If you have been living in a cave last week, then you might have missed an online stir centered around a student ad campaign supporting pro-public-breastfeeding legislation in Texas. The controversy was not so much on the topic discussed, but on the provocative images of women nursing their babies in public toilet stalls.
"Private dining. Would you eat here?" asks the text of one of poster, which features a photo of a young mother breastfeeding her infant while perched on the lid of a public toilet. Two other images featured in the campaign series, of different mom-baby pairs, ask, "Bon appétit. Would you eat here?" and “Table for two. Would you eat here?"
The campaign, called "When Nurture Calls," is the work of University of North Texas graphic-art majors Johnathan Wenske and Kris Haro, both in junior high school. They decided to take on the polarizing issue of public breastfeeding for an assignment that required students to design a campaign for a social issue or product, as if it were being created for actual paying clients.
The campaign, theoretically, is a partnership with La Leche League and the United Breastfeeding Committee with Borden Milk and restaurants that support a mother's right to breastfeed in public. The website further explains that the donations and petition signing will help promote this campaign to pass a legislative measure that seeks to protect a mother's right to breastfeed in public and keep her safe from discrimination and harassment.
The first image, posted on Facebook by blogger Mama Bean last 3 May 2014 has more than 12,800 likes and 8,000 shares, generating a lengthy stream of comments ranging from supportive to insulting — including a woman calling public nursing "trashy" and a man objecting to women baring their "sex objects." The negativity even led one of the moms in the ads to take to Facebook to defend herself.
Some early comments personally attacked photo model Monica Young (who posed with her baby) for being everything from indecent to too young to be a mom. That prompted her to post:
"I get more sexual comments than anything. So yeah, it’d be pretty great not to have any nasty comments made while I’m feeding my child, with or without a cover."
"I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be a part of this campaign. I've heard more disturbing comments and received so many displeasing glances in the last four months than I have had my entire life! I would love to nurse my son without putting my head down and since sitting for these pictures, I've proudly nursed wherever I please. This project has inspired many people, but especially myself!"
Seeing the huge response to their work on Facebook was a bit of a shock for Wenske and Haro. "We know people in our families who [have breastfed in public], but I never knew it was actually that hot of a topic," says Haro, who did the photography for the project. "We never expected so many comments."
"Private dining. Would you eat here?" asks the text of one of poster, which features a photo of a young mother breastfeeding her infant while perched on the lid of a public toilet. Two other images featured in the campaign series, of different mom-baby pairs, ask, "Bon appétit. Would you eat here?" and “Table for two. Would you eat here?"
The campaign, called "When Nurture Calls," is the work of University of North Texas graphic-art majors Johnathan Wenske and Kris Haro, both in junior high school. They decided to take on the polarizing issue of public breastfeeding for an assignment that required students to design a campaign for a social issue or product, as if it were being created for actual paying clients.
The campaign, theoretically, is a partnership with La Leche League and the United Breastfeeding Committee with Borden Milk and restaurants that support a mother's right to breastfeed in public. The website further explains that the donations and petition signing will help promote this campaign to pass a legislative measure that seeks to protect a mother's right to breastfeed in public and keep her safe from discrimination and harassment.
The first image, posted on Facebook by blogger Mama Bean last 3 May 2014 has more than 12,800 likes and 8,000 shares, generating a lengthy stream of comments ranging from supportive to insulting — including a woman calling public nursing "trashy" and a man objecting to women baring their "sex objects." The negativity even led one of the moms in the ads to take to Facebook to defend herself.
Some early comments personally attacked photo model Monica Young (who posed with her baby) for being everything from indecent to too young to be a mom. That prompted her to post:
"I get more sexual comments than anything. So yeah, it’d be pretty great not to have any nasty comments made while I’m feeding my child, with or without a cover."
"I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be a part of this campaign. I've heard more disturbing comments and received so many displeasing glances in the last four months than I have had my entire life! I would love to nurse my son without putting my head down and since sitting for these pictures, I've proudly nursed wherever I please. This project has inspired many people, but especially myself!"
Seeing the huge response to their work on Facebook was a bit of a shock for Wenske and Haro. "We know people in our families who [have breastfed in public], but I never knew it was actually that hot of a topic," says Haro, who did the photography for the project. "We never expected so many comments."
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