More often than not, I hear women expressing a similar attitude about the practice of extended breastfeeding, in spite of its obvious and well-documented health benefits. I've heard women outright accuse other mothers of perversion because they nurse their children beyond their first year: "When he's old enough to know that he's sucking on his mother's breast, he's too old for it."
Why? In many cultures, it wouldn't be at all unusual to hear a six-year-old proudly and publicly declare that he sucks on his mother's breast every night when he goes to sleep. In most of the world, adults wouldn't react to hearing this with shock, dismay, or disgust: they would simply smile, and possibly comment on how sweet it is that a child would be so appreciative of his mother nursing him. The fact that children suckle at their mother's breasts is as an innocent a topic as a newborn baby.
However, mainstream American culture is obsessed with the objectification, ownership, and sexualization of every aspect of the female body. Nothing about a woman's body is off-limits to being declared exclusively man-territory, especially not the parts of her body that define her as female (her breasts and vagina). Patriarchy, in turn, tends to decide that this means that these body-parts are for the sole use of providing men with pleasure, not for birthing and feeding our children. Many men cringe at the thought of childbirth because they can't see the birth canal--their supposed property--serving a utilitarian, rather than sexual purpose, and become nervous about the idea of breastfeeding because they don't want "their" breasts to be on-loan to someone else.
Because women are taught from day one that our bodies belong to men, and that all aspects of our bodies were designed to give pleasure to men, we in turn begin to feel that enjoying our bodies in natural ways is somehow disgusting. Often, when the idea of sensual childbirth pops up in conversation, or when a mother mentions that it feels good when her baby nurses, other adults react with judgment or embarrassment, falsely equating natural child-rearing with some sort of perversion of sexuality. And public breastfeeding opens up an entirely different can of worms, since up to half the mainstream population seems to believe that nourishing a child is a private or shameful act that needs to be done discretely.
In my mind, breastfeeding and feminism are seamlessly linked, because they are both part of a widespread cultural movement to give women's bodies back to women. Our bodies are our bodies, wonderfully designed with practicality in mind, and meant to serve a purpose far above and beyond our adult relationships. It is critical in the development of the feminist movement for the broad public to accept that not everything regarding a woman's body relates directly to male sexuality. Experiencing natural birth and breastfeeding is the first step that a feminist mother can make toward reclaiming her body in the name of egalitarianism--and healthy children.