Photos of breastfeeding in uniform: contesting discourses of masculinity, nationalism, and the military

ABSTRACT

This discourse analysis examined posts in online comment boards about two different photographs of military mothers breastfeeding in uniform to unpack the Discourses that underlie criticism of nursing servicewomen. News coverage in 2012 of a photo of two air-force mothers breastfeeding negatively characterized it as controversial. The news framing in 2015 of a similar picture of 10 army mothers was more positive, presenting it as progressive. This analysis investigated whether the audience responses to the visuals evolved along with the media narrative, and it examined which Discourses were deployed by commenters to critique the military mothers. Discourses of Good Motherhood, the Good Worker, and Sexuality were all found to fuel distain for breastfeeding in public, while Discourses of Military Masculinity, Masculine Nationalism, and Women’s Progress Undermines the Military were aimed specifically at breastfeeding servicewomen.

KEYWORDS:

• Breastfeeding
• military
• nationalism
• masculinity
• photography