Yes, it is a little drafty up here on my soapbox
As I type this I am so mad I can barely speak. I just read an article on MSN.com about “the outrage” sparked by a picture on the cover of Baby Talk magazine. People were actually upset over the picture of a baby breast-feeding on the cover. The main picture is a profile of the baby with part of the breast shown. This is the state of the world today. Brittney Spears can pose naked in all her highly airbrushed pregnant glory with only her hands covering her breasts and we find that acceptable. Show part of a breast with a baby covering it and everyone works themselves into an uproar. One woman went so far as to say her concern was her 13-year-old son seeing it. I bet the same ignorant woman convinces herself as she drifts off to sleep at night that her precious son is not being exposed to worse through the violent, sex filled video games that are out now and ever so popular. God forbid she may have to explain to her son the natural process a mother’s body goes through after pregnancy. What will he want to know about next?? How the baby was conceived?
What blows my mind even more is that even women who breast feed or have breast fed in the past are opposed to this particular magazine cover. They also admit to not breast feeding in public because of the comments and judgement passed on them. I am having such a problem with this mentality. I guarantee these are the same women snickering behind their hands and sending superior glances at each other when another mother admits openly that she has decided to bottle feed her baby. Before I even go on I need to state for the record that I only breast fed my first child for a couple of weeks and my second not at all. I also have a very rigid stance on women breast feeding children old enough to say, “Hey mom how about that boob, I’m thirsty.” However, I do not oppose breast feeding in and of itself. In fact, I give women credit when they are able to breast feed. I would much rather see a baby at his mother’s breast than to have to hear said child screaming bloody murder because they are hungry but cannot be accommodated because “well what would people think?” And what exactly do people think? “Oh imagine the nerve of that women providing nourishment for her child?” Huh?The article also states that some people feel that the uneasiness is also felt by women whose husband may not be comfortable in the presence of a woman who “whips out her breast” in order to nourish her child. Crazy. I am positive it is because these women have had an experience where they were out in public and witnessed a mother make an announcement that she will now be exposing her breast for anyone who was interested. I am certain that women then did a little shimmy for the benefit of all who may be watching her and her naked breast before she began feeding her child. Now we do need to bear in mind that regardless of what it is being used for a breast is a sexual part of a female’s body for a male and has no other use but to titillate them. Therefore any glimpse of it may send him into a blinding fit of desire where he may loose all control and therefore not be responsible for his actions. Seriously though, what planet do these people come from? I have no doubt that there are sick people who get pleasure out of breast feeding in public. But that is a whole other issue beyond the natural occurrence of a female’s body producing milk that is meant to feed her baby – the operative word being natural. Basically what people are conveying is that we are perfectly comfortable sitting in a movie theater surrounded by perfect strangers as we watch a steamy sex scene that was once only suitable for soft porn but we get squeamish when a woman discreetly uncovers her breast to nurture her child. Oh the horror!! Breast feeding is a natural part of motherhood. It has nothing to do with sex or the desire to expose one’s self. Just like I would expect a non-nursing mother to feed her child from a bottle publicly if it is lunchtime, I would hope the same for a nursing mother whose child feeds from her breast.
What blows my mind even more is that even women who breast feed or have breast fed in the past are opposed to this particular magazine cover. They also admit to not breast feeding in public because of the comments and judgement passed on them. I am having such a problem with this mentality. I guarantee these are the same women snickering behind their hands and sending superior glances at each other when another mother admits openly that she has decided to bottle feed her baby. Before I even go on I need to state for the record that I only breast fed my first child for a couple of weeks and my second not at all. I also have a very rigid stance on women breast feeding children old enough to say, “Hey mom how about that boob, I’m thirsty.” However, I do not oppose breast feeding in and of itself. In fact, I give women credit when they are able to breast feed. I would much rather see a baby at his mother’s breast than to have to hear said child screaming bloody murder because they are hungry but cannot be accommodated because “well what would people think?” And what exactly do people think? “Oh imagine the nerve of that women providing nourishment for her child?” Huh?The article also states that some people feel that the uneasiness is also felt by women whose husband may not be comfortable in the presence of a woman who “whips out her breast” in order to nourish her child. Crazy. I am positive it is because these women have had an experience where they were out in public and witnessed a mother make an announcement that she will now be exposing her breast for anyone who was interested. I am certain that women then did a little shimmy for the benefit of all who may be watching her and her naked breast before she began feeding her child. Now we do need to bear in mind that regardless of what it is being used for a breast is a sexual part of a female’s body for a male and has no other use but to titillate them. Therefore any glimpse of it may send him into a blinding fit of desire where he may loose all control and therefore not be responsible for his actions. Seriously though, what planet do these people come from? I have no doubt that there are sick people who get pleasure out of breast feeding in public. But that is a whole other issue beyond the natural occurrence of a female’s body producing milk that is meant to feed her baby – the operative word being natural. Basically what people are conveying is that we are perfectly comfortable sitting in a movie theater surrounded by perfect strangers as we watch a steamy sex scene that was once only suitable for soft porn but we get squeamish when a woman discreetly uncovers her breast to nurture her child. Oh the horror!! Breast feeding is a natural part of motherhood. It has nothing to do with sex or the desire to expose one’s self. Just like I would expect a non-nursing mother to feed her child from a bottle publicly if it is lunchtime, I would hope the same for a nursing mother whose child feeds from her breast.
posted by Deborah at
11:16 PM
3 Comments:
I heard about that article and the aftermath of comments by horrified readers. It made me angry, too. I began to feel better when I think about all the women I do know who breastfeed/fed and the support I will get when my baby comes.
By
Angelique, At
5:44 PM
Bravo!!!! Very well stated - I personally think you should forward this to the person who wrote it. Obviously an extremely ignorant person who has no appreciation of a very beautiful, natural occurrance. I would have thought that most people would be more 'lenient' about breastfeeding in public - silly me!!
xo
By
Anonymous, At
9:13 PM
Couldn't agree with you more! Actually, I can't decide who annoys me more--the anti-nursing-in-public folks or the ones who make women feel guilty about bottle-feeding.
By
Anonymous, At
11:06 PM
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