Oh no, boobies!!
~E~
Every so often I read a news article about how a woman breastfeeding her child is asked to cover up, feed her child in the bathroom, or just leave the restaurant or store.
These articles are often posted on blogs, and the responses are incredibly confusing. Some folks are shocked that the woman feeding her baby is confronted as though she is doing something wrong; others are shocked that a woman is 'waving her leaky tits around in public' (actual quote).
These "oh my god breastfeeding is disgusting" people equate breastfeeding with pooping on the dinner table; they equate breastmilk with bodily waste fluids like urine and spit, and say if breastfeeding is allowed in public, why not peeing in public? They think both are utterly disgusting. (so if eating in the vicinity of bodily wastes is so disturbing, why do they insist a woman FEED HER BABY in a bathroom?)
They also seem to think it's absolutely gross that you can "see a woman's boob in public". First of all, I don't see these people leaving movie theaters in droves when a woman is shown topless in a film. Secondly, um, look around? You see more boobage on billboards, magazine covers, beaches, any random street in America. And, in fact, I'm sure a lot of these people actively seek out boobs in porn mags or film. Seriously, folks, you see less (if any) boob on a breastfeeding woman than you would if that same woman was wearing a bathing suit.
I simply don't understand how feeding a baby the way nature intended is gross and an imposition on your right to go about in public without running into some woman's upper body appendages.
Another issue that comes up in these discussions is how sick it is to still be nursing a kid at 7 months, or a year, or 15 months. They seem to think women get some perverted charge out of it. I think that says more about their mindset than anything; they see breasts as being there strictly for sexual pleasure and obviously if a woman is (forcing?) allowing her child to feed it must be because she's getting off on it.
My mom nursed all of us. My sister nursed her kids. I nursed mine. It seemed perfectly natural. It was only in the fifties or so, as far as I know, that bottle feeding was pushed on Americans and the boob was considered - low class?- I don't know. Breastfeeding obviously became the weird thing to do over the last fifty years.
Which brings me to my final point - profit. What profit is to be had when parents don't have to buy formula? The corporatocracy has won when people think it makes more sense to spend $300 a month feeding your child formula, when truly you can do it for free.
Every so often I read a news article about how a woman breastfeeding her child is asked to cover up, feed her child in the bathroom, or just leave the restaurant or store.
These articles are often posted on blogs, and the responses are incredibly confusing. Some folks are shocked that the woman feeding her baby is confronted as though she is doing something wrong; others are shocked that a woman is 'waving her leaky tits around in public' (actual quote).
These "oh my god breastfeeding is disgusting" people equate breastfeeding with pooping on the dinner table; they equate breastmilk with bodily waste fluids like urine and spit, and say if breastfeeding is allowed in public, why not peeing in public? They think both are utterly disgusting. (so if eating in the vicinity of bodily wastes is so disturbing, why do they insist a woman FEED HER BABY in a bathroom?)
They also seem to think it's absolutely gross that you can "see a woman's boob in public". First of all, I don't see these people leaving movie theaters in droves when a woman is shown topless in a film. Secondly, um, look around? You see more boobage on billboards, magazine covers, beaches, any random street in America. And, in fact, I'm sure a lot of these people actively seek out boobs in porn mags or film. Seriously, folks, you see less (if any) boob on a breastfeeding woman than you would if that same woman was wearing a bathing suit.
I simply don't understand how feeding a baby the way nature intended is gross and an imposition on your right to go about in public without running into some woman's upper body appendages.
Another issue that comes up in these discussions is how sick it is to still be nursing a kid at 7 months, or a year, or 15 months. They seem to think women get some perverted charge out of it. I think that says more about their mindset than anything; they see breasts as being there strictly for sexual pleasure and obviously if a woman is (forcing?) allowing her child to feed it must be because she's getting off on it.
My mom nursed all of us. My sister nursed her kids. I nursed mine. It seemed perfectly natural. It was only in the fifties or so, as far as I know, that bottle feeding was pushed on Americans and the boob was considered - low class?- I don't know. Breastfeeding obviously became the weird thing to do over the last fifty years.
Which brings me to my final point - profit. What profit is to be had when parents don't have to buy formula? The corporatocracy has won when people think it makes more sense to spend $300 a month feeding your child formula, when truly you can do it for free.
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