These NSFW Photos Reveal a Side of Breastfeeding We Rarely Talk About
focus of the public eye these days. One piece of breastfeeding that hasn't been widely discussed, [...]
Breastfeeding has become a major (sometimes controversial) focus of the public eye these days. One piece of breastfeeding that hasn't been widely discussed, however, is the role technology plays in the process.
While some may think of breastfeeding as an all-natural, almost divine way of life, these days it's rare to find a breastfeeding mom who doesn't use a pump or some other contraption to help things along.
Photographer and mom Leah DeVun wanted to showcase the role technology plays in motherhood; ahead, check out the NSFW photos in her series In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction.
DeVun says the photos aren't meant to depict a grim existance for breastfeeding moms, but instead to portray breastfeeding in a matter-of-fact way. They're simply moms they're simply mothers "being very straightforward, doing a straightforward thing," DeVun told Refinery29.
DeVun says the project was inspired after talking to breastfeeding moms and seeing a disconnect between the difficulties of pregnancy and what we talk about most as a society.
"The more I talked to other mothers, the more I was struck by how many aspects of pregnancy, delivery, and breastfeeding didn't come naturally at all, and how this stirred up complicated emotions — mothers often were disappointed in themselves for failing to meet our societal demands for a certain kind of effortless or heroic childbearing experience," she told A Child Grows in Brooklyn.
DeVun wants you to know that her series doesn't aim to showcase anything negative about the machinery that goes into breastfeeding. In fact, the goal of the series was to show that there is no right or wrong way to breastfeed.
"This set of photographs of breastfeeding mothers is intended to document the reality of that relationship between self and other, natural and artificial, success and failure, but it isn't a rejection of the 'unnatural' plastic and tubing in the photographs — it's more a meditation on and an embrace of all the complexity of our bodily experiences," DeVun said.
In terms of public reaction, DeVun says she's received some praise for her attempt to broaden the representation of breastfeeding. On the other hand, she says she's also received some backlash due to the very NSFW content.
Although DeVun says that those reacting to the "ick factor" of her series are missing the point, she also believes that it's an important part of opening the conversation she aimed to bring about. "Even though people have very contrasting and very emotional opinions about the images, I think it's a really important conversation to have and be having in public," she said.
Do you feel like DeVun's series is showcasing motherhood in a way that needs to be talked about?
Related:
This Mom Found a Way to Breastfeed During Workouts, Taking Multitasking to a Whole New Level
One Mom Speaks out About Breastfeeding After Infant Son Dies From Starvation
Mom Furious After Day Care Worker Breastfeeds Lactose-Intolerant Son
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