Tramp? Breastfeeding mother labelled by Facebook troll leads mass protest

Just over a week ago, twenty-seven-year-old Emily Slough, a young mum from Rugeley, Staffordshire, went out shopping in the sunshine with her eight-month-old daughter Matilda. Within hours she found herself the target of a vicious hate campaign on Facebook. Her crime? Breastfeeding her daughter in public.

Emily received a call from a friend alerting her to the fact that she was ‘hot news’. A complete stranger sitting in the pub opposite the steps where Emily had rested to feed her baby and grab a bite to eat herself, had uploaded a photograph to the social networking site. Furthermore, the picture had been labelled ‘Tramp’ and captioned as follows:

‘I know the sun is out n all that but theres [sic] no need to let your kid feast on your nipple in town!!! Tramp.’

Instantly the post went viral, attracting hundreds of comments both in support of Emily’s right to nurse her baby girl in public, and agreeing with her photographer. Many of the latter were obscene, but some people took the opportunity to voice their opinions, such as ‘Yvonne’, who said: ‘It still shouldn’t be made public. I breast fed all of my children and never found the need to make a public spectacle of myself.’ Yvonne explained that she had always fed her children before going out and took pre-filled bottles of breast milk in case she was caught short. ‘Showing your boobs in public is a case of “showing off”,’ she concluded. The case also attracted the attention of a local radio show, during which an ‘etiquette expert’ called Emily a ‘peasant’ for her supposedly outrageous behaviour.

Emily was not going to take this abuse lying down and appeared on ITV’s Daybreak to defend her right to nurse in public, revealing she was ‘shocked’ at the media attention. ‘I was showing a lot less flesh than a lot of people do,’ she argued, ‘I wasn’t sitting there with my breast out! Breastfeeding mums aren’t doing it to antagonise people or gain attention – they are doing it to meet their babies’ needs.’

Breastfeeding in public is covered under the Equality Act 2010, which states it is sexual discrimination to treat a woman unfavourably because she is breastfeeding. Emily’s detractors have suggested she should either go to a public toilet to feed her child in private, or hide her breast with a blanket (thus covering her baby’s head in the process), to which Emily retorted, ‘Why should mothers who are doing the best by their children feel that they should be confined to a toilet or changing room to provide their baby with nutrients? Would you eat in a toilet or with a blanket draped over your face?’

Emily’s response grew into her own Facebook campaign, and on Saturday she lead a mass breastfeeding session in her home town, where she sat in exactly the same spot and fed Matilda, surrounded by hundreds of mothers doing exactly the same with their babies. Her campaign was supported by mums in other UK towns including Stirling, Milton Keynes, York, Swansea and Newcastle, with the result of thousands of likeminded mums simultaneously replicating the protest and showing their support. Afterwards Emily told the media she was ‘overwhelmed’ by the response both from mothers in the UK and from supporters from all over the globe. ‘This event was staged, along with a number of others across the UK, to show that mothers who breastfeed are united,’ she said.

So who’s right in the debate on what constitutes good nursing etiquette?

‘It’s hard to understand why some people have a problem seeing mums breastfeeding,’ says Mumsnet founder, Justine Roberts. ‘It is of, course, a natural, essential human process. Those with an issue simply need to get over it.’ The problem is that lines become unnecessarily blurred when the mother chooses to partially reveal her breast in public, because some people are simply unable to view this part of the body as anything other than a sexual organ.

When teenagers are allowed to flaunt their curves with low-cut crop tops on the high street, the flimsiest of bikinis are considered acceptable on the beach and tabloid newspapers continue to flash photos of semi-nude and topless models on their front covers, why can’t this most basic of human needs simply be seen for what it is and accepted as natural? Any mum whose baby is over a week old will already be highly adept at nursing while showing the absolute bare minimum of flesh – trust us!

Should a mother be banished to a public toilet to feed her child? In certain cases, such as department stores, the facilities provided can be comfortable and afford privacy. But these separate ‘mother and baby’ rooms are by no means in good supply. Furthermore, considering the state and poor hygiene of most of the UK’s public toilets, then surely the mother is putting herself and her baby at risk by nursing in such unsavoury surroundings?

As far as blankets over the head are concerned, this is troubling as it suggests it’s natural to eat in the dark, without a proper air supply. Certainly many muslins, bibs, ‘hoods’ and breastfeeding tops are available which will limit the amount of flesh exposure, and may make nursing mothers feel more comfortable, likewise those around them. However, close examination of the picture in question shows that Emily was being perfectly discreet, and in fact nothing can be seen of her chest. She certainly wasn’t flashing her boobs in a bid for attention, yet still she was labelled a ‘tramp’. With the dictionary defining that word as either ‘a promiscuous woman’ or a ‘homeless person’, it doesn’t really seem appropriate.

Let’s Talk Breasts would love to hear your opinions on women’s right to breastfeed in public – we invite you to have your say!

Photo credit: Emily Slough/Facebook