Dear Karen,
I'd like to share my reactions to your post regarding breastfeeding:
1) Etiquette: Pregnant women in their 3rd trimesters were expected to
be confined in polite society less than 200 years ago. The image of a
pregnant woman was too much for people to take, apparently. This was
a time when children were considered father's property, and mothers
had no rights over their kids. Only 30 years ago, breastfeeding
itself, private or not, was considered a lower-class activity.
Etiquette changes, sometimes for the better, as people become aware
of public health issues and insidious social injustice.
2) Eroticization of the Breast: Breasts are meant for nursing. The
fact that they also serve as an errogenous zone for some is
purely secondary. Men's nipples are also sensitive, and many women
find men's chests arousing. Why are men's chest's not
considered taboo? It is because laws and customs are often defined by
heterosexual men, and created from their objectifying
perspective (I'm not saying all hetero men objectify, btw). If
neither sex was allowed to bare their chests on 102 degree days
at the beach, I could say "cultural norm" in the USA. But men *are*
allowed to bare their chests so, I say "sexism"
3) Breast Pumps: It's a pain to keep those bottles cool, and then
warm them up again when the baby gets hungry. Also,
bottles can cause nipple confusion in a newborn. Also, the woman and
child's schedules can go out of whack. Sometimes
these issues undermine breastfeeding altogether. Sometimes a woman's
milk lets down in public. I suppose it would be
indecent for her to pump in public too? Many working mothers are
forced to sit in a bathroom stall to pump. Talk about a
public health issue!
4) Bad Manners: There's a difference between good/bad manners and
right/wrong. There are lots of things that make people
uncomfortable, but oftentimes it is the problem of the person who is
uncomfortable. My interracial marriage often makes
people uncomfortable - should I stop holding hands with my partner in
public? Things change for the better when people are
willing to look at the status quo and decide things could be better.
I am very fond of you and I mean no disrespect, but in my opinion,
the subjugation/isolation of nursing mothers/babies is a more
problematic than the discomfort of people who haven't yet overcome
their hang-ups about the human body.
Tako
Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...> wrote:
> Sorry, folks. I don't care how "natural" or "beneficial" breast-
feeding is, in modern American society it is STILL bad manners for a
woman to expose her breast in public places
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