should breastfeeding be banned?

a controversial new ad has the entire internet up in arms.

To celebrate Mother’s Day, most people post a picture of their mom on a social media platform she doesn’t use, but the people in charge of Time Square’s esthetic had a different plan: let’s honor moms by banning an ad about breastfeeding!

The advertisement in question features cookbook author Molly Baz, who partnered with Swhel, a company aimed at assisting mothers with breastfeeding. It promoted lactation cookies designed to enhance the production of nutrient-dense breast milk for new moms. The ad depicted Baz wearing a white cardigan, with her pregnant belly exposed, while holding up cookies in front of her breasts. In a contentious move, Clear Channel, the entity that manages digital screens and billboards in Times Square, removed the ad citing that it "violates their guidelines for acceptable content." Baz said that she was informed it was "flagged for review," but doesn’t know if it was multiple complaints or if it was one influential person’s decision. The probability that we will find out seems unlikely.

Nonetheless, Baz believes that misogyny was at play. "It's super disheartening and infuriating to me that my, kind of, first public foray into being a public mother was one that was deemed inappropriate," Baz told ABC News. While the billboard certainly contains nudity, she said it was nothing compared to other ads you’ll see on display in the city that never sleeps. ”[T]ake one look at the landscape of other billboards in times square and i think you'll see the irony. bring on the lingerie so long as it satiates the male gaze," Baz wrote on Instagram.

People on social media were quick to share a recent ad for Michael Kors that’s arguably far more racy and shows more nudity than the Swhel commercial. The contradiction is palpable.

And this isn’t the first time lactation has been at the center of public debate. Breastfeeding has a long history of being policed by a society that prefers to see women objectified than in command of their own bodies. Women who breastfeed in public are often stared at, or worse, asked to hide or leave. For years, Facebook had an informal policy of straight up deleting photos of women breastfeeding. And until recently, Youtube banned any monetization from creators who were showed breastfeeding. All of this underscores a collective discomfort with the visibility of maternal roles in public spaces.

A photo of a woman breastfeeding stirred up controversy in India when it ran on the cover of the magazine Grihalakshmi in March 2018.

And it’s not as if female bodies weren’t already constantly on display! Ads that objectify women are frequently allowed to proliferate without significant pushback. New York City is inundated with imagery that reduce women to mere objects of desire, reinforcing the notion that women exist primarily for pleasure or consumption. We’re comfortable with nude female bodies on billboards, but only if when they’re ornamental and servicing straight male sexuality.

It's both baffling and maddening to witness the glaring double standard at play. Why are sexualized images of women deemed acceptable, yet a pregnant woman holding cookies that will nourish her (and her baby) isn’t?

So, as we ponder this perplexing puzzle of prudishness, let's remember to laugh amidst the absurdity. I mean, sure the ad was taken down, but all of this hang-wringing increased the breastfeeding company’s traffic by 500%, which has given them more attention than they would have had otherwise. So perhaps one day, instead of censoring breastfeeding imagery, we'll see lactation cookies skyrocketing in popularity, featured alongside celebrity endorsements and maybe even a catchy jingle. Until then, let's keep our magnifying glasses handy and our sense of humor intact.

What do you think? Should Baz’s ad have been banned? How do you feel about the way that women’s bodies are represented in public spaces? Let me know in the comments or join our subscriber chat!