Chris mulford's "never say the word 'breast'" story reminded me of when I
went into a national-chain bookstore several years ago to order the book
"breasts" by genichiro yagyu (originally published in japan as "oppai no
himitsu (a story of breasts)"). it is part of a children's book series
called "my body science" by kane-miller (also including "the holes in your
nose," "everyone poops," "the gas we pass," "all about scabs,"
"contemplating your bellybutton," and the no-longer-published "the soles of
your feet"). I was ordering several of the books at the same time. 

I think that bookstore also had a policy of "don't say that word." between
the female employee looking up the books in the computer who said the titles
of the other books out loud but turned the computer screen toward me to
point to the "breasts" book to ask "this one?"...to the male employee who
telephoned to tell me my books were in and gave the titles of the other
books but not the "breasts" one (so just to be feisty I asked him "I can't
remember which other one I ordered, what's it called?" and he lowered his
voice and practically whispered "breasts.")...to the female employee who
retrieved them and rang me up who named each one as she put it on the
counter except for "breasts" and practically hid in under another book on
the counter....

I know some people are uncomfortable with "body parts" so they teach their
children to say "wee-wee" or "pee-pee" instead of "penis," but this book is
catalogued by library of congress as "1-breasts-juvenile literature.
2-breast feeding [sic]- juvenile literature" and "summary: explains the
nature and development of breasts in females and how they are used to
breast-feed [sic] milk to babies." it was not as if the book was called
"your friend the clitoris." :-)

I pointed out to each of those employees "it's just a body part" and even
suggested to them "pretend I ordered a book called 'elbows'" 

but what to expect in a society that can "censor" a picture or video clip of
a breast by showing all the flesh colored skin but simply fuzzing or
blocking out the NIPPLE ONLY....

vicki hayes RN IBCLC MOM in chipiona spain, with sons who say "breasts,"
"vagina," "penis," and "nipple" as easily as "eyes" and "ears" because they
have been taught the correct anatomical names for body parts and the
important function each serves! (but I did have to trick them that "scrotum"
is "Socrates" and "testicles" are "tenticles" when they got fascinated with
YELLING those two words out the open car windows!!! hee, hee, now they yell
"Socrates!" and "tenticles!" even knowing the real word)
-------------------------
(Date:    Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:13:16 -0400
From:    Chris Mulford <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: bf and work
The event was our Pennsylvania Breastfeeding Coalition's training (under a
Federal grant) in how to talk to businesses about ways to support their
breastfeeding employees and benefit their own bottom line. Turns out that a
key lesson is "Never say the word 'breast' !" Employers, it seems, don't
even want to THINK about the fact that their workers have breasts.)

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome