Breast feeding, socially unacceptable or not?

[sammyh]

I think you have hijacked a thread which did have a serious and thoughtful side, for your own amusement- we should send you to coventry and not give you any more attention, you don't deserve it.

Thank you and good night

[southeast-isher]

I think you have hijacked a thread which did have a serious and thoughtful side, for your own amusement- we should send you to coventry and not give you any more attention, you don't deserve it.

Thank you and good night

Hold on i've made some serious points: the reasons why it is seen as acceptable/unacceptable as well as a serious solution. What more could you want.

[sammyh]

funbags.

[southeast-isher]

Yeah, not that bit - but it illustrates how (some) men's mind's work.

[the.fee.fairy]

To me, this thread seems to be a discussion about breastfeeding, no whether breasts are sexual objects. They are not. They are there for a purpose. All mammals have breasts that they use to feed their young. My dog has breasts (not going to count them...she's asleep...) and if she had puppies, she would use them to feed her young. They're not there for the male dogs to look at, they're there for her to feed her young.

The issues as i can see it is ignore vs staring. It seems to come down to one or the other. People either feel uncomfortable with people staring at their feeding child, or people ignoring it and looking away.

The thing is, most people will do one or the other and it is to be expected. As a society, we have been conditioned to do one or the other, so people will either stare (maybe it's something they haven't seen before) or look away (politeness) and either one seems to offend nursing mothers.

I've never openly seen anyone breast feeding here apart from a Western woman i used to know. She got lots of stares!! It wasn't because people were thinking 'oooh boobies!' It was because they are not used to seeing a woman breast feeding, and...to be honest, they had never seen white breasts, so they were interested in what colour her boobies were!! But she didn't take it uncomfortably, she used to explain that she was feeding her child and that, yes, western white breasts do exactly the same job as Chinese breasts...

In my UK life, I'm a body piercer. I've seen numerous breasts of all shapes and sizes, and so has my male boss. We also give advice to people with pierced nipples who want to breast feed (wear bars and make sure the balls are tightened before and after each feeding). The only breasts i've ever asked questions about were fake ones...luckily the woman let me poke them to see what they felt like :)

It's about what you think you should do and how you will/do react to other people. If they stare, it's a chance to educate them. If they turn away, then it's better to just take it as them being polite.

In previous generations (even when I was a child) mothers would hide somewhere to breast feed, so many people haven't seen a child feeding. They will be interested. Maybe some will be horrified, but the lactivist movement have helped the horrified to feel worse because they have the 'get em out' policy. Maybe education should focus on breastfeeding - I never knew that breasts 'sprayed' rather than 'poured' until my friend showed me!! I thought it was like the teat on a bottle and had one exit point. I also never knew that breasts would leak milk when the child is hungry/cries for food until my friend told me. I'm female!! I was never taught these things at school or at home. It's the little things that you don't know that are interesting.

[battybird]

Well said fee.fairy! I breast fed in public but preferred to be discreet because thats what made me feel comfortable. Others dont mind being exposed and thats ok too. The only time I had a bad reaction to breastfeeding in public was in a restaurant. Another person complained (and she must have been really scrutinising me to notice!) and the owner replied by moving her party to a table at the other side of the room (near the loo!! ).

[southeast-isher]

Another person complained (and she must have been really scrutinising me to notice!)

Silly [beep]!

[JuzaMum]

I fed my baby girl on a tethered balloon flight, when we disembarked another passenger commented 'Ahhh, she slept right through.' It is hard to notice when babies are tiny and mums discrete.
However now she is nearly 10months she starts feeding then stops to see what her brother is doing/what that noise is/anything really and leaves me exposed

JuzaMum

[Helsbells]

My husband is supportive of my breastfeeding, but I think you are right Juzamum, he is concerned about people staring, and this then upsetting me.
I am surprised about my feelings about feeding in public actually, I thought I would be really confident and not care. i think it is because feeding my baby feels like quite an intimate thing, plus I often zone out when I am feeding and not aware of what is going on around me which makes me feel vulnerable.
Another thing is that I have pretty big "fun bags", and have found it very difficult to feed Orren discreatly without showing any of my boob, his head no where near covers it!
I can't say I object too much about breasts being seen as sexual, I like that my husband likes my boobs, and I don't think there are very many men who would be turned on by the sight of a woman breastfeeding, but seeing as I have only got them out in the past for sexual reasons, (or at the docs which is again another intimate situation) getting them out in public to feed is difficult.

[bill1953]

Well said fee.fairy! I breast fed in public but preferred to be discreet because thats what made me feel comfortable. Others dont mind being exposed and thats ok too. The only time I had a bad reaction to breastfeeding in public was in a restaurant. Another person complained (and she must have been really scrutinising me to notice!) and the owner replied by moving her party to a table at the other side of the room (near the loo!! ).

Why are so many people still entrenched in this stupid Victorian perspective of the naked or semi naked human form? I am not a naturist but I understand the naturist viewpoint and also the fact that many psychosexual hang ups originate from this ridiculous outdated censorship.

There's nothing on this earth more natural than a mother feeding her child.

[oldfella]

Rather sad really, that in this day and age we still have this discussion, when after all, to view the natural act of feeding a child as sexual, is to my mind rather childish.


PS, " Its a sick world we live in " http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2517126532

[Chaldeonmenthe]

Amen to that oldfella.

[sammyh]

Interesting link, oldfella. Our cousins across the pond are an interesting bunch!

[the.fee.fairy]

I can't see the link - no FB in China!

Can someone give me the edited highlights please? Ta

[oldfella]

Facebook has banned all photos of Mum, feeding baby,

PS, I am not on Facebook either,