U.S. mothers receive messages that they should breastfeed their babies, yet there is little cultural support for public breastfeeding and evidence of heightened opposition in African American communities. We use a social constructionist perspective to analyze 22 African American mothers’ breastfeeding in public narratives. Findings show that participants use varying definitions of “public” in relation to breastfeeding that are based on geographic spaces and social relationships. Participants identify breastfeeding in public as problematic based on their interpretations of others’ reactions, and discuss covering as an important component of breastfeeding in public. We conclude that the breastfeeding cover operates as a “cloak of neutralization” by creating a symbolically “private” space in a discursively constructed “public” one. Although the cover eliminates potential breast exposure, it announces a woman’s use of the maternal breast—which Young identifies as challenging patriarchal claims to women’s bodies—thereby failing to fully neutralize the situation.
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