Justice

YouTuber Kristina Kuzmic Nails the Problem with Treatment of Breasts

October 13th 2015

YouTube user Kristina Kuzmic made a brilliant and hilarious video about society's hypocritical view of breastfeeding. As ATTN: has noted before, many people are fine with sexualizing breasts in advertising and other forms of entertainment but show discomfort when women breastfeed their babies in public places.

RELATED: The Problem with the Way We Talk About Breastfeeding

Kuzmic illustrates the absurdity of this logic in her satirical viral video titled, "4 Reasons Women Should NEVER Breastfeed in Public."


According to Kuzmic, the first reason women should never breastfeed in public is because people don't like seeing breasts in public places.

"We don't live in a society where it's OK to just show part of your breast and cleavage in public," she says as she cuts to footage of a woman breastfeeding her baby right next to an ad of a woman posing in underwear:

Kristina Kuzmic YouTubeKristina Kuzmic YouTube - youtube.com

The video shows a woman in a revealing dress who becomes offended by the sight of another woman breastfeeding on a park bench. And in another scene, Kuzmic addresses the argument that women should cover their babies with a blanket while breastfeeding by showing footage of what it's like to eat food with a towel on your head at a restaurant.

"I don't see what's so uncomfortable about eating with a cover on your head," Kuzmic says. "That's not sweaty or hot or dark or claustrophobic at all."

Kristina Kuzmic YouTubeKristina Kuzmic YouTube - youtube.com

Last month, ATTN: produced a video on the same subject that highlights the sheer hypocrisy of shaming breastfeeding mothers while simultaneously promoting sexualized breasts in TV and beyond:

 

RELATED: What Happened When a Photographer Put Breastfeeding Photos On Instagram

Breastfeeding on social media

Birth photographer Melissa Jean Wilbraham was temporarily banned from Instagram two months ago for posting images of breastfeeding women and women giving birth. Wilbraham's account, which has more than 40,000 followers, was disabled on the first day of World Breastfeeding Week. When she saw her account was disabled, Wilbraham took to Facebook to complain:

 


"How ironic that the very day 'World Breastfeeding Week' began, my business was removed from Instagram," Wilbraham wrote. "There will always be sad humans who report my images but I will NEVER let this stop me celebrating & normalizing the miracle of life heart emoticon ‪#‎bringbackmelissajeanbabies‬ ‪#‎bringbackmelissajean‬"

Instagram quickly reactivated Wilbraham's account and told the Daily Mail Australia in a statement that deleting it was a mistake.

The hypocrisy of breasts and breastfeeding

Actress Alyssa Milano recently faced backlash on social media after posting an old photo on Instagram of her breastfeeding her daughter.

At the time, Milano said the negative comments didn't bother her but that she couldn't believe Miley Cyrus can reveal her breasts in photos and outfits while breastfeeding is considered a problem to many.

"I don't care," Milano told Entertainment Tonight. "Everyone's fine with [Miley Cyrus'] nipples being out. I think people are more comfortable sexualizing breasts than relating them to what they were made for, which is feeding another human."

It hasn't been easy for Cyrus either, though. The singer has opened up many times before about being criticized for showing her breasts in photos and public. She told Marie Claire over the summer that she couldn't see why Taylor Swift was celebrated for her violent music video for "Bad Blood" while she was consistently slammed for posting a topless Instagram photo (which the platform went on to delete).

"I don't get the violence revenge thing," Cyrus said. "That's supposed to be a good example? And I'm a bad role model because I'm running around with my titties out? I'm not sure how titties are worse than guns."

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