Breast-Feeding in Public

Scotie_phantom:

@ Airi.
you still see their boobies.

Only if you sit and stare. If you're uncomfortable with "seeing boobies" then that's not the woman's problem; she's feeding her baby. You can avert your eyes. And as Airi said, it's not (shouldn't be) a taboo; there is nothing sexual/inappropriate/obscene about breastfeeding.

@ Scotie_phantom
I'm still not understanding your train of thought. What's the problem? Breasts are nothing to be ashamed of and they're certainly not bad things. A woman breast feeding isn't a bad thing and I personally don't see Victoria's Secrets ads to be bad either, but that's not the subject here. Breast feeding is a natural way of nursing a child. If a child is hungry in public then they're hungry in public, you can't exactly deny a child their food. Well, they can but I'd call them a neglectful parent for it. A woman can't control when her child gets hungry and she should never deny her child food just because they're in public. If seeing it makes you uncomfortable, then turn away. There's no need to look at it and you can very easily turn away. It's a simple solution.

Breast feeding isn't a bad thing and there's nothing wrong with it being done in public. And I still don't see how you can rightfully compare a purposefully sexual act to a needed act of nursing.

.....i'm saying breast feeding in public isn't a problem

As a topfreedom activist, I blame our culture for fetishizing breasts and declaring public breastfeeding "taboo". While I agree that it is a mother's right to breastfeed anywhere and at any time, the oversexualization of breasts might make some women uncomfortable doing this - comments that make nursing out to be obscene, sexual, or inappropriate certainly don't help these mothers feel good about their decision to breastfeed. To put it bluntly, the belief that breastfeeding should not occur in public is misogynistic - it reinforces that breasts have a purpose which is strictly sexual, and it is not a woman's right to bare her own body in public.

It just blows my mind that there are people against beast feeding in public. Beast feeding is a loving symbol of a mother-child relationship, and a lot of people can't even breast feed their children ( my aunt wants to but she can't and she even cries about that). Surely showing boobs in a middle of a crowd is not very appealing, but when they quietly sit in some corners and feed their children it isn't a problem.
Honestly, breastfeeding in public really isn't an issue. The babies mean what they want, would you rather have a baby screaming for food at the top of his/her lung or some lady sitting quietly in some place feeding her child? With all these talks about breastfeeding in public, I think we should pay more attention to littering and dress code in public.

@ VanityFair

...Dress Code?

Why in the name of Talos would there need to be a dress code to go down to the shops?

@ joan.
Well if people bother about women showing her boobs to feed her child, then why won't they bother when some hookers walking around wearing clothes that just reveal all of her "interior"?

@ VanityFair

...

Firstly, people do generally make comments about revealing clothes.

Secondly, I find it somewhat presumptive to classify someone who wears revealing clothes to be a prostitute.

Thirdly, what sort of dress code would you wish to have? Who would enforce it? Fashion police?

@ joan.
Sorry I know I made very few sense talking about the dress code... What I am trying to say is why would people bother with something almost entirely harmless when there are bigger issues we need to look at.

@ VanityFair

Because that is how humans operate. We consume and discuss multitudes of small things and concern ourselves with such small things in order to escape what I would consider an overwhelming truth that we live very short, relatively meaningless lives.

I seriously am concerned for humanity. The fact that breastfeeding in public even has to be questioned is stupid.

A mother should be able to do what she needs to care for her baby without being frowned upon. People need to grow up and realise theres more to life than degrading public breastfeeding. :/

I understand that women may feel uncomfortable breastfeeding in public because of they degenerate ideas of women in this society. It seems almost a crime to not see a woman's body as strictly sexual, and it's terrible. I think women should be allowed to breastfeed wherever. This isn't even a big deal, I don't know why people make it out to be. People are questioning things nowadays that really don't even matter. Breastfeeding is real. It's a thing. Women do it. Why is it even reasonable to conceal it?

I haven't read this whole forum, just the first and last page, so forgive me if I state anything that has already been stated.

First of all I would like to point out I am almost nine months pregnant at this time and plan on breast feeding my daughter unless for some reason I am unable to produce milk. It absolutely angers me how society reacts to breast feeding, especially since many women use covers so you can't even see any boob anyway. Making comments and being rude to a woman for feeding her child causes more problems than leaving her alone to feed her baby; she isn't harming anyone or causing any disturbances.

On the first page of this forum someone stated breast feeding is time consuming. No, it really isnt. Breast feeding consists of getting into a comfortable position for yourself and baby, and sticking your boob in their mouth. How is that time consuming? Formula feeding consists of preparing the bottle, warming it up, feeding the baby, cleaning the bottle. That is much more time consuming.

Also regarding a post on the first page of this forum which has nothing to do with what I previously posted, TSA will not allow liquid through security. Whether it's water, breast milk, or fucking gatorade, they do not allow liquid through security unless it's a minimal amount (not sure of the amount). I went through airport security a few months ago and had a bottle of water in my purse. Had to throw it out even though it was a harmless unopened bottle of water. Their reasoning behind this is that anyone wanting to cause trouble can mix chemicals into liquid and release toxic gases into the air to kill people, therefore no one is allowed to bring liquid.

Back to breast feeding. The reason breast fed babies eat more frequently isn't because breast milk cannot support the needed nutrients, it's because it is easier digested than formula, therefore they poop it out faster than formula.

Everyone who is against breast feeding in public need to get off their high horse. If it makes you uncomfortable, then don't look. I think. I agree 100% with a poster above me, mothers need to be able to do what they need to do for their baby when they need to do it. It's sad to think how little support women get for breast feeding. It's not like they're walking around topless shoving their boobs in other people's faces.

I, personally, have no problem with women breastfeeding in public. While it may be uncomfortable to some people, there's a thing called not looking. People could use the energy they spend arguing about this doing something better with their time

I haven't seen the original video source for this yet, but this happened recently. (ABC News is generally pretty reliable.) Pretty telling that his follow up comment included the fact that he's fine with women sunbathing topless. Just as long as the breasts are on display in a context that can be construed as sexual, I suppose.

I'm fine with breast feeding in public, if a woman wants to do it- it's her choice. I don't know what it's like in America but in the UK I've seen quite a lot of women do it in public places. It's kinda viewed the same as a woman sun bathing topless on the beach. I personally wouldn't want to breastfeed in public though.

edit

There absolutely shouldn't be a problem with breastfeeding in public. I hate that there is, but honestly, what is the deal? It is a child who is being fed. Are people really going to be disturbed by something as simple as that? There are areas that are designated for breastfeeding mothers, and that's fine and dandy. But it shouldn't be a problem for a woman to do it in public. Boobs are not sexual unless you perceive them to be.

To be honest, I'm not comfortable with seeing women breastfeeding in public but there is this super simple solution called looking away I probably wouldn't breastfeed in public but I don't see why it's an issue for those who do.