July 28, 2006
Why is Public Breast-feeding Offensive?
Call it a slow news day if you wish, but CNN features a story today about a supposedly controversial photo on a recent cover of Babytalk magazine. The picture shows part of a woman’s breast, in profile, nursing a baby. Apparently, about 25% of the magazine’s readership (which we can assume is predominately made up of mothers of babies – well, we hope) found the cover offensive.
I’m always fascinated by this topic. I’m not sure why, since I am not a mother and don’t foresee becoming one, but nonetheless, the topic interests me. Maybe it’s because friends and acquaintances are now having children and thus I’ve seen the vast range of breast-feeding habits: from openly nursing wherever and whenever without cover of any kind, to covering breast and baby with a blanket or wrap, to heading out to the car or to a bathroom, to not breast-feeding at all.
In particular, I enjoyed a quote by one of the women interviewed for the CNN piece who recalled recently being scolded for nursing her child in a restaurant booth. “My kid needed to eat,” she said, and she wasn’t about to go sneaking off to a dirty public restroom to feed her baby. After all, she reasoned, “I don’t send people to the bathroom when they want to eat.”
I can’t argue with that. Good for her.
CNN.com has a daily poll that touches on timely issues and today’s question was “Would you be offended by a mother breast-feeding in public?” I voted “no” and checked out the results: 23% answered “yes”, 77% answered “no” with a total of 47,303 votes recorded at the time of this posting. I think the 23% figure surprised me a little. Probably I’d have guessed more like 10%.
I don’t get what is offensive. I mean, sure, I’ll conceded that it’s slightly out of one’s ordinary daily routine to see a stranger’s exposed breast. But when that breast is feeding a woman’s child, an act I’d dare say 99.9% of all health professionals agree is the most healthy thing a mother can do for her baby, I just don’t get it.
Anyone have a different perspective?
Posted by kristin at 12:15 | Comments (2)
However, I think I'm the one that has to leave in such a siutation. Babies need to eat, and mothers shouldn't be inconvenienced.
(By the way - I can totally argue with the mother you quote or at least her reasoning. The problem isn't eating it's the exposing. If Ed needed to whip it out everytime he drank a beer, he better head off to the bathroom. There's an argument along those lines, she just made it poorly)
