Breastfeeding In Public: How Do Newspaper Journalists Frame The Issue Of Breastfeeding And Nipple Exposure

Main argument: (205)

The hypothesis of this project is: ‘How do newspaper journalists frame the issue of breastfeeding and nipple exposure?’ Attention was drawn to the way media uses language in order to resolve the way they enculturated sexism. Women can gain control over how their bodies are represented if supported by health care news regarding the word ‘nipple’. The shame of public breastfeeding can be removed if the word ‘nipple’ removes stigmatisation. There is room for change as constructivism shows us that language shapes our understanding. Equality for women concerning their body can be changed the way they are referred to in public because words are an important factor. If journalists were aware of how their coverage negatively affects mothers, women and babies, they might be more supportive and change their approach. This project is still limited because of the theoretical dimensions and quantity of the study. The ‘Free the Nipple’ campaign proved useful for this project. The image of women won’t change if their bodies are still seen as a form of pleasure. The stories behind ‘nip-slips’ will still remain a problem. The word ‘nipple’ needs to be used more in health news than in tabloids, then only will it be more accepted in public discussions.

Key findings: (249)

An important finding in this article suggests that public discourse is shaped by the journalism’s role with the repeated use of the word ‘nipple’. Key words were used in the news to identify what emotion they are related to. There were four main key words taken out of the articles: breasts, breastfeeding, nipple and nip-slip. Out of these key words, they summed it up to the following feelings and emotions: nutritious; dishonourable and mischievous; sick (linked with cancer) and pleasurable. Breast cancer is an important and crucial story concerning survivors, breast operations, medical treatments etc., whereas the stories about women’s bodies concerning breasts are seen as a form of pleasure and have a negative connotation. Regardless of the reason of exposing your body, as a woman, you will usually be humiliated and ill-treated for it. Non-tabloid news stories were concerned with stories about how social media reflected a women’s body negatively; these included Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. The exposure of a man’s breasts is seen as a joke whether linked to injuries or entertainment. Celebrities that had their breasts enlarged and were confident about it receive a lot of attention and became more appealing. Many news sites objectified women’s bodies whereas others were concerned with being straightforward about the subject. Breastfeeding however, seemed to be nurturing, healthy and women that breastfed became romanticised. Nipples are always reflected negatively in a debauched way. Nipples are ridiculed when shown to men; disgraced when exposed and removed from courteous conversations on breastfeeding

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Approach: (263)

The ten biggest newspapers in the United States are evaluated to study how breastfeeding is framed, this project represents a textual analysis. Women’s magazines are used as the main source for researchers in order to gain for information about breastfeeding. This project uses qualitative textual analysis and a critical exploration of news coverage and the linguistic strategies used to represent women’s bodies. Critical discourse analysis examines the use of language and the way it is used in context. A universal understanding of breastfeeding is investigated through multi-modal analysis which relates words with images. This project is based around word-based stories using the top ten local newspapers in the US based on Sunday circulation measure by the Audit Bureau of Circulation. There are two benefits of this project which allowed the researchers to create a wider source of information about breastfeeding with a larger geographical range and more newspapers in local coverage. A list of key words regarding nipples and breasts were made and used to search for newspapers. Researchers had to subscribe to certain newspapers in order to get the full article if it couldn’t be downloaded. All the stories were analysed and read, dismissing those about non-human perspectives e.g. chicken breasts. All three authors participated in downloading the articles and their textual analysis which included photographs. An open-coding system was used in order to extract the key themes from the findings, regarding nipples and breastfeeding. The final four themes were found in blog posts or subjective columns. More than two thousand articles presented in the news regarding breastfeeding and nipples were used.

Research focus: (250)

The focus on the word ‘nipple’ in news reports are used negatively which don’t help normalising and purifying articles. This project investigated breastfeeding in public and exposure of nipples in American articles. During breastfeeding nipple exposure is minimal which is generally overlooked or disregarded however protest against public breastfeeding is seen as offensive and sparks researcher’s interests, especially the publics views on a women’s body, health and breastfeeding. The shamefulness surrounding the word ‘nipple’ examines the way language supports the social ban. Concerning public health and the ethical standards set by journalists, not only does is this vital to the feminist approach but many other approaches as well. The standardised representations of women include discussions that either mimic or encourage patriarchy. There is a proven theory that media and news is a social construction embedded in everyday narratives. Breastfeeding in the news industry cultural tensions about nature and sexuality. Most studies of breastfeeding is positive, encouraging women to breastfeed because it has health benefits for the child and the mother. There is less media coverage and campaigns for breastfeeding in public as a matter of convenience compared to it successfully used by health promoters for breastfeeding in communities. The feminist argument claims that even in language, women’s bodies have always been objectified and shamed for their body parts as well, e.g. breasts, thighs, hips etc. The word choice in news coverage regarding a women’s body needs to be re-evaluated and controlled because the media represents it in a negative way. The topic in this project should be valid regarding health concerns and headlines made by the sex-appeal of women.