i should mention i became painfully aware of the problem of breastfeeding when i lived in san diego - i had a neighbour (upon whom, mind you, i had a major crush) who was a total "hippie" - no television, was a licensed alternative healer and massage therapist, threw her own pottery and kilned it in the garage she'd rented that was under my apartment, ate strict vegetarian, etc. - who nursed her child.
she had to be so gun-shy in public because people were such frelling prudes she'd been kicked out of places even though she nursed under a kind of blanket so that her baby (and any skin) was covered. even in our yard, she made sure she was facing away from the street and well-covered. it wasn't just prudery, either - inside a building, she'd just take out a breast without breaking conversation. it wasn't tittilating, it was just normal. i asked her about it and couldn't believe the problems she'd had when she was away from home and needed to feed her child.
again, she was never rude or even slightly questionable, and she never showed an inch of skin, but the notion that her breast was somehow "out" under that blanket freaked out everyone - cafés in the back, stores, you name it and she was asked to leave because she was trying to feed her child.
there's something direly wrong with a society so obsessed with prudery that a woman can't feed her child!
2 comments:
I was alot like that lady when nursing my boys. I would have a blanket covering me, and the baby. But unlike many, I actually never had any issues ... anywhere ... when nursing. I even travelled with the boys during their nursing age, and never once had anyone ask me to leave or give me a dirty look.
Even accomplished the feeding while on flights with no issues.
But guess I'm just one of the lucky few. :)
i've never actually seen anyone get harassed in public for trying to breastfeed. however, i've seen very few women actually do it. in any case, san diego may be more uptight than normal, but my old evolutionary biology professor related several stories about similar incidents he witnessed in cambridge, ma, which has a reputation for being one big hippie pinko commie village.
the northeast is weird -- although it has this ultra-liberal reputation, we still have that puritan cultural influence, especially in the boston area. my prof said that in his ideal society, a female CEO could breastfeed her baby at a meeting. i like that idea. but then, i'm just one of those damned feminist liberals.
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