This article is part of a series on Breastfeeding and feminism: Reproductive health, rights and justice, edited by Dr Miriam H Labbok, Dr Paige Hall Smith, and Ms Emily C Taylor.

Debate

Got milk? Not in public!

Jacqueline H Wolf

Department of Social Medicine, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA

author email corresponding author email

International Breastfeeding Journal 2008, 3:11doi:10.1186/1746-4358-3-11

Published:	4 August 2008

Abstract

The American focus on the sexual purpose of breasts, rather than the physiological function of breasts, has serious public health consequences. Discomfort with breastfeeding in public lowers breastfeeding rates, which in turn negatively affects women's and children's short- and long-term health.