First, thanks Jay for the brilliant and amusing post. Very glad to have you
here with us on LactNet.
Second, re the discussion of bf in public -- I don't know how it got
sidetracked into being about women completely disrobing from the waist up.
No one that I know advocates that, including me. No one I know thinks that
by breastfeeding indiscreetly you can change anyone's mind who thinks the
act of breastfeeding is disgusting, whether or not breast is showing. This
isn't about breasts showing or not showing, it's about women being harassed
for breastfeeding in public. And the point was that caring more about the
feelings of those who are offended by something natural and good than about
the person who is doing the natural and good thing is the same, logically,
as caring more about the feelings of people who are racist or sexist or who
think handicapped people should be hidden away. Lots of people in the US
are racist and sexist and lots think handicapped people should be hidden
away, but the *majority opinion in the country* (as embodied in federal
laws) is that these people's opinions are wrong/misguided and therefore
their feelings don't count as much as the rights of minorities, women, and
the handicapped. People who are uncomfortable with a woman breastfeeding in
public (even discreetly -- discreet or indiscreet is not the issue) can (1)
go somewhere else (2) look the other way (3) sit there and be offended.
Perhaps they will someday, eventually change their minds, perhaps not --
that's not the point. The point is that the *majority opinion in the
country* is that the rights of mothers and children to a breastfeeding
relationship are more important than the feelings of those who are offended.
Regarding breasts as sexual objects -- yes, of course in the US and a few
other western cultures and a few non-western cultures, breasts are viewed as
sex objects. In the US they are viewed primarily as sex objects, and only
secondarily for feeding children. In India they are viewed as equally for
feeding children/sex objects. In some cultures they are viewed mostly as
being for feeding children, and secondarily as sex objects. In the vast
majority of cultures in the world, breasts are not viewed as sex objects at
all. They are viewed as being purely functional body parts, for feeding
children, and to view them as sexual objects is inconceivable. In cultures
where women must be viewed head to toe in public, they pull their breasts
out and breastfeed their children when they need to, and no one thinks
anything of it, because the breasts are not sexual.
Viewing breasts as sex objects is purely a *cultural belief* not something
based on human biology AT ALL. And as a purely cultural belief, it CAN BE
CHANGED. And it really truly doesn't take all that much to convince people
that breasts are primarily for feeding children -- it takes very little
exposure to women breastfeeding a baby, or even *slides* of women
breastfeeding children, or videotapes, for boys/men to get used to the idea
that that's what they're for, and for their perceptions to be forever
changed in favor of breastfeeding. I've been doing it for years in my
college classes, and I often hear back from male students years later about
how their wife is breastfeeding their baby, thanks in part to my exposing
them to the idea and teaching them about how important breastfeeding is to
their child's development. Only one male student has ever complained in
class that I "ruined breasts for him" by showing him 100 slides of
breastfeeding mothers and children.
No one on LactNet is accusing anyone of being a racist or being a sexist or
being against handicapped people in public. We are merely pointing out that
the logic is the same in the different scenarios -- being more concerned
about the feelings of those who are offended by something the majority has
declared to be natural and good, than about the rights of those doing the
natural and good thing. The idea is to get you to see that just as you
would not want to elevate the rights of racists, sexists, and the
anti-handicapped not to be offended about the rights of minorities, women,
and the handicapped, so you might also want to reconsider whether the rights
of those offended by breastfeeding in public are more important than the
rights of women and children to breastfeed wherever they happen to be. The
issue of discreet or not discreet breastfeeding is a red herring.
Kathy Dettwyler
***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
