I denna studien undersöktes det om det går att använda produktdesign för att minska stressen för mammor vid offentlig amning. Syftet med studien var att hjälpa mammor att stressa ned och målet var att ta fram ett designförslag i form av en produkt för att uppfylla syftet.För att kunna lyckas med detta har användarcentrerad design legat till grund. Metoderna som använts är intervju, observation och enkät, och dessa gjordes på målgruppen nyblivna mammor. Vidare har studien krävt en marknadsundersökning för att se vilka produkter som redan existerar på marknaden. Även normkreativ design har använts för dels att uppmärksamma vilka problem som kan uppstå vid offentlig amning och samtidigt rikta kritik mot samhället för de alltför utbredda attityder om amning och dels för att föra studien framåt med hjälp av idégenereringar. Slutsatsen är, att det att behöva visa sig inför andra är den största orsaken till stress för mammorna vid amning. Självklart känner inte alla mammor så, men enligt flertalet av respondenterna i denna studien var detta deras största bekymmer när de vistades i andra miljöer än hemmet. Slutprodukten är ett designförslag på hur detta problemet skulle kunna lösas. Då alla individer är olika och har olika krav och åsikter kan inte en produkt behövas till alla, men enligt studien finns det en målgrupp för produkten. / This study examines whether product design can be used to reduce the stress for mothers during public breastfeeding. The purpose of the study was to help mothers to stress down, and the goal was to produce a design proposal in the form of a product with the purpose to succeed in this.In order to succeed, user-centered design has been the basis for the used methods, utilizing interviews, observations and questionnaires. this have been performed on the target group consisting of new mothers. Furthermore, the study has required a market research to see which products already exist on the market. Norm creativity design has also been used to pay attention to the problem of public breast-feeding and to criticize the society regarding the current attitudes on this, but also to help progression of the study by creation of ideas.In conclusion the biggest cause of stress for the mothers during public breastfeeding is having to bare yourself in the company of others. Of course, it is not a problem for all mothers, but in this study the majority of the respondents on whom the study is based, had dread of this. The end product is a design proposal on how this problem could be solved. Since all individuals are different, have different requirements and opinions, not all are in need of such a product, but according to the study there is a target group needing such help.

This thesis investigates cultural associations and values connected to women in Swedish society, with regard to action space, autonomy and social position. This is done through a discourse analysis of the media debate about public breastfeeding between the years 1980-2016, especially putting focus on the female body, motherhood, and women's access to public space. Main theories are Sara Ahmed’s various works on feelings and public comfort, as well as theories about taboo, mainly Purity and Danger by Mary Douglas. In line with early feminist anthropology on women’s subordinated position, this study finds liminality between opposing binaries to be important for the discourse, placing breastfeeding women in a position of taboo and inconvenience. In the discourses I studied, the two most important binaries are the nature-culture dichotomy, and the separation between private and public space. The discourses concerning public breastfeeding are also connected to notions of Swedish Exceptionalism and gender equality, mostly in contrast to beliefs about prudish influences from the U.S. In the thesis is discussed how the media debate about public breastfeeding seems to have intensified from the 1990s onwards, which correlates with increased neoliberalization of the Swedish welfare system, causing changes in women’s life circumstances. In the concluding chapter is brought forth how public breastfeeding is a focal point for several contradictory expectations on breastfeeding women, placing them in a double bind and making women responsible for everyone else’s comfort. It is also illuminated how the binary oppositions mainly contribute to disadvantaging categorizations of women, as well as how neoliberal reforms seem to have a damaging effect on gender equality in Sweden.