This morning Alyssa Milano was a guest on the Wendy Williams Show and Wendy brought up Alyssa's breastfeeding advocacy work. Wendy said she disagreed with public breastfeeding and felt women should go breastfeed in car or cover up. I think Alyssa was just as shocked as us listening to her opinion of breastfeeding. She asked Wendy if she would cover her head eating or if it was ok for Miley Cyrus to walk around with her boobs hanging out vs. a mom breastfeeding.
Wendy went on to say that breasts were sexual objects, "fun bags," and when women are done breastfeeding their boobs go back to being sexual objects. The audience was in shock and quiet from her comments. Wendy quickly changed the subject but Alyssa kept her cool, took her to task and educated her briefly.
This is not the first time Wendy has offended moms with her breastfeeding comments. In June of 2014 moms staged a nurse in at the Wendy Williams Show studio. Ironically Wendy is for women's rights and believes women should hold their own.
In this video (at 4:30) from 2014, it was even more controversial because the young lady who was breastfeeding was bashed both for breastfeeding publicly and being a African American woman. The male guest is the only one sticking up for her.
Every time a public figure says a women should cover up while breastfeeding women's rights take a step back. Wendy is free to her opinion but we have a responsibility to each other as women to destigmatize women's bodies as sexual objects. No woman should ever be shamed or made to feel less than for breastfeeding because it is a natural, biological way of nourishing a child and if your baby needs to eat you need to feed your baby. There are not always nursing rooms or cars you can just hop into.
Thank you Alyssa for standing your ground and being our voice!
