Are you following the Feminist Breeder's Facebook battle? She posted a hilarious picture of her 18-month-old daughter, who was on the fence about nursing vs. bacon. I told my kids the story and all four of the boys burst out laughing. They've all witnessed those 18-month-old nursling antics. The Facebook folks weren't amused, though. They disabled her account.
HuffPo ran a story on the conflict and I did a really stupid thing: I read the comments.
...Hold it, hold it, I am squeezing my skull tightly in hopes that my head will not explode at the memory and it's going to be a near thing...
So. In between DIY cranial repair this evening I have been wondering again about why people are not getting any less weird about breastfeeding. I've been listening to people talk about public breastfeeding since 1996. Things have changed a lot since then. In 1996 there was no state in the US in which a man could marry another man, and the idea didn't seem likely to gain traction any time soon. In 1996 the Unabomber was still on the loose. In 1996 the impeachment of a President was ancient history. The world has changed a lot since then and yet people are still talking about public breastfeeding as a plot for corrupting the youth.
Almost makes me want to dig up all the pictures I have of my little ones nursing and put them in rotation as my profile pictures anywhere that I have profile pictures. Almost but not quite -- a comment along the lines of some I've seen ("you're going to make that child into a sex offender!") would further imperil my delicate cranial sutures.
I stumbled across this cool blog post in my indignant state -- it's about the history of public breastfeeding.
I think people still have an issue with it because breastfeeding moms are mostly still not "out of the closet." Even though most of the women I know who are moms did breastfeed they also found places to go to do it privately because they were uncomfortable doing it openly in public. Maybe it's just where I live but I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone breastfeed in public...or maybe they're just really, really discreet about it.
The facebook issue is...just bizarre. I wouldn't have known it was a breastfeeding pic. I saw baby with bacon. I find it VERY disturbing that the picture bothers people when I see nearly-naked pictures of 15-year-old girls "vogue-ing" for FB on a regular basis (as a part of monitoring my clients). Most of these are showing as much breast as that pic but have a very different intention...not that they even know what their intentions are except to have young boys tell them how hot they are.
Posted by: Angela | November 19, 2012 at 11:10 AM
and...I just read that last link. The swimsuit pic perfectly illustrates what I mean...except she's probably not in junior high or high school.
Posted by: Angela | November 19, 2012 at 11:16 AM
I just can't. I am still a little stunned from my child-development class discussion on the topic, the realization that all these people training to be school counselors were as one with the idea that breastfeeding is perfectly OK ... so long as no one ever sees you doing it. Because, you know, BOOBIES.
I mean, come ON. Boobies should only be seen in skin-tight camis and string bikinis. OBVIOUSLY.
Posted by: Jody | November 20, 2012 at 12:53 PM