There have been a spate of recent articles about offended breast-feeding moms being denied their right to breast-feed their child anywhere, at any time. In response they've been organizing mass nurse-ins, where militant breast-feeding moms will all appear at a site that has pissed them off, and proceed to nurse en-masse. That's not nearly as titillating as it might sound, especially considering how many of us are still struggling to lose weight after we've had the kiddo. And honestly, I feel more like a dairy-cow than some sort of fertility goddess when I'm feeding Roy. That doesn't make feeding him any less satisfying, but so is taking a good shit, and I'm not gonna drop trou in the middle of the store to do that either.
I'm all for the right to feed your child anywhere, and given a choice between letting Roy scream, or plopping down on the floor of a department store and letting other shoppers thread their way around me in the aisle while I feed him, I'll sit on the floor of that store - no matter how dirty it is. But the options are rarely as stark as that. Before I whip out the tit, I'll collar an employee and ask to use a dressing room, or a break room, or the manager's office. I have yet to encounter someone who, when presented with my dilemma, will refuse to find a way to help me out.
So it makes me wonder what compels these women to engage in displays like this. Yes, breast-feeding is natural, and its nothing to be ashamed of. But there's nothing particulary special or impressive about it. And the floor of a store, even if your back is up against a wall, is possibly the least comfortable position I can think of for feeding your child, save standing upright, and in my experience, outside stimuli makes it that much harder for the baby to actually settle down and eat. Not to mention that even as un-sexy as breastfeeding is, there are still creepy types that are going to stare intently at any portion of boob you expose, and as far as I'm concerned, when you feed in front of other people, you take that risk. I can only surmise that the women doing this are making a political statement - and I just don't believe in playing politics with an infant.
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3 comments:
yeah i don't really understand women who are comfortable just breast feeding wherever. although i do believe they should be able to, provided it's not at the table next to me in a restaurant . . . gross ;-)
Yeah. So long as you can't see the boob, I'm fine with it. I think the whole subject is more of personal preference though. If one of the parties--breast-feeding mom or uncomfortable individual--can do something to remedy the "situation" then they should; if they feel that strongly about it anyways...which is kind of silly in itself, because stuff like that is easy enough to ignore. It definately doesn't need to be turned into some political issue because I don't really think either person's rights in that scenario supercedes the others, and it's pretty silly to get all militant about it, like the women Celeste was talking about.
Yes. If someone told me I couldn't feed my baby, that'd be one thing, and I wouldn't hesitate to make a stink about it. But if someone offered me a private area to feed in? Come on... that's up there with getting pissed off because someone held the door open for you.
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