For World Breastfeeding Week, It Tastes Like Love founder Liz Thomas shares photographs that seek to normalise breastfeeding in public and allow women to celebrate their breastfeeding journeys
Journalist Liz Thomas is dedicated to destigmatising public breastfeeding. Her #ItTastesLikeLove campaign seeks to change attitudes around breastfeeding by partnering with businesses, particularly restaurants and retailers, to encourage them to commit to supporting nursing on site; providing a platform for sharing advice on topics related to breastfeeding; and sharing beautiful nursing imagery.
“Imagery has been core to the campaign since we launched in 2019. We now have two fantastic campaign photographers who want to use their skills to show how breastfeeding should be woven into normal life,” says Thomas, who organises monthly shoots “for mamas who want to celebrate their breastfeeding journey,” which show nursing mothers in an array of locations, “whether that’s Kowloon’s neon streets, Lantau’s blue taxi, the beautiful beaches across the New Territories, or the urban playgrounds of Hong Kong.”
As part of World Breastfeeding Week, which runs from August 1 to 7 and seeks to raise awareness and support for breastfeeding, Thomas shares some of these shots.
Thomas is the subject of one of photography campaigns, which has been captured by photographer Teresa Laqua of @Teschka.
“The solo shoots are more about tackling the misogyny that still exists around breastfeeding,” says Thomas, explaining how breastfeeding mothers are often given a hard time for nursing in public, and even though it is becoming more accepted, there is still a caveat—mothers should nurse in a certain motherly way.
Thomas wants to shift the notion that breastfeeding should be done modestly. “Whether you opt for high heels and vampy lips or bikini tops and flowing skirts, your style is your style and that should have nothing to do with how acceptable it is that you’re breastfeeding. The idea that if you nurse while looking the least bit attractive, edgy or un-mumsy it is a cry for attention, or an attempt to be sexual, is laughable, and yet so many still subscribe to it. Whatever you wear, wherever you are, this simple fact remains: you are meeting your child’s needs.”
