Sneakers are for Your Feet. Not Your Head.
Am I right? If you started wearing gloves on your nose or putting your retainer in your ear it wouldn't work out so well and people would deem you not so bright, so why are some places such as Facebook continuing to encourage the despicably twisted yet pervasive thought- breasts for feeding is bad. Breasts to be augmented and oggled is good. Riiiiiight.
Except that not only does this Facebook episode, the MYSpace one or the Harvard Medical School incident (see NY TIMES) not only demean women further it sets us back. David Wescott, a blogger, made his point well on this topic:
Facebook has come down on both sides of a “free speech issue” here - once clamping down, once letting speech and organizing go - and in each case it’s come down in a way that arguably sets women back.
Breasts. Yes, they are beautiful. Beautiful orbs or sacs of fat. We women should celebrate our breasts most definitely. Yet some how what has continually been lost in translation over the years is that breasts serve a purpose other than as an ideal advertising tool. They are for feeding. Feeding our young. Just like udders on a cow or teets on a pig. First and foremost. Anyone else who gets to suckle at the breast is just a lucky SOB or DOB (daughter of a ... you get my drift).
This whole thought process that breastfeeding in public is obscene is absurd! And wrong. So maybe it makes you uncomfortable to see a partial boob while chomping your steak at Applebees or shopping for new kicks in the mall. Face it that's because nudity probably makes you uncomfortable too. Well, a bucket full of maggots makes me "uncomfortable". So you know what? I look away! Look away from the bucket of maggots. Look away from the breastfeeding women who is doing what she believes is best or economically feasible for her and her child. Don't give her a dirty look or say something inappropriate making her feel low and unworthy of leaving her house. Women get enough mixed messages out there.
What is obscene and absurd to me is the barely legal porno sites out there or the women whose only goal is to be a Playboy centerfold. Not someone using their body in the way they are supposed to. Breasts are for feeding, sneakers are for your feet.
For more on this subject head on over to Izzy Mom.
I generally have no problem with people breast feeding in public. But I DO have to admit that when I see a woman breast feeding a 3 year old (or more) in public, I am going to be a little disturbed. sorry, that's just me.
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ReplyDeleteSo why do I have to look away just because you choose to breast feed in public? Why do I have to suck it up (no pun intended) because that is your choice and not mine. If you choose to breast feed your baby wonderful, but how about take into consideration others who may not choose to be around when you do that. Why not pump at home and bring the bottle of your milk with you when you are out in public? Why not excuse yourself for a few minutes to breastfeed in a private area? I am out to eat with friends and loved ones just like anyone else. I deserve the same respect as you do. Whould you approve if 2 people were all over each other in the same restaurant? I would not and I would hope they would take it into another area so I don't have to see that either. Just my 2 cents.
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ReplyDeleteWhy? Because the kid is eating too! Do you want a woman quietly breastfeeding or a baby screaming loudly in the restaurant? Quieting that kid down and feeding is the first priority.
ReplyDeletePumping is not always an option for a variety of reasons like the cost of a pump, it does not always work for everyone to pump and sometimes it actually decreases the amount of milk you can produce, or being able to keep the cold pumped milk long enough if you are say out for an extended period of time. And sometimes? The kid just needs to feed and you are out of pumped milk and only the breast will do. Other women choose to never pump too.
Making out or being "all over a person" is NOT the same thing as breastfeeding. Fine. Don't look away. Look if you want, but know that using a restroom (usually the only quiet place) is unsanitary and actually discouraged by doctors and lactatation consultants.
I agree on the covering up issue. When in public a breastfeeding woman should cover up. If there is a better place then find it but you can't say that a woman breastfeeding is obscene. It's what breasts are for. Her covering up IS respecting your privacy. Parents need to get out too they can't stay in their houses all the time so it's convienent for others.
AMEN sista!!! I nursed all 5 of mine and if I was out they "ate out". It is so natural, and as you said the purpose of having boobs in the first place. Although I have never gotten so much as a disturbed glance. I would actually have conversations with strangers sometimes. Like once we were out Christmas shopping and I was walking around the toy store feeding and someone offered me a stool to sit on. I thank God that I was always commended and never ridiculed. But I also ALWAYS covered up. Most of the time no one even knew what was going on. But I covered up for me, not everyone else. I would be embaresed exposing my boobs in public. But that's just me.
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