People Somehow Shocked By Woman's Breastfeeding Graduation Photo
A young mother graduating from college took a celebratory photo with her baby, and it's causing a huge stir on the internet because she was breastfeeding at the time, and we're apparently still scandalized by seeing part of a breast in a completely nonsexual context.
Karlesha Thurman, 25, just graduated from California State University Long Beach, after giving birth to a daughter during her final semester. She posted a photo showing her feeding the baby to the Facebook group Black Women Do Breastfeed (the now-deleted group was created in acknowledgement that breastfeeding is less common for black moms than white moms in the U.S.)
The photo got a positive response from its intended audience, but it soon spread outside the Facebook group, where a wider Twitter audience saw it and, outraged at the appearance of a boob, collectively shook its damn head.
Thurman was also repeatedly called "inappropriate," and "a hoe," and criticized for having a baby before graduation.
Eventually, the photo was picked up by Buzzfeed, beginning a backlash to the backlash.
Thurman, meanwhile, seems unfazed by the attention.
"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," she wrote on Facebook.
Shaming women over public breastfeeding isn't just a U.S. thing, either: In the U.K. this week, a mom made the news after she was called a slut for breastfeeding at a coffee shop.
