Barbara's husband was offended by a symbol and note on an envelope and she
asks whether we're offended...
>The envelope has on it the "no bottle" symbol- you know that one- a bottle
>in a circle with a line through it.  There were the following word  around
>it "If men could experience the pleasure of nursing, would they have
>invented infant formula?"

Yes, this bothers me a lot. First of all, I doubt if MEN "invented"
formula--women and men have been concocting all kinds of things to feed
hungry babies for centuries. "Breasts, Bottles and Babies" is a fascinating
look at this. Male pediatricians were certainly in the forefront of getting
breastmilk substitutes more "scientifically" formulated and the companies
that produced the milk were probably run by men (most companies were in
those years), but to blame men in general, DOES bother me. I'm really tired
of male bashing (and I've been a feminist since I was a teen--and that's
awhile ago so it kind of surprises me to hear myself saying this). I don't
like to see women resorting to the same kind of tactics men used to use, and
still do  (such as female bashing jokes). I have no problem bashing
individual males who are sexist : ) but I don't consider men in general a
suitable target of anti-formula sentiments because they can't bf.

I hope you'll write to this company, Barbara, and suggest they take another
look at their advertising. I think it's in poor taste.




Leslie Ayre-Jaschke
Peace River, Alberta, Canada