I, for one, pumped rarely in public. Only when feeling very confident
that I was surrounded with supportive people (well, almost).  In fact,
there were two groups who had the "honor": the Montreal breastfeeding
promotion committee, and a group of professors. The last group, planning
the learning objectives for medical students, took no break, and
the bathrooms were crummy. There were 2 men in the group. One's wife was
an ardent breastfeeding crusader and a closet nurser of a six years old
(she went out of the closet when her husband commented to her on my
public pumping).  He was also very influential.  The other one, I honestly
don't know, since he is very
much of a teaser, and a gentle one at that; but he did tease a little
bit, about biological fluids.  Nor do I know of the
women's opinions on the phenomenon, though I have reasons to believe that
I did not help my career by letting "family" invade "profession".
However, we
were teaching public health (as in health promotion and disease
pevention) and I decided to trust their
intelligence. The reaction was "polite", some expressing a little bit of
mixed feelings when they saw me handle the "stuff" on the table (I was
not very well equipped, at that time). Nowhere did I receive any
disagreable comments, and the husband publicly endorsed what I was doing.
Needless to say, though, that I am now seen as a fanatic, and have no
credibility whatsoever ine these circles anymore, but, frankly, I have
come to terms with it, and am very happy where I am now.

Louise Denhez, M.D., M.P.H
Chargee d'enseignement clinique
Departement de medecine sociale et preventive
Universite de Montreal, Quebec