Judgment for when, how, and where moms choose to breastfeed is so abundant that we're barely surprised when it happens anymore. Unfortunately, breastfeeding shamers don't only come in the form of grubby Internet trolls. There are plenty of women and moms out there who contribute their fair share of harm by perpetuating the stigma that women only breastfeed in public for "attention." Before she was a mom, blogger Jenny Tamas was one of those women. But she has recently rejected her past views with a public apology to "all women" that every breastfeeding mom should read.
Like many of us, Jenny Tamas went through the majority of her adolescence without ever being exposed to women breastfeeding on a regular basis.
"Besides the odd photo in National Geographic here and there, I never, not ever, saw women breastfeeding," she writes in an Instagram post. "I was filled with ignorance and judgments. I used to believe breastfeeding moms did it for attention, I mean why else would you pull out a boob in public?"
Jenny's admission is one that's relatable to plenty of people. To those of us who were unfamiliar with breastfeeding before childbirth, society's biases surrounding the subject often led us to have judgmental, uninformed opinions. For her own fault in this, Jenny apologizes.
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In her post, she goes on to say, "Somewhere in those pivotal years of learning about my body, I learned something I am still trying to unlearn: that my body and my breasts, are for one purpose only — to turn him [men] on."
She also mentions her desire to continue learning how to view her body as something seperate from the desires of men, something uniquely her own, a view that she wishes to pass down to her daughter, Lily.
"I am so damn proud of myself that I am a part of normalizing something that was not normal for me growing up," she writes. "I am a part of motherhood, yes, but also a part of breastfeeding, which requires unspoken acts of self sacrifice as I say goodbye to my once succulent perky breasts, that I used to believe were only for him, and say hello to something different. Something for me. What they should have always been about. I am now learning that my tugged out, stretched out, milk filled, lopsided breasts are so, so much more."
We aren't the only ones who felt inspired by this mom's admission. Her Instagram comments are filled with women thanking her for taking the time to speak on such an important issue.
Jenny's heartfelt apology is one that all women should be able to relate to and view as an example. Once we're already on the road to enlightenment, many of us don't stop to take the time to think back on the people we may have hurt in the process of getting there. But this mom's post is an important reminder that it's never too late to lift each other up.
