In this day and age, it is considered OK for magazines such as Maxim, Playboy and Sports Illustrated to publish issues showcasing images of women bearing their breasts in skimpy clothing for older and adolescent people alike to see. But when it comes to a natural act such as a woman breastfeeding her infant in public, there is an outcry of anger by the public.

When the New York Times first published a picture of Jamie Lynne Grumet breastfeeding her son in 2012, millions of people around the globe felt the cover was outrageous and provocative.

Photo Credit: Graphic by Adrian Discipulo

Women still don’t have the permission to celebrate motherhood without charges of indecency, yet they can bear their breasts in sexual ways without people batting an eye.

Alyssa Milano, is one celebrity mothers who utilizes social media as a way to tackle the social stigma of women breastfeeding by uploading pictures of her breastfeeding while getting ready on set.

Actress Nicola Anderson published an article titled, “Time to grow up and lose the stigma over breastfeeding,” in which she describes how natural breastfeeding is.

Anderson challenges society to grow up and accept breastfeeding as a natural process.

On The Sports Illustrated magazine covers, there are women being over sexualized and exposing their breasts, which attracts an audience and increases sales in comparison to covers with mother’s breastfeeding their children.

It’s as though there’s a double standard with women and their bodies and how they should present them to the world.

It is astonishing that in a time where we celebrate and uplift gay rights and marriages and interracial relationships it’s hard for society to accept one of the most natural cycles of life: woman using their breasts for their intended purposes.

Breast aren’t just fun bags to play with, they have a pivotal purpose in the development of young children. So in the words of Nicole Anderson, “grow up!”