No, and no. Karlesha Thurman, a recent graduate of Cal State Long Beach, posted a photo of herself breastfeeding in cap and gown at commencement on a Facebook page called Black Women do Breastfeed. Apparently, some viewers were not too pleased, and Thurman deleted the photo.
We agree that breast-feeding is a natural concept that should not be criticized by the masses. However, we feel that it is slightly odd to post a picture on social media with #normalizebreastfeeding written beneath it. That caption alone politicizes the action.
Of course we appreciate a symbolic gesture that aims to demonstrate a mother’s pride on a day worthy of praise, and we applaud Karlesha for her efforts, for staying in school despite the difficulties that a pregnancy may present. College is hard enough on its own, but to be raising a child at the same time must be incredibly difficult.
We, by no means, hope to come across critical life choices such as Thurman’s; we simply think that it is awkward for her to claim that she, “honestly thought that as a society, people were more understanding to breastfeeding and understood the importance [of it],” as she told Today, an NBCNews website.
How could she legitimately say that in defense of her actions, when she posted it on a page that aims to, in her words, “normalize” the act of breast-feeding in the first place?
If she “didn’t even know there was a big controversy about breastfeeding in public until all of this happened,” as she said, then why would she be posting the image “to show it’s natural” and “normal,” and that “there’s nothing wrong with it?”
If she truly were oblivious to the kind of reactions she might face, she wouldn’t have included the caption, and she would not be posting this image to a Facebook page that has a primary goal of combating the very controversy Thurman
claims she knew nothing about.
Overall, we are proud of Thurman for her hard work, determination and perseverance. We agree that this is not an issue worthy of social media hype. We also think she should have left the picture up on Facebook simply for the sake of her argument, which is to show how normal the act of breast-feeding is.
We just wish Thurman didn’t pretend that she didn’t know what she was getting herself into.
Well to whomever wrote this, I didn’t pretend anything, if you wanted facts you should have reached out to me instead of taking everything you read as facts, I didn’t even know that facebook page existed until 3 minutes before I posted the photo as a comment and I didn’t put any hashtag expect #collegegraduation, the photo was then shared on the page without my knowledge or permission, this is why I hate writes because they will write anything just to have a story!