A young mother has spoken out after being criticised for breastfeeding her son in public.
The mother from Terre Haute, Indiana, Conner Kendall, was out with her family when an unidentified male stranger took a photo of her breastfeeding, without her knowledge. The man then uploaded this photo onto both Facebook and Instagram, asking his followers whether they thought it was “appropriate” or not.
“I want to know if this is appropriate or inappropriate as I’m trying to eat my Fridays, there are little kids around,” said the man in the Facebook post, “I understand feeding in public but could you at least cover your boob up?”
The Facebook post.
After a couple of days of circulation, Conner said she was “horrified” when she went online and saw her photo “plastered” everywhere, adding that the comments and messages that followed the stranger’s Facebook post were “nothing less than harassing and shameful to, not only me, but every past, present, and future nursing mother”.
Since then, Ms Kendall has posted a moving Facebook post in response, stating that she will not be “shamed” for breastfeeding her son.
“I strongly encourage you to educate yourself as well as your daughter about breastfeeding. Breasts are meant to be used to feed our young. It is society that has sexualized them,” read her post, “Children do not sexualize breasts until they are taught to do so. I pray that if in the future your daughter chooses to breastfeed that she is not shamed and does not have her picture plastered all over social media.”
“We as a society should embrace the fact that God made mothers able to feed our children from our own breasts,” It went on, “We need to educate ourselves, society, and our children on the fact that breasts are not made to sell lingerie, food, clothes, electronics, and just about everything else out there, we were given them to feed our babies, that’s it.”
Go, mum!
