Janice Reynolds wrote, 

> (My guess is, even though the RMH person doesn't realize or acknowledge it - it is the "American" or "Texan" culture that she is worried about being offended, by open breastfeeding.)
I think that all we know is that some people at this RMH are worried 
that some people might be offended. I'd be cautious about jumping to any 
other conclusions, such as the generalization that members of one 
culture might be offended and others not. For one thing, Americans come 
from several different ancestral origins, as do Canadians. Some other 
countries are just starting to deal with multicultural diversity, and 
not always doing it any more effectively than we are in North America, 
but even there I don't know if you can generalize about cultures.
I'm going to, though. :-)
I worked with women from North and West Africa at a community health 
centre, and many (even regardless of religion) were uncomfortable with 
the idea of breastfeeding in public; they came with bottles of expressed 
breastmilk to mothers' support group meetings. Some told me they 
wouldn't mind breastfeeding in the room where we met if they were sure 
men, or men other than their husbands, or single men wouldn't walk in; 
others didn't explain. I could empathize by thinking about how I felt 
trying to nurse squirming toddler twins, or when I was pumping and my 
daughter brought her friends in to see the baby. To me it's -- well, in 
our house my brothers didn't walk around in their boxers, and now my 
sons do. I'm happy that women don't stay home when they're pregnant, the 
way my mother felt she had to do. Things change; comfort levels vary.

I also think it is important to meet a mother where she is. There are 
lots of gender, class, religious, regional, orientation, and individual 
differences. Yes, society is obviously to blame for our warped attitudes 
about acceptable behaviour, but society is us and we live with each 
other etc., so we'd better figure out how we can contribute to the 
solution. It's the same problem as saying that since patriarchy is to 
blame for women's abuse we should  refuse to marry heterosexual men 
rather than work with compassion towards valuing, empowering  and 
accommodating mothers' individual wishes.

At our last LLL meeting, many mothers wanted to talk about nursing 
discreetly. At the same time, we had a fantastic discussion about how 
breastfeeding had led to a greater appreciation of our female bodies... 
even my aging, sagging belly and breasts that have performed so 
beautifully! :-)
So... some people are uncomfortable with breastfeeding in public, and 
they're not all in Texas, and it doesn't necessarily mean they are 
uncomfortable with breastfeeding *period*. Let's figure out how we can 
all work together so that everyone sees mothering as valuable.

Jo-Anne

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