OpinionHong Kong culture isn’t to blame for the stigma of breastfeeding in public. Misogyny is

If health authorities are serious about their stated aim to encourage breastfeeding, then more must be done to make it easier for women in nurse in public. This means normalising breastfeeding in a city too used to sexualising a woman’s body

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The #Ittasteslikelove campaign aims to normalise breastfeeding in Hong Kong, where 40 per cent of women who nurse in public say they experience negative reactions to it. The photo shoot was done as part of the campaign. Photo: Eva Thieulle (Eva Portraits)

Published: 9:03am, 6 Mar 2019Updated: 9:19am, 6 Mar 2019

“Cover yourself!” she screamed before leaping from her seat, shoving past me and my baby, taking a position by the bus door to glare and tut in disgust. My crime? Nursing my baby – uncovered and in public. I refused, adding simply: “I am more covered up than you are.”

In her hysteria at seeing a slither of breast as a mother met her infant's needs, she had failed to realise her outfit was more revealing than mine, and succinctly summed up the hypocrisy that surrounds nursing mothers in Hong Kong.

Breasts are routinely used on billboards to advertise everything from underwear and perfume to jewellery and plastic surgery, and a casual walk through a city where thigh-high boots, miniskirts, string tops and short shorts are part of the sartorial lexicon gives no indication women are expected to dress modestly for cultural reasons.

But breastfeeding in public is still met with disapproval, and breastfeeding without a cover is often met with outright disgust.

The authorities in Hong Kong desperately want more women to breastfeed, and they want them to do it for longer – just 27.9 per cent of women here reach the minimum six-month exclusive breastfeeding milestone recommended by the World Health Organisation, which has long extolled the health benefits of breastfeeding for both mother and baby.