British mum silences breastfeeding critics with passionate poem

It’s an issue that never fails to provoke debate, but poet Hollie McNish made sure she had the last word on breast feeding in public, by releasing an impassioned video entitled ‘embarrassed.’

poet

by Ellie Hooper |
Published on

After being repeatedly shamed for breastfeeding her daughter in public places, McNish created the rap-like rant and posted it on YouTube. An extract is printed below.

‘I thought it was OK.

I could understand the reasons.


They said: there might be a man or nervous child seeing this small piece of flesh that they weren't quite expecting.

So I whispered and tiptoed with nervous discretion.

But after 6 months of her life sat sitting on lids,

Sipping on milk, nostrils sniffing on piss,

Trying not to bang her head on toilet roll dispensers,

I wonder if these public loo feeds offend her,

'Cause I'm getting tired of discretion and being polite.

My baby's first sips are drown-drenched in shite...’

Watch full video below

Speaking about the poem, that she wrote several years ago, McNish said: ‘My partner has been telling me I should share the poem for a long time and, well, I've been too embarrassed.’

The poem, that has had nearly 300,000 views since it was posted last week, attacks the hypocrisy of a society where breasts are pictured everywhere – in newsagents, on billboards, in lads mags – but are shunned for the very use they were intended for.

McNish said that even her own Nan had accused her of ‘sexxing it up’ when trying to feed her child.

One YouTube user, calling themselves ejoelleduval, said: “I hate that breasts have become so sexualized that they have lost their original purpose in the public mind. It is acceptable to wear bikinis that cover less, but taboo to feed your child.

Overall opinion is that you are less of a mother if you bottle feed, but they won’t let you do it in public. Is this just another way to shame us back into roles that were relevant 50 years ago?”

Personally, we think that’s rather well put!

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