Back in 2013, photographer Leilani Rogers wanted to document breastfeeding moms nursing in public as a way to destigmatize it.
Contents
show
“The response was so positive that year that in 2014 I invited other photographers to join me,” Rogers explained.
What started as a personal project evolved into the The Public Breastfeeding Awareness Project (PBAP), joined by moms and photographers from all over the world. She reached out to moms by asking them where they felt most comfortable breastfeeding, and it snowballed from there.
“Our vision is: ‘The more you see something, the more normal it becomes’,” Rogers said.
“Their stories tell the truth,” says Rogers. “The fact is there is a lot of judgement towards moms who breastfeed in public.”
“There is a lot of judgment about how it should be done (covered/uncovered) and where (go the bathroom, bring a bottle, etc.),” she added.
She also said, “There are assumptions that if you choose to do it openly and without a cover then you are a narcissist. It’s sad and it’s ridiculous to say that.”
Breastfeeding is legal, it’s normal, and most importantly, it’s necessary.
A baby’s need to feed beats a bystander’s need to be offended by it.
“If as a society we’d stop looking at a woman’s body as purely sexual, we might get over the sight of a mother meeting her child’s needs in the middle of the grocery store,” said Rogers. “We might reserve judgement for more important issues.”