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12th August 2016
11:30am BST
The stylish mama has just over 24k followers and has spoken of how she wanted to use her platform to normalise breastfeeding in public.
She shared the striking picture on Instagram and tagged it @normalizebreastfeeding.
Supporters have commented on the beauty of Prudko’s photo, while detractors have accused her of being “attention-seeking” and “inappropriate”.
Prudko was not remotely perturbed by the criticism, in an interview with the Daily Mail she announced she was happy to "join the army of militant supporters."
“I absolutely do believe it is very very important to explain to the public that you need to feed your baby, when and where he wants to be fed."
“You don’t have to turn into a recluse, not leaving the house. You can and should live a full life and share this colourful life with your child.”
Obviously, there is nothing wrong with breastfeeding naked; I also don't find photographing the nude breastfeeding offensive remotely, and sure post it to Instagram while you're at it, I say why not?
However Prudko's assertion that her aim is to help the normalise breastfeeding in public discussion is, to my ears, a little dubious. I mean, how often have we had to strip off completely in public in order to locate a breast?
The problem, as I see it with claiming that this image is a bid to further the normalise breastfeeding debate, is that Prudko is adding a dimension to the 'normalise breastfeeding in public' campaign that is totally beside the point – breastfeeding is essential to our children, breastfeeding in public is a completely reasonable thing to do but being naked is not essential to breastfeeding. Allying this image with the campaign for mothers to come out of the public toilets and throw off the modesty scarves makes the campaign seem a little farcical and kind of alienates the very people that we are trying to reach. It reinforces the very negative and untrue impression of breastfeeding women as being in some way attention-seeking or self-indulgent when they choose to feed their child in public.
I personally love Prudko's image. I don't think it's normalising anything particularly but as I see it that's not what it's about. I think Prudko's image is a celebration of motherhood, I think art celebrating the maternal bond is beautiful and plays an essential part in improving our society's attitudes towards mothers. But let's be real here, it ain't about breastfeeding in public.
What's YOUR take on Prudko's breastfeeding image? Let us know in the comments...Explore more on these topics:
