Combat Breasts and Intimate Citizenship: Media Coverage of Breastfeeding Women in the U.S. Air Force

Abstract

The photographs of two U.S. Air Force women breastfeeding in public while dressed in military uniform sparked online controversy in 2012. An analysis of media reaction to the photographs served as a representative anecdote, and public online perceptions of breastfeeding military women were evaluated. Using Plummer's (2003) intimate citizenship as the theoretical backdrop, contradictory perceptions about breastfeeding in the public and private spheres emerged. Tensions of intimate citizenship related to who is included or excluded in the public sphere were noted in the following themes: (1) tensions about public and private breastfeeding, (2) tensions about separating motherhood from military work, and (3) tensions about breastfeeding in the revered military uniform. The findings provide a snapshot of the online public's perceptions of women who breastfeed in military uniform and in hypermasculinized environments. The photographs of the breastfeeding Air Force women challenged the poised, masculine imagery of the military by symbolically coming “out of the closet” and publicizing military women's maternal embodied responsibilities in the public sphere. Further, the photographs served as a springboard for conversations on the discouraging nature of the sociocultural environment of breastfeeding women and their rights to the public sphere.