On Breastfeeding, Rights, and Good Manners

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

been there.


not squeemish.

 

[snooper]

... (But even when a mom is nursing openly you can't see any more of the breast than you would if she were wearing a bikini.) ...

This shows the human ability to be utterly illogical (not you S).

If I go to the beach, I will see females wearing so little that I can see everything except the actual nipples and vagina, and those are clearly outlined through thin but opaque material. Yet if I were to see many of the same females on the same beach in their bra and panties because the towel slipped while they were changing, they would be scandalised, even though the underwear has five times the area coverage of a modern bikini.

My wife loved to show off her breasts to me, and happily went topless on a suitable beach. Nonetheless she felt uncomfortable if anyone watched her feeding one of her babies. Her attitude was that there is a time and place for everything, and in her own mind she distinguished quite clearly between breast-as-a-mobile-milk-bar and breast-as-a-man-trap.

 

[SouthSkyEyes]

*stopping in having spotted Sweetsubsarahh's remarkable ... er ... comments*

Surely one of the issues our society has with this roots in our culturally propaged shame with sexual curiosity and arousal.

Of course breastfeeding is a sacred and intimate experience, the mother nourishing this little one's body and soul with her milk, and touch, and love.

And when I see a woman's breast in this moment I marvel at the beauty and sancticy of this private moment of theirs as surely as it stirs up a bit of lust (and maybe envy) in me. Is this profane? For me, this experience no longer feels profane. I claim my pure instinctive lust just as I claim my passionate awe over the sheer beauty and mystery of this sacred moment between mother and child.

Seems to me all these experiences I have can be sacred. But it's taken me many a year to be able to claim the sexual part of my nature without shame.

As a society we should not allow our unclaimed shame to be blindly cast onto the mothers choosing to breastfeed their babies.

That's my thoughts. Thanks for a place to share them.

Sky

 

[sweetnpetite]

Hi sweet,
Sorry if i'm behind: It appears to me, you made the 'natural' argument just yesterday.

What do I tell my kids - Tell them that she is feeding her baby, that it's perfectly natural and healthy and it's fine to be curious but it's not polite to stare! For crying out loud, how hard is that?

At some point I hope it becomes so common, that no one will think to wonder. (Then we will have a positive model for doing what is natural and healthy, maybe less mothers will choose *not* to breastfeed (out of social discomfort) because of it seeming odd, or *obscene* or unfamiliar)

The food/feeding arguments seem to depend on the 'natural arguments. After all, it's quite odd--if you think about it-- to have a law saying, 'parts to do with feeding may be exposed publicly.' I realize some laws attempt that, but that approach seems limited. After all, suppose the little tyke is anxious and wants to suck a tit, and there's no milk, and she lets him. Then there's no actual 'feeding.'

I think one has to get into the murky area of what parts of the body should be out in public: in some areas, it's the ankle (and etc.), in modern developed countries, its the genitals and anus.

Note that your first para would apply equally if the woman was masturbating in public:

What do I tell my kids - Tell them that she is [stroking her genitals], that it's perfectly natural and healthy and it's fine to be curious but it's not polite to stare! For crying out loud, how hard is that?

In general, I don't favor legislating morals or mores, in the absence of signficant demonstrable harm to others. Though as I said, I'd rather not see fucking in the parks and blowjobs in the theatres I frequent.

It wasn't an argument for why public breastfeeding was ok or not- it was a response to people being so shocked and thinking that there kids were going to be tramatized or something. Breastfeeding is *not* like sex, it is not* sexual and there is no reason for children to need to be shielded from seeing it.

You are taking my 'natural' statements out of context and perhaps not realizing it.

 

[sweetnpetite]

I don't think it's too much to ask to simply place a cover over the child/breast while breast feeding, is it?

I don't think it's too much to ask to simply turn a head and look the other way is it?

There's too much to see in this world to waste time looking at things that upset you, hurt no one and benifit the people involved.