Public Display of Lactation...

Oh Dear. To find out how I ended up on this topic, one has only to check out this cnn article.

At the risk of alienating most of the people who actually read my mental spew, allow me to say that I believe a woman has a right to breastfeed anywhere she is comfortable doing so. I don't believe in the "let it all hang out" philosophy but I, personally, do not use a blanket or napkin or other covering most of the time. I wear loose, blousy shirts that leave plenty of slack to cover anything not already blocked from view by the baby's enormous head. Places I have nursed publicly include coffee shops, restaurants, shopping malls, and movie theaters. Not once has anyone made a negative comment to me. At a mall once, a young businessman (presumably on his lunch hour) did do a triple-take before going wide-eyed and staring dumbly for a moment before politely averting his gaze. What did he see that made him react in this way? 2 inches of my ribcage.

It wasn't that any "indecent" part of me was on display.. it was the mere idea, the suggestion that somewhere? Under that baby's head and the layer of fabric? There was a breast. And that kid whose head he could see? His mouth was touching that breast.

I would submit to you, ladies and gentlemen of the court of public opinion, that it is not, in fact, the actual breastfeeding which persnickety folks take issue with. It is the fact that, in our still somewhat victorian society, many people are more comfortable with a public displayed fire-arm than with the merest hint of mammary flesh.

The magazine cover featured in the CNN article is a perfect example -- it's less revealing than many women's (or men's) magazines I've passed in the grocery store, and the breast is shown in an entirely non-sexual way. And even so, that's more boob for your buck than anyone has seen of me while nursing my baby out on the town.

So, to boil it down, here's my official position: I'm all for the Utah Law (shocking, I know) that says that anywhere a woman is legally entitled to be, she has a legal right to breast feed. I would hope all women would exercise a modicum of decorum and attempt to be as discreet as possible (really, nobody needs to see nipples while they're eating their Cobb Salad), but as long as the woman who is nursing is casual and comfortable with it, more power to her. And if a women is not comfortable nursing in front of God and everybody, there's always the option of a lounge area or (as I've done in extreme moments of need) sitting in the passenger seat of the car with the a/c running. (Mostly because my 3 year old was asleep in the back of the car and I didn't want to have to wake him up until the baby was fed and settled so we could head into whatever store we were at.)

Moms have enough on their plates without having to be embarrassed about the fact that their child needs to eat. Lots of things make people uncomfortable. I've seen people freaked out by obese people in restaurants, by seeing-eye dogs in restaurants, and (especially in Utah) gay couples in restaurants. There will always be people who find something to make them uncomfortable -- SOMETHING to whine about. The crux of the matter is this: their problem? It's THEIR problem.

Something is seriously wrong when it's okay to show a model's boobies on the cover of Cosmo or Maxim with the nipples airbrushed out (because you KNOW they are) but NOT okay to see women's breasts used for their biological purpose. Something is even MORE wrong when there are people who equate the one with the other. One is Sexual, the other is simply Physiology. Get over it, haters. Me and my super milk boobies are here to stay.

tags: Lactivism,Breastfeeding