Hostile sexism linked to disapproval of breastfeeding in public

A new study published in The Journal of Social Psychology has found that sexist beliefs—especially hostile sexism—are strongly associated with negative attitudes toward public breastfeeding. Contrary to earlier findings, even benevolent sexism was weakly linked to disapproval in both private and public settings. These findings provide new insight into how underlying gender attitudes can shape perceptions of what is considered appropriate for mothers, especially in everyday settings like parks, restaurants, and public transportation.

Public breastfeeding continues to spark debate, even in countries that promote gender equality and family health. While many support the idea of breastfeeding as a natural part of motherhood, women often report feeling uncomfortable nursing their infants in public, anticipating negative reactions from others. These social pressures can contribute to early weaning or reluctance to breastfeed at all.

The authors behind the new study sought to examine how sexist attitudes influence support for breastfeeding in different contexts, focusing on Germany as a case study. Although the country has made significant strides toward gender equality, public breastfeeding remains somewhat contested. Past surveys suggest that many Germans support breastfeeding in principle but feel ambivalent about its appropriateness in certain locations.

While earlier studies had explored how sexist beliefs influence breastfeeding attitudes, most of that research was conducted in the United States using small, non-representative samples. In contrast, the present study aimed to replicate and extend those findings using a nationally representative dataset from Germany, allowing the researchers to test how widely these associations hold across age groups, political beliefs, and social backgrounds.

“I have a personal interest in this topic, as I have noticed that women still feel uncomfortable breastfeeding in public and are sometimes met with disapproval. We wondered where this negative reaction came from. Although there have already been some very good studies on this topic, they were either based on non-representative samples or did not directly compare breastfeeding in public with breastfeeding in private,” said study author Alexander Jedinger of the Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences.

The study drew on data from the GESIS Panel, a probability-based survey of adults living in Germany. The researchers analyzed responses from 4,143 participants collected between November 2022 and January 2023. The sample was balanced across gender and age groups and was weighted to reflect the broader German population.

Participants completed several measures assessing their attitudes toward breastfeeding. These included general approval of public breastfeeding, acceptability of breastfeeding in specific locations (e.g., at home, in cafés, on public transportation), and their emotional reactions to seeing a woman breastfeed in a public space like a restaurant.

Sexist beliefs were assessed using a validated 12-item measure of ambivalent sexism. Six items measured hostile sexism (e.g., “Women seek to gain power by getting control over men”) and six measured benevolent sexism (e.g., “Women should be cherished and protected by men”). Participants rated each statement on a six-point scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.”

To isolate the effects of sexism, the researchers also controlled for variables that might influence breastfeeding attitudes, including age, gender, education, number of children, political orientation, religious importance, and prior exposure to breastfeeding.

On a seven-point scale, attitudes toward private breastfeeding averaged 6.77, reflecting strong approval. In contrast, breastfeeding in public spaces such as parks or restaurants received an average score of 4.74, suggesting more moderate acceptance.

But participants who scored higher in hostile sexism were consistently less supportive of public breastfeeding. This pattern held across all measures, including general approval, acceptance in various public settings, and emotional reactions.

“The good news is that most people in Germany think very positively about public and private breastfeeding,” Jedinger told PsyPost. “Our results suggest that people are put off breastfeeding in public because they are hostile towards women who don’t follow traditional gender roles. We believe that it is more important to address blatant forms of sexism and gender stereotypes in interventions to promote breastfeeding. This will reduce stigma and create a more supportive environment for breastfeeding mothers.”

The relationship between hostile sexism and private breastfeeding was weaker and not statistically significant. This suggests that people who hold these beliefs are particularly opposed to public expressions of maternal behavior.

Contrary to the researchers’ expectations, benevolent sexism did not predict more supportive attitudes toward private breastfeeding. Instead, people who scored higher on benevolent sexism were slightly less likely to approve of breastfeeding, regardless of whether it occurred in public or private. While these effects were statistically significant in some models, the size of the effect was small—explaining less than half a percent of the variance in attitudes.

“We were surprised to find that benevolent sexism was not strongly linked to people’s acceptance of breastfeeding in private and public settings,” Jedinger said. “When people were confronted with various scenarios in which breastfeeding was possible, benevolent sexists showed a rejection of breastfeeding in public and tended to reject breastfeeding in private settings as well.”

“This is different from what other studies have found, which said that people who are benevolent sexist think more positively about private breastfeeding because it matches up with traditional ideas about gender. In addition, what a person thinks about breastfeeding doesn’t depend on whether they are male or female. If someone has sexist beliefs, these will affect how they think about breastfeeding. This goes against what we thought before, which was that men think more negatively about breastfeeding based on whether they have sexist beliefs.”

The researchers also found no evidence that gender moderated these associations. Men and women who endorsed hostile sexist beliefs were equally likely to oppose breastfeeding in public. Similarly, benevolent sexism had no significantly different effects for men versus women. This challenges the idea that sexism influences men and women in fundamentally different ways when it comes to evaluating breastfeeding.

The researchers suggest that while benevolent sexism might appear supportive of traditional mothering roles, in practice, it does not seem to offer much protection against the stigmatization of breastfeeding. Instead, both forms of sexism may contribute to social environments where breastfeeding mothers—especially in public—feel judged or unwelcome.

While the study provides evidence for the role of sexism in shaping attitudes toward breastfeeding, it has some limitations. First, because it relied on self-report data, participants may have responded in socially desirable ways, particularly on sensitive topics like sexism and parenting. Although the survey was administered anonymously, some participants may have downplayed their discomfort with public breastfeeding or their endorsement of sexist beliefs.

Second, the study’s design does not allow for conclusions about causality. While the researchers found consistent associations between hostile sexism and disapproval of breastfeeding, they cannot say whether sexist beliefs directly cause negative attitudes, or whether both are influenced by a third factor, such as cultural background or personal experience.

Future studies could use experimental methods to explore how sexist beliefs interact with specific contexts, such as the perceived sexualization of women’s bodies or concerns about modesty. For example, showing participants images of breastfeeding in different environments might help uncover the psychological mechanisms that drive disapproval.

Cross-cultural research would also be helpful. While Germany shares many cultural similarities with other Western countries, the legal and social norms around breastfeeding can differ significantly across nations. Comparing responses across countries with more or less supportive policies could help identify the role of institutional context in moderating the effects of sexism.

The study, “Ambivalent sexism and opposition toward public breastfeeding,” was authored by Alexander Jedinger and Miriam Feldhausen.