From: Cindy Fagiano
Great article in the Chicago Tribune 2-23-03
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Playing peekaboo with breasts
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Ross Werland
February 23, 2003
How perverse is this?
Women breast-feeding their children are shamed into restrooms or back rooms because enough people still think it's evil to expose the breast while it's used as nature intended.
Meanwhile, virtually exposed breasts in all forms have become some of the most celebrated characters on prime-time television, from reality TV to the Academy Awards.
Would any of us have ever known about Anna Nicole Smith if it weren't for her twins?
And on the day after the upcoming Oscars show, you won't hear, "Why did that actress deserve an award?" as often as you'll hear, "Did you see how much breast she was showing? I think I saw part of the nipple!"
So the message is, it's fine to milk the female breast for commercial gain, but to make children healthy? Hold it right there, missy.
Indiana is the latest state to wave the white nursing bra, with some lawmakers hoping to follow the lead of other states, such as Illinois, in asserting a lactating mother's right to provide a square meal to her infant in public. Illinois is among 31 states that have passed legislation in support of breast-feeding, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Among the state's steps was to exempt breast-feeding from public-indecency laws.
In Indiana, mothers reported being asked to put their breasts away in restaurants or to leave, lest other patrons become disturbed.
Let's think about this for a minute. There are people in restaurants who think, for example, that it's fine to chew with their mouths open, blare details of their private lives or do nothing about their screaming toddlers while others are trying to dine in peace.
Then there's the current Chicago controversy about smoking in restaurants. Of course, all cigarettes do is sicken or kill the users and those around them, aside from fouling the air while diners are doing their best to enjoy the nuances of grilled salmon. You want to smoke? Fine. And I have a right to spray urine into the air. Hey, it's a habit, OK?
But breast-feeding? Call security.
Most breast-feeding mothers are very discreet in public, probably because they, too, are somewhat uncomfortable about the chance of exposing that part of themselves to broad scrutiny. So it really must be the idea of breast-feeding that is so nettlesome, not the actual sight of it.
Isn't that a commentary? Some people are grossed out about the thought of breasts doing what they were meant to do. This may come as something of a surprise, but women's breasts originally were not intended as accouterments for fashion designers.
Breasts have been around for quite some time, even before the invention of silicone. And in cultures where breasts are as easily viewed as noses, they draw little notice.
Certainly we've all come across a Sunday afternoon TV documentary about a primitive tribe in the Amazon where breasts are out there, innocent, unobtrusive.
The men of the tribe don't line up at a hut construction site and start whooping and hollering when the women walk by. American boys can watch those shows in amazement: "Look at those men. It's like they don't even notice what's around them!"
The same phenomenon can be observed throughout Europe, where toplessness is so normal on the beaches that even visiting American male teens can be desensitized within a few hours and actually notice sand and waves.
Then again, those other cultures aren't as advanced. They don't realize that the human body is explosively titillating, that only men's breasts are acceptable for public viewing, though there are any number of male breasts that could fill a B cup.
Let's not be confused. Previously in this space we've made it clear that workplace exposure of a salacious nature is appropriate for neither men nor women, but the breast, unadorned and alone and especially in the context of motherhood, is not a frightening or shameful thing.
Carol Huotari, manager of the center for breast-feeding information with La Leche League International in Schaumburg, said that in the Chicago area, hassles for breast-feeding mothers usually come from people who don't know public policy, say, "a security guard who doesn't think it's appropriate."
In other countries it's seldom an issue, she explained, and workplace friction over breast-feeding hardly exists because of lengthy paid leaves for new mothers.
But our federal government gets it, she said, and soon will unveil a new push for breast-feeding because, among other things, it's cheaper and healthier than using a bottle of formula.
Maybe it's time that we took it all a step further and decriminalized and decommercialized the female breast. Then maybe we could watch those Amazon documentaries for their substance, seeing how these "primitives" manage to find time to play with their kids and to mine the wisdom of their elders, who are not sent to live somewhere else.
And, of course, the mothers breast-feed.
We have so much to teach them.
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Copyright (c) 2003, Chicago Tribune
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