The Horrors of Breastfeeding

There are some aspects of modern American society that continue to baffle me to the point where I just want to scream. Case in point the ongoing "war" between mothers and the protectors of public decency over a woman's right to breastfeed in public.

Never mind that study after study shows that a breastfed child is healthier and happier, not to mention the health benefits to the mother. Some people still just don't get it.

A Maryland attorney wrote an essay here about his opposition to mothers who breastfeed in public. Here is one unbelievable quote:

I once had a stranger seated next to me on an airplane ask me to help her breast-feed her child. When I recoiled in horror and asked the stewardess to move me to another seat both the woman with the child and the stewardess called me all kinds of names. Several passengers joined the fray on both sides. It was only after I threatened to sue everyone involved that the woman agreed to take her baby to the lavatory where she wouldn't bother anybody else. If airlines are going to allow this sort of thing, they should provide areas where it can be done in private without annoying other passengers.

Wow. At first I thought this had to be some sort of spoof, that nobody with a college education and a lick of sense could possibly have such an ignorant attitude, but the jerk is for real.

A woman who responded with an opinion column of her own also has some fallacious information. She said:

The "get over it" retorts from rabid breast-feeding advocates are wasteful frustration at changing a reality that is as old as nursing itself. They refuse to see that the problem is the breast, not the mother or child, that is the hurdle to get over. Its dual role as a sex organ and source of infant nourishment is too difficult for many -- men and woman -- to separate.

OK, but the breast is NOT a sex organ. It is fatty tissue that contains the mammary glands which produce milk for the sustenance of the young. If the breast of a woman is a sex organ, then breastfeeding would have to be considered a sexual act, which it is not. And the problem is not the breast itself - the problem is the people who look at a woman breastfeeding and see something sexual.

We are a breast obsessed culture. Hundreds of thousands of women have breast augmentation surgery every year and the numbers are growing fast. And with the re-introduction of silicone-based implants, there is no letup in sight.

A letter to the editor regarding the attorney's "horror" at breastfeeding adds fuel to the fire:

I am a mother who has raised two wonderful, healthy, successful children on the bottle from day one. I personally do not see breast-feeding as a beautiful thing. Maybe, just maybe, it would be better for you, your babies and me to find a quiet spot to let, as you would say, "nature take its course." My discomfort rate has nothing to do with my sex, age, education or narrow-mindedness. There's a time and place for everything, including breast- feeding, and I don't want to see it when traveling, in restaurants, or while walking through the mall.

If this is not "narrow-mindedness", I don't know what is. Whenever someone is asked to give a reason why breastfeeding in public is wrong, you will hear plenty of cliches, such as "there's a time and a place", "it's not decent", "it's immoral", etc., but you will never hear a real reason, a rational argument, or a valid point. The truth is that the proper time and place for breastfeeding a child is anytime and anywhere, and thankfully now many state laws agree.

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