an image of her modeling in a push-up bra. With that, she added the comment, “Breasts are a scandal because they shatter the border between motherhood and sexuality,” quoting the late Iris Marion Young, a University of Chicago political science professor known for her work in feminist theory.
With her post, Kroes has joined fellow models including Miranda Kerr, Gisele Bundchen, and Nicole Trunfio, all of whom have recently shown their support for public breastfeeding by posting photos and comments to social media — and, in Trunfio’s case, by appearing on the latest cover of Elle Australia with her infant suckling at her breast.
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After some Facebook commenters criticized Trunfio’s move, she shot back with the following comment of her own: “There is nothing more powerful and beautiful than motherhood. The last thing I want to do is be controversial, so please take this for what it is, let us #normalizebreastfeeding. There is nothing worse than a mother that is judged for feeding her hungry child in public.”
Doutzen Kroes. (Photo: Anthony Harvey/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
The post by Kroes — which has garnered more than 108,000 likes on Instagram — has so far brought out a rush of supporters, with commenters noting “Spot on,” “Inspirational,” “What a woman,” and “Thank you for your promotion of breastfeeding!”
The quote Kroes chose to accompany her post came from the 2004 book of essays, “On Female Body Experience,” written by Young, who died of cancer just two years later at the age of 57. “There is no question in my mind that she is one of the most important political philosophers of the past quarter-century,” said fellow professor Cass Sunstein at the time. “She was unexcelled in the world in feminist and leftist political thought, and her work will have an enduring impact.”
In her book, Young explores the many perspectives on breasts in our society, unpacking the reasons why some women may shy away from nursing in public — and why many men abhor it. “The border between motherhood and sexuality is lived out in the way women experience their breasts and in the cultural marking of breasts,” she writes. “A great many women in this culture that fetishizes breasts are reluctant to breast-feed because they perceive that they will lose their sexuality. They believe that nursing will alter their breasts and make them ugly and undesirable. They fear that their men will find their milky breasts unattractive or will be jealous of the babies who take their bodies… Breasts are a scandal because they shatter the border between motherhood and sexuality. Nipples are taboo because they are quite literally, physically, functionally undecidable in the split between motherhood and sexuality. One of the most subversive things feminism can do is affirm this undecidability of motherhood and sexuality.”
Kroes feeding her daughter. (Photo: Instagram)
Ohio University professor of social medicine Jacqueline Wolf, whose research focuses on birthing and breastfeeding practices, agrees with Young’s sentiment, and notes that she likes to remind critics of the physiological purpose of breasts: to feed infants. “But in our country, the sexual purpose of breasts trumps the physiological purpose, which is problematic — and unique to our culture,” she tells Yahoo Parenting. “In some other countries they wouldn’t even know what you meant by the phrase ‘breastfeeding in public.’ It’s like saying ‘walking in public.’”
Wolf adds that breastfeeding is a learned activity for primates, both human and not, and that one of the problems for women who need help and support is that, because of cultural hang-ups, “we don’t get to observe each other. Because it’s done behind closed doors, it’s become a mysterious activity. But all aspects of childcare should be public and readily observable.”
She adds that, while public discussions of breastfeeding prompted by models such as Kroes have the potential for being helpful to the cause, they too often become arguments. “If it can start a decent conversation, fine. But we only seem to discuss it when there’s a seductive photo,” she says. “We’re using the wrong prompts.”
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