Dear Mrs. Fieldhahn,

 

Re: Your article in the Seattle Times on Nursing in Public.  I am going to
(try to) respond to your article in as concise a manner as possible.  I have
some opinions I'd like to share with you about what you have written.  I
hope you will take the time to read and keep your mind open to what I, and
many others, feel about this topic.   

 

You are a Christian Author, a conservative, and mother.  You speak the word
and intent of God.  My gentle questions to you:  Do you believe that God
intended for us to be responsible for each other's feelings and behavior?
Do you believe that God intended for us to judge each other in the manner
that we do?  Do you believe that God intended to the breast to be a sexual
plaything?  I believe that God wanted us to be responsible for our own
feelings and behavior.  I wonder when did it become each person's individual
responsibility to take care of the entirety of society's feelings and
behavior. 

 

The good book states "Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged".  God is responsible for
judging us.  It is not our 'right' in God's eyes to judge each other.  How
sad that we do it anyway.  Quite simply, as humans who are <supposedly>
reasonably intelligent, we should be responsible for our own feelings and
our own behavior.  We can treat others with kindness and respect - but we
choose not to.  If a child kid has a serious birth defect and looks scary
and others are uncomfortable seeing him - is that HIS fault?  Should HE be
held responsible for others' feelings of discomfort and be made to cover his
head with a blanket or hide inside so that no one should see his defects and
be uncomfortable?  Should he simply be killed at birth so that no one would
ever be made to feel uncomfortable upon looking at him?  No.  If someone
wants to color their hair purple and it makes others uncomfortable should
they be held responsible for the entirety of society's feelings?  Being
responsible for the entirety of society's feelings and behavior is one tall
responsibility - personally, I am not up to it - are you?  If we should not
hold other's responsible for the entirety of society's feelings and
discomfort, why should we force a mother simply feeding her baby the way God
intended to be responsible for it??  Makes no sense to me.

 

As a Christian writer (or simply a writer in general) you have the ability
to not work with shock value, to truly assist women in feeding their babies
the way God intended and to hold society accountable for their own behavior
rather than placing all the responsibility on the heads of innocent women
and babies.  I would hope that maybe you could consider this and work to
support them and educate people to be responsible for their own feelings and
behavior - and to learn to respect others choices even if you don't
necessarily understand them or agree.  Criticizing those "Lactivists" or
women simply trying to educate society (with an issue that shouldn't be an
issue at all) is simply judging their behavior.  Breastfeeding is not a
lifestyle choice - it is a major health issue.  I am not judging or
criticizing - I am asking that you take a look at things in a different
light and potentially adjust your focus a bit towards those who are working
to keep women from breastfeeding their babies the way God wanted us to do.
Educate society to accept and not judge - to support, respect and value the
amazing qualities that women have that God gave them.  Because of Him women
have the ability to grow the baby inside and then grow them outside.that
should be celebrated and our society should value that.  Sadly, we don't
value our women, our babies or our elderly as God intended.

 

Now - on with my comments.

 

 

This may sound harsh, but the small number of militant breast-feeders who 

want to let it all hang out in public aren't prioritizing their babies, but 

themselves. They want to stand on their rights and do what they want, in the


way that they want, regardless of the embarrassment or discomfort it causes 

someone else.

 

Your comment re: 'militant breastfeeders' is, I feel, is being used for
shock value.  These women don't 'let it all hang out' the way you say.
"Militant" presents the picture of violent women marching around in
formation armed with guns and weapons, wearing babies in camouflage slings,
with the babies in little flack jackets and helmets hanging on to the
breast.  Interesting picture, eh?  The fact is they are not militant; they
are simply standing up for the rights of women and babies everywhere - the
right to feed at the breast.  Why should women be held accountable for the
feelings of other people looking at them?  The feelings of discomfort should
be the responsibility of the person to whom those feelings belong -
shouldn't they be held accountable for their poor behavior of staring and
making rude comments?  Staring and rude comments are simply not good
manners.  <think the Golden Rule here.>  We had to fight for the right to
vote - how ludicrous is it that we have to fight for the right to not be
harassed simply because we are feeding our babies the way God intended?

 

 


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