weekly syndicated columns debating a different topic each week by
conservative shaunti feldman and liberal diane glass. feldman writes that
NIP involves sitting "*bare-chested* for 20 minutes..." and "....militant
breast-feeders who want to let it all hang out in public aren't prioritizing
their babies, but themselves." good grief.
~vicki hayes rn ibclc, formerly of lake stevens wa, now in brunswick ga,
where yesterday afternoon I attended a social to meet my husband's new
supervisors, co-workers, and their families, where all the babies are
not-breastfed, where I sat and nursed 4-month-old lachlan while meeting and
greeting and shaking hands, where my husband's boss did a double take and
said, "oh, wow, I didn't even know what he was doing, I was going to say hi
to him but didn't even know he was nursing." :-)
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=woman18&date=20060718
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=womanrebut18&date=20060718
Diane Glass | Breast-feeding in public: natural or embarrassing?
By Diane Glass
Syndicated Columnist
Breasts are indecent on nursing mothers but focal points on the cover of
Maxim magazine. Despite the many pro-mother breast-feeding rights that women
retain, public expectation calls for modesty. The results of this disconnect
are angry mothers: They hold a strike. Then the retailer gets a lesson on
the intended use of nipples.
This year's story has a delicious, ironic twist. The retailer was Victoria's
Secret. I guess when you're trying to sell gravity-defying breasts as a
sexual commodity, having a pair hanging down takes away from the whole
push-up bra fandango.
But don't confuse this issue about breast-feeding rights. Even Victoria's
Secret knows this is a ridiculous diversion, which is why the store clerk
was quickly reprimanded. This issue is about a woman's breasts, a body part
eroticized to such a distorted degree that its intended use is no longer
viewed as natural; it's perverse.
A Victoria's Secret shopper denied the right to nurse her child in public
view is a glaring reminder of how the intended use of a body part can be so
misrepresented that being seen in its natural state is a public affront and
a Freudian embarrassment. As a result, nursing mothers must consider
prurient male gazes while feeding their infants.
This is sick.
It's unfortunate that some women today feel embarrassed to breast-feed
because of all the publicity, says Kara Weilding, a La Leche League leader,
who counsels new mothers on the art of breast-feeding. "But this attitude
comes from our attitude toward women's bodies. Americans just aren't
accustomed to seeing breasts in a natural situation. Janet Jackson flashes a
breast and it becomes a huge controversy," Weilding says.
But American social convention encourages objectification instead of curbing
sexual vulgarity. Instead of addressing this problem, we make women feel
self-conscious and ashamed of breast-feeding their babies. But mothers are
just doing what they need to do for their children, Weilding explains. "Our
babies' needs come first."
Harvard-educated Diane Glass ([log in to unmask]) is a writer and freethinker
with a B.A. and M.A. in comparative religion.
Shaunti Feldhahn | Breast-feeding in public: natural or embarrassing?
By Shaunti Feldhahn
Syndicated Columnist
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.
The vast majority of breast-feeding moms try to be discreet in public. I
breast-fed my first child for 15 months, and most of us moms know that
sitting in a restaurant while nursing bare-chested for 20 minutes is bound
to make the people at the next table uncomfortable. And it makes us pretty
uncomfortable, too. So we do what we can to discreetly turn aside or cover
up. But the exceptions to that rule such as the "lactivists" - who stage
bare-chested "nurse-ins" at Starbucks just to make a point - almost seem to
relish causing discomfort in others.
The fact that breast-feeding is natural and beautiful doesn't somehow
neutralize the additional fact that people simply get embarrassed when
private, sexual body parts are put on public display. Maxim didn't sexualize
the breast - its cave-painting predecessors make that very clear. A married
man shouldn't have to apologize for being uncomfortable at the sight of
another woman's naked body: Shouldn't we be appreciating that fact instead
of calling it sick? What would be sick, frankly, is if he would choose to
sit and stare at the natural event going on nearby.
In the end, this controversy isn't about breast-feeding. It's about the
Golden Rule - about treating others the way you would want to be treated. If
by some stretch of the imagination there were something that could make a
lactivist uncomfortable, would she like it flaunted in her face? There is no
reason women can't attend to their babies' needs and be mindful of others at
the same time.
Ironically, it turns out that the Victoria's Secret shopper wasn't nursing
in public view, but was actually trying to do what she could to be discreet,
by trying to nurse privately in the dressing room. What a good idea.
Harvard-educated Shaunti Feldhahn ([log in to unmask]) is a conservative
Christian author and speaker, and married mother of two children.
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