Despite living in the 21st century, there are still individuals, often men, who hold outdated and peculiar beliefs about marriage and women’s rights over their own bodies.
A netizen recently shared screenshots from a disturbing conversation where a husband accused his wife of incest because she was breastfeeding their child.
The absurdity of the situation sparked widespread shock and ridicule towards the husband’s entitled and primitive views.
Screenshots of a text exchange between the husband and wife were originally shared to Reddit, but have since been circulated on X (formerly known as Twitter), where they have understandably sparked a firestorm.
The message exchange starts with the husband texting his wife: “You’ve been breastfeeding? You know how I f***ing feel about that,” adding that her choice to breastfeed their newborn son was “disrespectful” towards him.
When the wife – who is, at this point, still recovering from labor in hospital – offers to compromise by breastfeeding their son out of her husband’s sight, he simply tells her he’s “done”.
Despite the wife advising her husband on the nutritional benefits of breastfeeding, he replies: “The benefit to where I’ll never be able to look at you the same way again.”
He then continues: “I think you’re a bad wife. I think you don’t respect me. I think you took a joy away from me. I think a lot of things. I enjoy your boobs. Now they’ve been in another man’s mouth, I no longer enjoy your boobs.”
It’s probably necessary to reiterate the fact that the husband’s newborn son, not a fully grown man, is the person he is referring to. When the wife points this out to her husband, he chimes in with: “He’s male. And your son. That makes it incestous in my eyes.”
After screenshots of the odd exchange were posted on Reddit, many users took to the comments section to voice their opinions.
As one person sarcastically put it: “Her boobs aren’t for his pleasure anymore, now that they’re doing what they’re intended for another man’s mouth has been on them. And we all know formula is exactly the same as breastmilk. How dare she take away her husband’s enjoyment of her body?”
Someone else added: “My God. What did I just read? A b**d father jealous of his newborn child for being breastfed and blaming the mother. What has this world come to? How sstain of a human being you have to be to think like that? They really think women as sex toys, dont [sic] they? They are sexualizing and villifying [sic] their own partner based on breastfeeding.”
The woman who shared the story on Reddit (who is not the wife accused of incest by her own husband) shed light on the issue, telling Bored Panda: “I believe that our society still sexualizes breastfeeding, and this man just had an overly sexualized view of it.”
The woman also spoke about her own experiences, saying: “Returning to work after my child’s birth, my employer refused to accommodate my nursing schedule. They suggested supplementing with formula, and I think the husband took that mentality too far.”
Sharing further information from the wife’s personal page, the netizen revealed that the husband apparently also deemed bathing their sons after the age of two as incestuous. “He seems to have an overly sexualized view of things, perhaps even interpreting the Oedipus complex too seriously,” she said.
The internet is rife with stories of entitlement, but prioritizing one’s bizarre and possessive interests over a wife’s body in the presence of a newborn is particularly extreme. It only serves to highlight the ongoing struggle to dismantle outdated beliefs and promote respect for women’s autonomy and the freedom to do what they choose with their bodies.
What did you think of this situation? Let us know your thoughts!
