Tess Holliday claps back after sharing breastfeeding photo at Women's March
Model Tess Holliday attended the Women’s March in Los Angeles on Saturday, along with an estimated 750,000 who stood in solidarity for women’s rights. She brought her husband Nick and their 7-month-old son, Bowie, along to the event.
During the march, Tess stopped to breastfeed her infant son and was candidly captured by friend/photographer Jessica Thompson.
A photo posted by Plus Model✖️ Mom ✖️ Feminist???? (@tessholliday) on Jan 21, 2017 at 9:10pm PST
After sharing the image to Instagram — captioned “Breastfeed everywhere” — Holliday became the target of harsh criticism. One commenter writing she was an “irresponsible mother” many others suggesting she “cover up.”
“I’m all for women’s rights but breastfeeding in public is not OK to me,” one man wrote. “I wouldn’t want my wife doing that with my children in public.”
The model, who regularly advocates breastfeeding and body-positivity, edited her caption to address the negative comments. Reminding spectators that she will feed her child whenever he is hungry, as California law permit.
“I’m breastfeeding MY baby who was a) hungry & b) screaming because he was overly tired & the crowd overloaded his senses & it was the only way to comfort him. I will feed my child anywhere I want. Also CA state law protects me to do so keep your uneducated opinions off my body,” she wrote.
It isn’t the first time the 31-year-old has exercised the right to breastfeed her son without shame. Holliday has posted many uncensored feeding sessions with Bowie to Instagram in efforts to normalize breastfeeding for all.
A video posted by Plus Model✖️ Mom ✖️ Feminist???? (@tessholliday) on Nov 30, 2016 at 9:03pm PST
Despite those who’ve urged the L.A. mom to remove her nursing snaps, many more show support of her message of female empowerment. Today the model has a following of more than 1.4 million people online.
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