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from cnn.com
Graduation photo shows 'Black Women Do Breastfeed'
updated 7:26 PM EDT, Wed June 11, 2014
Your video will begin momentarily.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- A photo of a woman nursing at her college graduation got spread on social media
- The picture was shared from Facebook group "Black Women Do Breastfeed"
- The group's founder says their images encourage more black women to breast-feed
(CNN) -- The Facebook page "
Black Women Do Breastfeed"
has existed since 2010 with a modest audience of some 2,000 people who
follow it for news and conversations along with the occasional
encouraging image of a breast-feeding mother.
Over the weekend, the
page shared a picture of a woman breast-feeding at her graduation,
prompting a chorus of social media cheers and jeers. While much of the
reaction has focused on whether the picture is appropriate, the women
behind "Black Women Do Breastfeed" say its message is lost in the social
media chatter.
"It's important for black
women to see other black women breast-feeding," said Nicole Sandiford,
who started "Black Women Do Breastfeed" in 2010 as a blog and Facebook
group. "Seeing other black women breast-feeding provides a sense of
broad community and support for those who are trying to do it."
If that sounds weird to you, look no further than a
recent post on the Facebook page asking,
"If someone tried to talk you out of breast-feeding, what were their
reasons?" Comments vary from, "My mom said that's what poor people did
in the old days" to "You won't make enough milk" or "It's something that
white people do."
That wasn't Sandiford's
experience growing up in a black family outside of the United States,
where it wasn't unusual to see women breast-feed openly in public. She
remembers seeing her mother breast-feed her sister and knew that one day
she, too, would breast-feed her children.
Server responds to breast-feeding
When she turned to the
Internet in 2009 for support after her son's birth, she noticed that
most images and personal stories did not include black women. Or, when
conversations included black women, they focused on how they breast-feed
at lower rates than other racial groups.
"I said to myself, 'Hmm,
we seem to be missing from this broader conversation,' " said Sandiford,
a married mother of two in Charlotte, North Carolina.
"But, as I went through
my life, I knew black women who were breast-feeding, including me. I
thought one thing I can do to broaden the conversation is collect
stories of black women who are breast-feeding."
Georgia mother Shlonda
Smith also breast-fed her five children, but somewhere along the way, a
friend said to her "you're the only black women I know who
breast-feeds," remember Smith, who joined "Black Women Do Breastfeed" as
a co-administrator in late 2013.
"It became important to
me to see other black women breast-feed and make it visible that yes,
black women do breast-feed," Smith said.
On the Facebook page,
links to news articles and studies garnered a few likes here and there,
but things took a turn a few weeks ago when Smith posted an image of a
woman breast-feeding. More women sent pictures for Smith to post and
engagement increased, hitting a high with a split image of a woman
breast-feeding alongside a picture of pop star Rihanna in a see-through
dress. It included the caption, "Why is it OK for a star to wear this
but for me to breastfeed it's a problem."
Karlesha Thurman decided
to post the photo of herself breast-feeding her child while wearing her
graduation cap and gown in the comments of that photo. It immediately
got more attention than any other post ever on the page, Smith said, who
could relate to being a young mom finishing college.
"It was just beautiful;
it just spoke volumes," Smith said. "Breast-feeding is tough at the
beginning, so to see a young mom who balanced breast-feeding and school,
that's amazing."
But on social media and in other areas, Thurman saw some backlash. Smith offered to take the photo down, but Thurman refused.
"I found out I was
pregnant my last year of college, had my daughter one week into my last
semester, she was my motivation to keep going, so me receiving my BA was
OUR moment," Thurman said,
according to a post on the page.
"Black Women Do
Breastfeed" also received negative comments about its name and its focus
on black women. It also received new support -- the audience climbed to
more than 7,000 by Wednesday afternoon.
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Sandiford spoke with CNN
about breast-feeding, race and how "Black Women Do Breastfeed" has
grown to accommodate a diverse audience.
The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity:
CNN: Why is the group named "Black Women Do Breastfeed"?
Sandiford:
I named it "Black Women Do Breastfeed" so that people could be aware
that there is community of black women who do breast-feed and who are
interested in breast-feeding and want to share their experiences. One of
the things I used to do when I was looking online for information about
breast-feeding is put in search "black women breast-feed," and I
figured if I named it something like that, it would come up in searches.
The name is not there to
exclude anyone because from the very start, we've had women and men of
varying races express interest in being on the page, but black women
need advocacy in this area as well. That doesn't exclude women from
joining the advocacy, it just recenters the conversation.
In addition to making
black women breast-feeding more visible, we've made women who felt like
they were the only ones doing it realize they're not alone. We made
women who may not have previously breast-fed their children see this
community of women.
There are women in this
country who may be the first generation in their family to breast-feed.
They may be the only women in their community who breast-feed, and that
makes it difficult to find support.
CNN: How does sharing pictures of women breast-feeding contribute to this goal?
Sandiford:
In the U.S., even though we do have breast-feeding, it's not seen as a
common thing. It's not really something you necessarily see walking down
the street. For black women who don't know other women who breast-feed
in their community, it is important to see that is happening.
CNN: Why do you think this image went viral?
Sandiford: I
think people were impressed that this young woman was able to graduate
while taking care of a young infant. Because people are not used to
seeing breast-feeding in public in this country, we tend to get really
nervous or scared or unsure or outright offended because many of us are
not used to seeing breasts in that context.
But, I think it's
important that photos like this are out there because women need to be
able to breast-feed their babies and sometimes it needs to happen in
public. Babies need to eat, and they can't control other people's
feelings. I think it's important that people remember this is about
feeding a baby, and we as nation need to figure out how to manage our
own personal feelings and allow women and babies to breast-feed as they
need to.
CNN: How have you handled the reaction on your page?
Sandiford: When
it comes to social media, you will always see detractors, you will
always see people who disagree. But I think it's good to remember that
for each of those detractors, there are more people saying 'We support
her, and we don't see anything wrong with this.'
We've been very
heartened by the positive comments we've seen, and we've definitely seen
a lot more positive than negative ones. For us, we've tried not to fan
the flames because we don't want to contribute to any harm that might
come, and we certainly hope there isn't any so we're trying to be a
little bit more low-key.
We are assessing how we
want to manage pictures in the future. We don't want to discourage
anyone who has pictures they want to share from doing so, but right now,
our main concern is that women featured in pictures won't fear any harm
from sharing them.
CNN: Do you think the reaction would've been different if a white woman had appeared in the picture?
Sandiford: It's
really hard for me to say, but I think that maybe certain assumptions
might not have been made if the person in the picture was not black
because we've had people questioning her devotion to her studies,
questioning her lifestyle and just making slanderous comments.
It's really difficult to say, but I do think the reaction might have been a little different.
As a new parent, did you feel encouraged to breastfeed -- or discouraged? Share your experience in the comments, on Twitter @CNNLiving with the hashtag #CNNparents or on CNN Living's Facebook page.
Arnise Muhammad That face tho...hilarious and priceless. Bye Felicia!
Ever Evolving lol
Mrs.Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade JOOOO this white girl is boiling oooo!
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