Kathleeen Auerbach reflected the majority view when she wrote:

>While some people in a bottle-feeding society can accept the image of a
>baby at the breast (after all, what can you REALLY see?!) and this image
>has long been a part of much of the artwork throughout the world, breast
>pumping is decidedly different.
>
>1) It is mechanical
>2) It is often accompanied by wheezing and/or other breathy sort of sounds,
>depending on the pump of course (and-from the pump, not those
>watching--although I suppose that might happen in certain really wierd
>situations!  :-)  )

The use of fax machines and copy machines also involves annoying, sometimes
distracting noises.  But it is an accepted part of the workplace, so people
cope with it.


>3) It is accomplished in order to provide the baby with milk that would
>otherwide be obtained in a much less obvious way (yes, the baby is nursing,
>but one rarely sees milk dripping or spurting and I have yet to see a
>baby's cheek that one could see through)

There needn't be continuous breast/nipple exposure while pumping.  A woman
could, conceivably, set up to start pumping and then cover her breasts with
either clothing or a blanket in much the same way that she might do if
nursing her baby in public.  (I'm thinking of a woman who uses a full-size
pump with double-pumping set-up.  Obviously, it would be impossible to be
very discreet with a cylinder pump or manual expression.)


>4) It is not a couple activity; the mother does it herself (and thus may
>appear to some people as a form of breast masturbation--this notion was
>suggested to me by a mother whose own mother mentioned that this was what
>SHE thought of when she saw her daughter pumping her breasts.  Honest!)

But couldn't this be merely a product of a culture that is not used to
viewing breasts as functional?  I realize that I live in a society where
breasts are seen as sexual and that this is not likely to change in my
lifetime.  I'm just wondering aloud if we might change the attitude towards
pumping over time.

There were pioneers that paved the way so that it is now more socially
acceptable for women to breastfeed their babies in public.  Why couldn't
there be pioneers that work on changing the attitude towards pumping, too?
Like I said before, maybe with practice and familiarity, women would become
more comfortable pumping discreetly anywhere just as they often become
comfortable breastfeeding discreetly anywhere.

I believe that this issue has implications for women who do not work in
"professional" fields.  One of the first things we say to women is that they
will want to find a private place to pump.  Women who work in retail sales
or factories or food service are often unable to find that elusive private
place.  So what we're saying to them (indirectly) is that they can't be
expected to pump their milk for their babies because of our society's
attitude that breasts (and breastfeeding) are sexual.  We're saying that, in
this case, society's hang-ups are more important than human milk for human
babies.

I just thought I'd put it out here as food for thought.  I realize it's
possible I'm just feeding the trash mailbox instead.  :-)

Nancy Jo, LLLL in northern Illinois
Managing Editor, New Beginnings