Like Andrea Duval I wondered what the reference to the wedding ring was about.
 And like Gonneke, I feel like an alien when reading the discussion about the
contrasting images of breastfeeders and artificial feeders.

Remember, I live in a part of the world where breastfeeding really is the
norm.  Everyone does it, pretty much.  The ones least likely to are actually
the mothers with the least support and least education and least money.  About
half of all children in Norway are born to married women, and half not.  It is
SUCH a non-issue, except for the paperwork to be filled out at birth, which is
slightly more cumbersome if parents are not married.  Nobody cares at all
beyond the midwife who has to fill in the forms.  The figures are quite
similar in all the Nordic countries.  There is no stigma attached to being a
single mother.  We have had cabinet members who were single mothers, who gave
birth during their terms in office, and nobody to this day knows the father's
identity.  I repeat, and emphasize, no stigma.

This whole discussion, about depicting women with or without wedding rings to
show 'subtly' what kind of people they are, would bring down the house in
Scandinavia.  People would first be incredulous.  Then they would laugh
hysterically until they could barely breathe.  And then some of them **might**
get angry.

Rachel Myr
married, in fact, but not the wearer of a metal ring to remind me of it, in
Kristiansand, Norway

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