As a former member of PETA, a vegetarian for 30 years, and vegan for almost 20, I am extremely disturbed by your choice of Bill Maher as a spokesperson. He is featured on your website encouraging folks to breastfeed their babies, while at the same time ripping women apart in the media for doing so. 

One cannot be an advocate for feeding human milk to human babies and be opposed to feeding it from the source! 
I can only surmise that if he prefers that babies not be fed cow milk products from bottles nor human milk from their mothers, then they ought not be fed at all. Maher has always made his distaste for children a part of his routine, but this takes it to the extreme. 

In the enclosed transcript, you can see that Maher has made it very clear that human breasts have one purpose--to titillate his immature...brain. 

Maher says:
"Breast-feeding a baby is an intimate act, and I don’t want to watch strangers 
performing intimate acts."

One would think that Maher, who presents an arrogant image of intellectual superiority would know that 
intimacy is not synonymous with sex, nor even foreplay. Intimacy is defined as a feeling of being intimate and belonging together. Babies and mothers do belong together, wherever and whenever. 

Further on, he comments that women feed their babies in public to attract attention to their product of procreation--the baby, which he reflects on as being no big deal--a "dog could do it". He's right--and no doubt the dog would feed her babies without his dissent, as he presumably has no casual interest in the teats of the dog. 

He continues:
"It’s about how petty and parochial our causes have become, how activism has become narcissism. It’s why Al Gore can’t get people to focus on global warming unless there’s a rock concert. ”

Last I checked, feeding at the breast was the most simple ecological practice that every single mother could engage in. No cows are harmed in feeding at the breast, no land is destroyed to graze those cows, no plastic is generated for bottles and pacifiers, nothing is transported thousands of miles, no pollution is created. If anything, breastfeeding is the one cause that should unify every single environmental activist, no matter what else his focus. 

Transcript:
"And finally, New Rule – and I never thought I’d be the one to say this, but: 
Don’t show me your tits. [laughter] Last week, the world’s first “Nurse In” was 
held to protest the case of a woman who was breast-feeding in public, and 
asked by an Appleby’s manager not to leave, but just to cover up a little bit. 
Because the wait staff got tired of hearing, “I’ll have what that kid’s having.” 
[laughter] [applause]

Look, I’m not trying to be insensitive here. I know your baby needs to eat, but 
so do I, and this is Appleby’s, so I’m already nauseous. [laughter]

Breast-feeding a baby is an intimate act, and I don’t want to watch strangers 
performing intimate acts. At least not for free. [laughter] It cheapens it. 
[laughter] But breast-feeding activists – yes, breast-feeding activists, 
called “lactivists” – say this is a human right and appropriate everywhere, 
because it’s natural. Well, so is masturbating, but I generally don’t do that at 
Appleby’s. [laughter] [applause] Not in the main dining area, anyway.

I mean, next thing, women will be wanting to give birth in the waterfall at the 
mall! [laughter] Look, there’s no principle at work here other than being too 
lazy to either plan ahead or cover up. It’s not fighting for a right. It’s fighting 
for the spotlight you surely will get when you go all “Janet Jackson” on 
everyone. [laughter] And get to drink in the “oohs” and “aahs” from the other 
customers because “You made a baby!” [laughter] Something a dog can do. 
[laughter] [applause] [cheers]

Only in America do women think they deserve a medal for having a kid. In 
China, women give birth on their lunch hour, and by the afternoon, they’re 
back on line, painting lead onto Barbie dolls. [laughter] [applause]

But this isn’t really about women taking their breasts out in public, as much as 
I’d like it to be. [laughter] It’s about how petty and parochial our causes have 
become, how activism has become narcissism. It’s why Al Gore can’t get 
people to focus on global warming unless there’s a rock concert. “Melting 
icebergs, brought to you by Smashing Pumpkins.”

It’s why there’ll be no end to this dumb war until there is a draft. Because, at 
the end of the day, Iraq is somebody else’s problem.

And, by the way, there is a place where breasts and food do go together. It’s 
called “Hooters.” [laughter] [applause]




 


Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
Intuitive Parenting Network LLC

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