People feel discomfort with many things.

Disability.  Colour.  Gender.  Age.  Class.  Nationality.  Sexuality.

When this informs their behaviour, and when as thinking rational human 
beings they could assess it and move out of their own comfort zone but 
chose not to do so, we call it bigotry.

It's not a phobia - it's a learned response.  Humans have to process 
their own learned responses, within a wider, humane context.

I return to the excellent point that Jake made:

"I think it is important to point out that a distinction must be made 
between how we would prefer people behave and what we thing people 
should be required to do or risk losing the right to breastfeed in 
public.  Since both discretion and politeness are subjective, people are 
certainly free to decide how they prefer nursing in public be done.  
However, we should not decide for other people what subjectively judged 
conduct can result in the loss of the right to breastfeed.  We may all 
hold our own opinion but, like manners generally, they are personal 
standards that should not be imposed by outside forces - certainly not 
the state.  The right to breastfeed should be protected by the state - 
without the imposition of personal standards concerning the manner in 
which it is done.

Yours,
Jake Marcus, J.D. "

It's interesting to note, that in terms of the UK responses on this 
article - the situation a few miles away, in Scotland, is very 
different.  To my knowledge, since legislation protected dyads in 
Scotland, no one has been carted off to hospital with an emotional 
collapse.  And breastfeeding rates have risen.

People do have emotional responses to the things not familiar to them: 
as adults, we deal with it.   Choosing not to deal with it, is, as I 
said, a failing of the individual, not a phobia.

In this I am only discussing the onlooker, I feel there may be much to 
be said about a women's attitude to her own body, in our society, and 
therefore could be a helpful intervention in looking at mother's 
terrified of breastfeeding.

Morgan Gallagher

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