Breastfeeding Is Now a 2-Class System

The New York Times has an article today (subscription required) which finds that lower-income mothers are finding it nearly impossible to breastfeed their babies.

But as pressure to breast-feed increases, a two-class system is emerging for working mothers. For those with autonomy in their jobs — generally, well-paid professionals — breast-feeding, and the pumping it requires, is a matter of choice. It is usually an inconvenience, and it may be an embarrassing comedy of manners, involving leaky bottles tucked into briefcases and brown paper bags in the office refrigerator. But for lower-income mothers — including many who work in restaurants, factories, call centers and the military — pumping at work is close to impossible, causing many women to decline to breast-feed at all, and others to quit after a short time.

In a country that sexualizes the female breast for commercial purposes, that incessantly promotes magic pills for erectile dysfunction, that buries the fact that 45 million people have no health insurance, and completely ignores the disaster of 1 out of every 3 people being obese, we are now manufacturing a society that supresses the most basic and nurturing acts of humanity.