Ann Slaughter's post on mothers' needs when nursing babies outside their
homes, is a wonderful illustration of the importance of considering culture
when giving support or advice.  Knowing where Ann is from did help me
understand her comments in context, though I would never assume that
everyone in the Deep South has exactly the same attitude.

Ann, for me you really hit it on the head when you wrote:
'I often find, when working with mom, that by reassuring a her that she "can
nurse in
public with out embarrassing herself" she will at least give breastfeeding a
try.'

Esthetic considerations are one thing, legal ones are another, but when it
comes down to it it is what the mother herself needs that really matters.  I
am constantly confronted by things I find in conflict with my notion of
'good taste', and it usually is pretty easy to look the other way.  Most of
these situations are not breastfeeding or work-related, BTW.  They have to
do with advertising, entertainment, or news reporting.  I have the most
trouble looking the other way about the last category.  That's when the
letters to the editor are spewn out.

Last night I watched a documentary about birth centers, made by a colleague
of mine.  The film was in what I considered good taste, at least for a
professional audience.  It might well be too 'in your face' for the lay
public.  I can only say that the notions of modesty and good taste between
the northernmost region of Norway and the Deep South of the US, are not the
same.  I think where I live, in the S. of Norway, it is somewhere in
between, and I have met numerous Norwegian women who don't feel comfortable
breastfeeding in cafés or even doctors' waiting rooms.

BTW, there is a Norwegian saying about taste.  It rhymes in Norwegian but
not in translation, and Ann, you and others might find the saying itself in
questionable taste, but I am taking that chance.  'Smaken er som baken, den
er delt!'  which means, 'taste is like your behind, divided in the middle'.
That's how we say 'takes all kinds' or 'no accounting for taste'.

cheers
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, the Deep South of Norway

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