Planning And Strategic Management Management Essay

Planning And Strategic Management Management Essay Nestle is the worlds leading nutrition, health, wellness company. The headquarter of Nestle company is located in Vevey, Switzerland. That is in 1866, there was a first European condensed milk factory opened in Cham, Switzerland. The name of the company is Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company which established by brothers George Page and Chatles Page. After that year, the founder of Nestle, Henri Nestle, a German pharmacist, developed a combination of cows milk, wheat flour and sugar, which name as Farine Lactee. The launched of Farine Lactee had become the largest competitor of Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company. In 1905, Nestle merged with Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company after a couple of decades as fierce competitors to form the Nestle and Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company. In 1929, the chocolate company Peter, Cailler , Kohler Chocolats Suisses S.A. joined Nestle. And in 1947, Nestle change its name to Nestle Alimentana S.A after merged with Maggi, a well-known manufacturer of seasonings and soups. In 1974, Nestle for the first time diversified outside the food industry and they become a major shareholder in LOreal, one of the worlds leading maker of cosmetic products. And then finally, the last name change that the company would endure was in 1977, where it adopted the name Nestle S.A. The first product that launched by Nestle is Farine Lactee Nestle, a combination of cows milk, wheat flour and sugar. Farine Lactee was launched by Henri Nestle in 1867 and it was supported by the public. After that, Nestle also launched Milo in 1934. Milo is a chocolate and malt powder which is mixed with hot or cold water to produce a beverage and it is developed by Thomas Mayne in Sdyney, Australia. After the launched of Milo, another product launched by Nestle that famous among the world which is Nescafe. Nescafe is a powdered coffee that was introduced in Switzerland on April 1, 1938 after being developed for seven or eight years by Max Morgenthaler and Vernon Chapman. Another product that pull Nestle toward success is Nestle Pure Life, a bottled mineral water that launched in 1998. The smart strategy of Nestle had bring them toward the road of success. In 2012, Nestle has around 8,000 brands on the market included coffee, bottled water, milkshakes and other beverages, breakfast cereals, infant foods, performance and healthcare nutrition, seasonings, soups and sauces, frozen and refrigerated foods, and pet food. Organizational chart Chairman P.Brabeck-Letmathe Chief Executive Officer Nestle Health Science P.Bulcke L.Cantarell Corporate Governance Compliance Corporate Human Corporate Services Communication Resources D.P.Frick R.Ramsauer J.M. Duvoisin Operations Finance Strategic, Business Units, Innovation Technology and RD Control Marketing and Sales J.Lopez W.L. Martello P.Bula W.Bauer Nestle Waters Nestle Nutrition Nestle Professional J.J. Harris K.Schmidt M.Caira Zone EUR: Zone AOA: Zone AMS: Europe Asia/Oceana/Africas Americas L.Freixe N.Nandkishorr C.Johnson The organizational chart of Nestle showed that it is a hybrid structure. Hybrid structure is the combination of functional structure and divisional structure. A functional structure is a structure that make grouping by similar work specialties. This structure group people together because they hold similar positions in an organization, perform a similar set of tasks, or use the same kind of skills. The functional structure in the organization chart of Nestle was shown in the upper part that is from the chairman until the level of the Operations, Finance Control, Strategic, Business Units, Marketing and Sales as well as Innovation Technology and RD. A divisional structure is a structure that make grouping by similarity of purpose. This structure group departments according to organizational outputs such as by product type, customer, or geography. The divisional structure in the organization chart of Nestle was shown in the lower part. There are product divisional structure that is Nestle Waters, Nestle Nutrition, and Nestle Professional. After that, it continues with the geographic divisional structure that is Zone EUR: Europe, Zone AOA: Asia/Oceana/Africas and Zone AMS: Americas. The hybrid structure of Nestle consists all the advantages of functional structure and divisional structure. This structure helps to creates unity among the staff members which is very important for all the large-scale business as well as Nestle. This structure also make the management more flexible as the senior management can communicate with the junior employees easily and maintain good relationship between each other. Besides that, the resources can be allocated and used efficiently. Therefore, wastage of time and resources can be avoided. Planning and Strategic Management Basic strategies used to respond to uncertainty Nestle is a company that mainly act as a prospector while responding to uncertainty. Prospectors focus on developing new products or services and in seeking out new markets, rather than waiting for things to happen. Nestle had create many brands and many different types of products to satisfy consumers needs and wants. The table below showed the list of product of Nestle. Types of Products Brand Baby foods Cerelac, Gerber, Gerber Graduates, NaturNes, Nestum Bottled water Nestle Pure Life, Perrier, Poland Spring, S.Pellegrino Cereals Chocapic, Cini Minis, Cookie Crisp, Estrelitas, Fitness, Nesquik Cereal Chocolate confectionery Aero, Butterfinger, Cailler, Crunch, Kit Kat, Orion, Smarties, Wonka Coffee Nescafe, Nescafe 3 in 1, Nescafe Cappuccino, Nescafe Classic, Nescafe Decaff, Nescafe Dolce Gusto, Nescafe Gold, Nespresso Culinary, chilled and frozen food Buitoni, Herta, Hot Pockets, Lean Cuisine, Maggi, Stouffers, Thomy Dairy Carnation, Coffee-Mate, La Laitià ¨re, Nido Drinks Juicy Juice, Milo, Nesquik, Nestea Food service Chef, Chef-Mate, Maggi, Milo, Minors, Nescafe, Nestea, Sjora, Lean Cuisine, Stouffers Healthcare nutrition Boost, Nutren Junior, Peptamen, Resource Ice cream Dreyers, Extrà ªme, Hà ¤agen-Dazs, Mà ¶venpick, Nestle Ice Cream Petcare Alpo, Bakers Complete, Beneful, Cat Chow, Chef Michaels Canine Creations, Dog Chow, Fancy Feast, Felix, Friskies, Gourmet, Purina, Purina ONE, Pro Plan Sports Nutrition PowerBar Weight management Jenny Craig In the effort of seeking out new markets, Nestle had employed around 330 000 people in over 150 countries and have 461 factories or operations in 83 countries. Nestle also becomes one of the sponsors in many events. For example, on 27 January 2012, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) announced that Nestle will be the main sponsor for the further development of IAAFs Kids Athletics Program for the consecutive of 5 years starting from January 2012. This is one of the biggest grassroots development programs in the world of sports. In the year 2012, Nestle expect that it will be a challenging year as they will face many uncertainties in the global economy and. However, as a prospector, the company had made specific plans to overcome the uncertainties. They believe that they have good fundamentals and can will be able to diversify the global uncertainties. Nestle aim to continue the innovation and renovation of their products as well as launching further promotion of nutritional diets and healthy lifestyles Nestle will remain vigilant and will take all necessary method to soften any impact on their business due to the volatile commodity prices that were expected to continue in 2012. Besides that, Nestle company can also be consider as an analyzer. Analyzers let other organizations take the risks of product development and marketing and then imitate or perhaps slightly improve on what seems to work best. For example, Nestle was Gail Bordens most successful imitators in the production of milk. Nestle imitate and make changes based on the condensed milk manufactured by Bordens first canned milk factory. Nestle invented a powdered milk food that primarily composed of cows milk and then mixed with water. By 1868, this product was being sold in Switzerland, Germany, France and England. After five year, the product was available throughout Europe. Eventually, Pet Milk and Carnation Milk were produced and sold in United States. In the 21th century, humans wants are unlimited. Therefore, Nestle create new brands on the products that already exist in the market and are needed for the consumers to widen their choice. Mission and Vision Nestles mission is to be the recognized leader in Nutrition, Health and Wellness and the industry reference for financial performance. Good Food, Good Life is the promise they commit to everyday, everywhere to enhance lives, throughout life, with good food and beverages. Nestles vision is As the leading Nutrition, Health and Wellness Company we enhance lives by offering tastier and healthier food and beverage choices at all stages of life and at any time of the day, helping consumers care for themselves and their families. This is the foundation of our promise of Good Food, Good Life and puts nutrition at the heart of everything we do. It is our firm belief that, for a company to be successful over time and create value for its shareholders, it must also create value for society. We call this Creating Shared Value. Built on strong foundations of compliance and sustainable business practices, this is our way to do business and to be the trusted leader in Nutrition, Health and Wellness. SWOT analysis Grand Strategy Grand strategy is a systematic, comprehensive, long-term plan of all the company use to achieve their goals. Market, product, and organization development is the main element of this strategy. There are three types of strategy such as growth strategy, stability strategy and defensive strategy. Growth strategy involves the expansion of a company. Stability strategy is a strategy there are no-change strategy or little change strategy. Defensive strategy is a control to reduce the probability of loss. Nestle is a company that apply growth strategy. Nestle started the business in the year 1866 with the first European condensed milk factory and today becomes the worlds biggest food producer. The products of Nestle such as milk, beverages, coffee, ice-cream, confectionery and chocolate as well as junior food, has make a sales of CHF 44.1 billion in 2012 from CHF 74,660 million at 1999. The net profit increased by 8% to CHF 9.5 billion with the latest update on 9 August 2012. Now, Nestle had employed around 330,000 people in over 150 countries and have many operations or factories in the world compare to the number of employees in 1998 that only have 299,800 people. Besides that, Nestle is increasing the size of their company year by year. One of the strategies is organizing many different types of promotion. They give discounts to customers by using coupons. For example, Nestle Toll House Birthday Sugar Cookies can save 55$ if we print out the coupons to buy it. In addition, Nestle also provide food samples to customers during promotion. For instance, free samples of Maggi MeeGoreng were given out on 2nd  July 2012 to 2nd  August 2012. These were the successful strategy of Nestle nowadays. Nestle begin the business in 1866 with the combination of cows milk, wheat flour and sugar. After 1 year, infant cereal developed for a whole new world to babies. Next, Milo, Nescafe, Nestea, Nestle Pure Life, and Power Bar were launched in the years after 1929. Although these products launched, they merged with another company such as Maggi merged with Ursina-Franck. Nestle took the high risk of investment in the following year such as joint venture with LOreal, General Mills, Coca-Cola and Fonterra. In conclusion, Nestle is trying their best in the sales of products. they have smart plans to overcome the uncertainties. Growth strategy was used to increase their capital and Nestle will invest new products and new markets in the future. Competitive Strategies Nestle mainly focused on differentiation strategy. Nestle is a quality focused company. They differentiate their products with their competitors by giving them better customer satisfaction and quality with in an acceptable price limit. All their market is based on quality products and customer satisfaction. The main factor that motivates a customer is to buy their goods is the nutritional content in their products. They also focused on creating a strong brand by creating brand equity. In order to have a better quality on their products, Nestle had created Nestle Nutrition, which is a global business organization designed to strengthen the focus on their core nutrition business. They believe that strengthening their leadership in this market is the key element of their corporate strategy. In order to reinforce their competitive advantage in this area, Nestle created Nestle Nutrition as an autonomous global business unit within the organization, and charged it with the operational and profit and loss responsibility for the claim-based business of Infant Nutrition, HealthCare Nutrition, and Performance Nutrition. This unit aims to deliver superior business performance by offering consumers trusted, science based nutrition products and services. In order to produce a better quality product, Nestle had made an effort on research and development. Research and development is a key of competitive advantage for Nestle. Without research and development, Nestle could not have become the leader in food and beverage industries. With 29 research, development and technology facilities worldwide, Nestle has the largest research and development network compare with other food company. Based on the research and development done by Nestle, they are able to produce many products that have a high quality in nutrition, wellness, taste, health, texture or convenience. Besides that, Nestle also use cost-leadership strategy for minor products. Nestle had used a new strategy called Nestles Popularly Positioned Products (PPPs) strategy that provide consumers with high-quality, nutritious products, regardless of where they sell them and the price point at which they sell them. PPPs focuses on the specific needs of 3 billion lower-income consumers worldwide. PPPs offer these consumers the opportunity to consume high-quality food products that provide nutritional value at an affordable cost and appropriate format. With a range of locally adapted distribution methods, including street markets, mobile street vendors and door to door distributors, PPPs are a source of income for street traders and individual distributors and contribute to the creation of local jobs. Recommendation Utilizing the identified strengths and opportunities Overcome the identified strengths and opportunities Conclusion Overall achievement Firstly, on 21 May 2012, Nestle was in the rank of No. 18 in The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25. The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 is about leadership. Nestle has created a successful supply chain segment for its popular Nespresso line. Nestle is also highly advanced and integrated in its raw material sourcing strategies, and has invested significantly in supply development and innovation. Moreover, on 12 April 2012, Nestle becomes the first food and beverage company that receives A+ rating, which is the highest standard in Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for Creating Shared Value report. This shows that Nestle do take seriously their responsibility to create shared value and conduct their business in a sustainable way. Next, Nestle won the ACCA Malaysia Sustainability Reporting Award 2011. This was because Nestle use Sustainability Reporting to communicate to stakeholders regarding the progress of their Creating Shared Value strategy, which is to create value simultaneously for society and their shareholders while carrying out our business activities. On 19 May 2011, Nestle receives top environment award which is the 27th World Environment Center (WEC) Gold Medal award for its commitment to environmental sustainability. This shows that Nestle was recognized as a global company that has demonstrated an example of sustainability in business practice. Furthermore, on 7 June 2011, Nestle became winner of the Stockholm Industry Water Award for its leadership and performance to improve water management in its internal operations and throughout its supply chain. Nestle also has a leading role in the 2030 Water Resources Group. Besides that, in July 2010, Nestle Malaysia was crowned as a winner of the Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards 2010 (AREA). This awards show that Nestle was recognized as an organization that have shown a lot of efforts, perseverance and courage in corporate social responsibility initiatives. Last but not least, Nestle won the StarBiz-ICR Malaysia CR Awards in the year 2009. Nestle was one of the seven public-listed companies which were recognized and honoured for their outstanding Corporate Responsibility practices at the StarBiz-ICR Malaysia CR Awards 2009 presentation ceremony. (Management, 2012) (Brands, 2012) (Nestle is, 2012) (Nestle becomes main sponsor of IAAF Kids Athletics programme, 2012) (Message to Shareholders (Annual Report 2011), 2012) (Reports Downloads, 2011) (Nestle is, 2011) (The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 for 2012, 2012) (Insight: The challenges of achieving greater transparency, 2012) (Nestle Wins ACCA Malaysia Sustainabiliti Reporting Award 2011, 2011) (Nestle receives top environment award, 2012) (Nestle Wins the Stockholm Industry Water Award, 2012) (Awards and Recognition, 2012) References and Appendixes

Understanding Parkinsons Disease Essay -- Health Medicine

Understanding Parkinson's Disease Diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease To date, there are no specific diagnostic criteria for Parkinson's Disease. Diagnosis can only be made by an expert examination after the person has already developed symptoms. Biochemical measures can be used such as a screening strategy monitoring the dopamine levels in the cerebrospinal fluid. Otherwise, specifically 6(18F)dopa positron emission tomography can be used for a direct measurement of dopamine activity. Using a computer to assess movement time is another test for Parkinson's disease. To examine the electrophysiological characteristics of tremor and preclinical nigral dysfunction characteristic of Parkinson's EMG (electromyographic recordings) can be used. Finally, a symptomatic screening is often utilized and consists of nine symptom related questions, as well as disease specific and drug specific questions. This provides an indirect functional measure of the nigrostriatal dopamine system. Facts about Parkinson's Disease Increasing age strongly increases the risk of Parkinson's disease. Male gender and possibly Caucasian ancestry are associated with more modest increases in risk. The reported prevalence of Parkinson's disease varies widely in international community-based studies; ranging from 31 to 328 per 100,000 people. Whether these differences represent actual differences in the occurrence of disease cannot be easily determined. This is due to the limited number of studies conducted and restricted population samples used. The risk factors of Parkinson's disease are primarily environmental and are not genetically based. Clinical Features The main clinical features in Parkinson's Disease include rigidity, bradyki... ...an de Silva, H.A.; Khan, N.L.; & Wood, N.W. (2000). The genetics of Parkinson's disease. Current Opinion in Genetics & Development 10:3 (June); 292-298. Tanner, C. M. (1996). Early Intervention in Parkinson's Disease: Epidemiologic Considerations. Ann Epidemiol. 6: 5; 438-441. Tasker, R.R.; Lang, A.E.; & Lozano, A..M.. (2000). Pallidal and Thalamic Surgery for Parkinson's Disease. Experimental Neurology. 144:1; 35 - 40. Veldman, B.A.J.; Wijn, A.M.; Knoers, N.; Praamstra, P.; & Horstink, M.W.I.M. (1998 ). Genetic and environmental risk factors in Parkinson's disease. Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery 100:1;15-26. Volkmann, J.; & Sturm, V. (1998). Indication and results of stereotactic surgery for advanced Parkinson's disease. Critical Reviews in Neurosurgery. 8:4; 209-216. For information regarding Parkinson's Disease: http://www.parkinsonsweb.com/

Life of Pi analysis Essay

Life of Pi â€Å"Life of Pi† written by Yann Martel is an incredibly philosophical novel that tells the story of survival. Pi Patel, a young Indian boy, is faced against the impossible when his familys boat is shipwrecked and he is left stranded in a lifeboat with an interesting and potentially harmful group of animals: a zebra, an orangutan, a vicious hyena, and the magnificent Richard Parker, a Bengal tiger with a human like name. Throughout the novel, due to his situation of being stranded, Pi had to take drastic measures in order to survive. Part of his need to survive resulted in Pi giving up his egetarian ways. Slowly throughout the book, readers witness the transformation from Pi’s civil eating habits to an animalistic devouring of food . His transformation of eating habits leaves readers to question how, after reaching such a gruesome point, is Pi able to return to the life he lived pre-shipwreck, and return to his old eating habits as if nothing happened? In the beginning of the novel, it is quickly established that Pi was vegetarian. With being so close to the zoo keeping industry allowed Pi to develop a love and understanding for animals that many carnivorous eaters don’t. His religion of Hinduism also played a part in Pi’s original eating habits. The strictness in his diet made it hard for Pi to, at first, get accustomed to life on the sea. Imagine going from eating a strict vegetarian diet to being required to eat anything in plain sight Just to survive. Pi’s first scene where he breaks his vegetarian diets occurred a days after the shipwreck. After realizing that the sea is full of edible life forms, Pi makes an executive decision and decides that, in order to survive, he must eat food that would defy his vegetarian ways. After unsuccessfully using a leather hoe as bait for fish, Pi is interrupted by a school of flying fish. Luckily for P’, some of the fish fall into the boat, making them readily available for Pi and Richard Parker to eat. Being the animal that he is, Richard Parker does not hesitate to eat his portion of the fish. However the same does not go for P’. Eating the fish meant doing what he considered to be the unthinkable. Pi â€Å"proceeded with great deliberation† (182) and â€Å"unwrapped the fish carefully’ (182). It was apparent that killing the fish went against all of Pi’s morals because â€Å"the closer the fish was to appearing, the more afraid and isgusted† (182) he became. Pi’s contemplated a lot before making his decision because â€Å"a lifetime of peaceful vegetarianism stood between and the willful beheading of a fish† (183). After deciding that the best way to kill the fish was to break its neck, Pi had â€Å"tears flowing down his cheeks† (183). The simple killing of a fish left Pi in an emotional state. Now instead of an innocent sixteen year old boy, Pi was a killer and guilty of taking a life away. In other words, Pi now â€Å"had blood on [his] hands† (183). Despite Pi’s utter disgust and emotional breakdown, he continued to fish using the dead fish’s head as bait. As a result, Pi was able to attract the attention of a hungry Dorado bird. Once Pi realized that he had his next victim, he began to reel it in. However, the Dorado bird was not going to go down without a fight. Although it was a struggle for Pi to reel in the distressed bird, â€Å"killing it was no problem† (185). Pi beat the bird vigorously witha atc et n n . Unlike the tisn, Pi nad no issues witn killing the Dorado. He maintained emotionally stable and didn’t really care whether or not the bird suffered while it was being beaten. At this point in the novel, readers begin to see how Pi’s eating habits are transformed. In such a short time, Pi went from â€Å"weeping over the muffled killing of a flying fish to gleefully bludgeoning to death of a Dorado† (185). This is proof to the believe that â€Å"a person can get used to anything† (185) regardless of what it is. In Pi’s case, he got accustomed to killing. As time passes by, Pi’s eating habits only become more brutal. After discovering the simplicity in catching turtle, Pi began to eat them. More specifically, Pi butchered the turtles and drank the â€Å"sweet lassi† (212) that would spurt from the turtle’s neck. Not only did turtles become Pi’s â€Å"favorite dish† (212), but it also ate everything that urtles had to offer, whether it be their liver, heart, lungs, flesh, or intestine. Pi’s methods for killing the turtles and his behavior when eating the turtles showed how Pi was slowly transforming into a version of Richard Parker. His eating habits were becoming animalistic and they continued to worsen as Pi spent more time stranded out in the Pacific. In addition to ravenously eating his prey, Pi’s mood began to reflect the amount of food he ingested. Once Pi’s rations were gone, â€Å"anything was good to eat† (213). Instead of using his morals and sense of reasoning, Pi would Just eat nything he could find, regardless of the taste. Even Richard Parker’s feces caused Pi’s mouth to water. Pi’s need for food numbed his mind from making reasonable decisions. In Pi’s mind, everything was edible, much like how animals perceive everything to be edible. On top of atrociously killing turtles, Pi began to kill small sharks that would swim by the lifeboat. Instead of fishing for these sharks, Pi would â€Å"catch [the sharks] with [his] bare hands† (219) and eat their flesh. This sort of behavior Pi demonstrated further proves how his eating habits resemble those of Richard Parker. Whenever Pi would throw the tiger its ortion of the prey, Richard Parker would â€Å"attack immediately’ (219) by striking the animal with his forepaws. Similarly, Pi is beginning to â€Å"attack† his prey with his hands, and then devour it. Pi also reached a point where he, himself, realized how his eating habits resembled Richard Parker’s. He became known of â€Å"how low [he] had sunk† when he compared his eating to the tiger’s. Both ate their food with a â€Å"noisy, frantic, unchewing wolfing-down† (225) nature. Even though at that point of Pi’s journey he seemed to have become a completely new individual, Pi still had some of his morals intact. When Pi became temporarily blind, a French cook boarded the lifeboat and began to talk to him. At the time, Pi thought that he was talking to Richard Parker. Pi and the cook discussed food, and the cooks view on food caused Pi to feel â€Å"sick† (245). Unbeknown to Pi, the cook was actually a cannibal and had every intention to eat Pl. Luckily for P’, Richard Parker was there to save him by killing the French cook. However, although Pi was sickened by the thought of eating another human being, Pi’s actions following the death of the cook showed how hunger truly numbed his mind from remembering his morals and his vegetarian ways. After â€Å"catch[ing] one of [the cooks] arms with the gaff’ (256), Pi used the Frenchman’s body part as bait. Pi’s extreme need for food also drove him to eat some the man’s flesh. Although the amount ot tlesn Pi ate was small and went â€Å"nearly unnoticed† (2 still ate the flesh of another human. That by definition is cannibalism. For Pi to go to such an extreme Just to satisfy his hunger confirms that he was willing to do anything to survive, even if it meant disregarding all of his religious and moral believes. Even if it meant that he had to become an animal, Pi was willing to do anything to survive. In the end, despite the food Pi was exposed to while stranded in the ocean, Pi did return to his peaceful life as a vegetarian. When the interviewer went to hear Pi’s incredible story, the interviewer made note of the fact that Pi was an â€Å"excellent cook† (25). Pi happily made the interviewer some vegetarian tacos and zesty macaroni and cheese. It would seem as if Pi never viciously slaughtered turtles or sharks, or had eaten the flesh of another human being. It was as if Pi had forgotten the horrid things that happened on the lifeboat. However, that was the case. Those memories were forever mprinted in Pi’s memory, but Pi was able to move past the killings and continue with the lifestyle that truly made him happy and comfortable before his misfortunes. As Pi stated before, â€Å"a person can get used to anything†. In regards to his eating habits, once Pi returned back to normal civilization, he became accustomed to the habits he had before the shipwreck.

Breastfeeding in Public - Explaining Shame and Taboo

On an almost weekly basis, there is a news story about a woman being kicked out of an establishment for breastfeeding her baby. Restaurants, public pools, churches, art museums, courts of law, schools, and retail stores, including Target, American Girl Store, and ironically, Victoria’s Secret, have all been sites of skirmishes over a woman’s right to nurse. Breastfeeding  anywhere, public or private, is a woman’s  legal right in all 50 states. In 2018, both Utah and Idaho passed laws protecting a woman’s right to nurse in public.  However, nursing women are regularly scolded, shamed, given the side-eye, harassed, embarrassed, and made to leave public and private spaces by those who find the practice inappropriate or incorrectly believe it to be illegal. When we consider this problem from the standpoint of rational thought, it makes absolutely no sense. Breastfeeding is a natural, necessary, and healthful part of human life. And, in the U.S., for these reasons, it is protected by law. So, why does a cultural taboo on nursing in public hold strong in the U.S.? Using  the sociological perspective  helps illuminate why this problem exists. Breasts as Sex Objects One need only examine a handful of accounts of confrontations or online comments to see a pattern. In nearly all cases, the person who asks the woman to leave or harasses her suggests that what she is doing is indecent, scandalous, or lewd. Some do this subtly, by suggesting that she â€Å"would be more comfortable† if she were hidden from the view of others, or by telling a woman that she must â€Å"cover up† or leave. Others are aggressive and overt, like the church official who derogatorily called a mother who nursed during services â€Å"a stripper.† Beneath comments like these is the idea that breastfeeding should be hidden from the view of others; that it is a private act and should be kept as such. From a sociological standpoint, this underlying notion tells us a lot about how people see and understand women and their breasts: as sex objects. Despite the fact that women’s breasts are biologically designed to nourish, they are universally framed as sex objects in our society. This is a frustratingly  arbitrary designation based on gender, which becomes clear when one considers that it is illegal for women to bare their breasts (really, their nipples) in public, but men, who also have breast tissue on their chests, are allowed to walk around shirt-free. We are a society awash in the sexualization of breasts. Their â€Å"sex appeal† is used to sell products, to make film and television appealing, and  to entice people to men’s sporting events, among other things. Because of this, women are often made to feel that they are doing something sexual anytime some of their breast tissue is visible. Women with larger breasts, which are hard to comfortably wrangle and cover, know well the stress of trying to hide them from view in an effort to not be harassed or judged as they  go about their daily lives. In the U.S., breasts are always and forever sexual, whether we want them to be or not. Women as Sex Objects So, what can we learn about U.S. society by examining the sexualization of breasts? Some pretty damning and disturbing stuff, it turns out, because when women’s bodies are sexualized, they become sex objects. When women are sex objects, we are meant to be seen, handled, and used for pleasure at the discretion of men. Women  are meant to be passive recipients of sex acts, not agents who decide when and where to make use of their  bodies. Framing women this way denies them  subjectivity—the recognition that they are people, and not objects—and takes away their rights to self-determination and freedom. Framing women as sex objects is an act of power, and so too is shaming women who nurse in public, because the real message delivered during these instances of harassment is this: â€Å"What you are doing is wrong, you are wrong to insist on doing it, and I am here to stop you.† At the root of this social problem is the belief that women’s sexuality is dangerous and bad. Womens sexuality is framed as having  the power to corrupt men and boys, and make them lose control (see the blame-the-victim ideology of  rape culture). It should be hidden from public view, and only expressed when invited or coerced by a man. U.S. society has an obligation to create a welcoming and comfortable climate for nursing mothers. To do so, we must decouple the breast,  and womens bodies in general,  from sexuality, and stop framing women’s sexuality as a problem to be contained. This post was written in support of National Breastfeeding  Month.