A few days ago I read a news story in Korea (link to the article) that caught my attention. Apparently there has been some controversy over the actress Choi Yu-hwa (최유화), who posted a few photos on social media of herself breastfeeding her baby in a public place to celebrate 6 months of breastfeeding. You can see the photos in the article I linked, and don’t worry, you won’t see any nipples: they’re safe to view at work or on the subway. To me this should be a non-issue, but some people don’t see it that way.
But Goguma, if she shows her breast in public, someone is bound to get upset, right?
Well, I wouldn’t care, and I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. It’s natural for a mother to feed her child, and even so, she covered herself with a blanket so nothing would show. In other words, you can’t see the nipple, which is what could make her critics panic and run around in circles. We all know that seeing a nipple has caused a lot of trauma and many deaths in the past; it was and still is worse than any pandemic and/or genocide.
So what’s the problem? I don’t get it, Goguma.
Well, South Korea is a fairly conservative society, and this is something that can cause controversy in many places (it happens even in more open countries). For me there’s no problem, but that’s not the point, because some people are bothered by it for reasons that escape me.
What worries me is the reaction of people going out of their way to attack this kind of thing. Look, I have very little doubt that she has a very busy schedule and takes care of the baby when she can. She already has a lot to juggle, and even if her schedule were empty it wouldn’t matter. She doesn’t need to justify herself for doing what she sees fit as long as she hasn’t done anything illegal (which of course she hasn’t). People really seem eager to pick a fight over anything, and I don’t like that.
How did people react on Korean social media?
Well, it was a bit of everything. There were negative reactions, because there are a lot of conservative people, and also a lot of assholes who want to criticize absolutely everything, whether they have a reason or not (this is an opinion blog, I don’t mean to offend anyone, and everyone is free to think what they want if they disagree with me).
Also, social media algorithms are designed to generate controversy and engagement, so I’m sure posts like this were shown to people who were likely to respond negatively. She may well have imagined this would stir up reactions on Korean social media, even though she just wanted to celebrate a personal achievement: 6 months of breastfeeding her baby.
That said, not all the reactions are negative, and some of them restore my faith in humanity. Quite a few people are cheering her on and congratulating her on the milestone.
I have no problem with mothers breastfeeding wherever they need to, and I see nothing erotic or festive about it, which is where I imagine the controversy comes from. It’s natural. I think it’s good for famous people to do this kind of thing so that people gradually get used to seeing it as normal.
And what do you think? Do you think mothers shouldn’t breastfeed in public places? Should they hide in the bathroom to do it? Am I disturbed for seeing it as normal? Do you think I’ll go to hell? Let me know in the comments.
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The photo illustrating this post is by RDNE Stock project on Pexels. It is not a photo of the actress; you can see Choi Yu-hwa’s photos at the article link.