Utilitarian Boobs
 

Recently, BabyTalk magazine released an issue with the below cover image, which generated over 700 letters to the editor, making it the most controversial issue ever. More information on the controversy can be found here, including this gem of a quote:

I'll admit it--I feed my kid in public all the time. Off to the side and covered with a blanket, but it's still pretty obvious what I'm doing if you happen to glance over. Did you (or your wife) bust out in public, or were you too embarassed (or perhaps not embarassed, but sensitive to offending others)?

Pete did it discreetly in public all the time. I really don't get the problem.

If you have a problem with breastfeeding then you are a sick, sick fuck and should be shot in the fucking head. The end. It's natural. You did it, we all did it. If you can't see a female breast without sexualizing it then you have issues. I'm talking to you, John Ashcroft.

There's public, and then there's public. If we were at a playground a park or something, my wife would have no problem breastfeeding. Toss a cloth diaper over the shoulder and it drapes down. No problem. Even without a cloth, the baby's head covers everything anyway.

But I can see how doing it in church or maybe at a restaurant table might cause some ruffled feathers.

A little discretion, and it's fine in public. Most mom's aren't going to want to breastfeed during a board meeting anyway.

The same way that the Taliban got "ruffled" at female children being allowed to go to school? The same way that in some parts of Africa people get "ruffled" at the idea of a woman getting to keep her clitoris? I say: fuck them. They can get over it.

Actually, I didn't mean it that way at all.

Flint, you're going on a tangent there. Not wanting to have images of a baby breast feeding while you're eating is understandable. Someplace like a movie theater or airplane where you can't always control proximity would be another inappropriate place to nurse. The mother needs to be considerate of the people around her in certain environments just as people in a park or public open area should be considerate of the mother. Please don't tell me you honestly think asking a woman not to suckle her baby in an inapproprate location is the same as locking her in a house or circumcising her. :right:

I remember driving my wife to her surprise wedding shower. My dad and I were the only men in the room at the restaurant. One or more of my cousins were breastfeeding at the table.

I'm not much of a drinker, but I believe that I did end up out at the bar.

Mothers have the right to feed their babies everywhere mother and baby have the right to be. If you don't like it, you can leave.
Everytime a mother offers a bottle instead of the breast she is one step closer to weaning. I haven't read the article, but I hope it pointed out at least some of the benefits of not weaning too soon, there are so many.

yeah. how does a baby breastfeeding disturb you? edipal images? babies need to eat when they're hungry.

fucking people.

respect the boobies.

Once while I was living in Portland my X and I were eating in a restarant, and a young family came in. The young mother took a blanket out of a bag and started feeding her baby. Across the floor a woman started complaining to a Cop sitting by her and was told to give it a rest the kidlet need to eat too. Hooray for the Portland Police Dept.:cop:

Yeah, it's totally innapropriate to FEED AN INFANT IN A RESTAURANT! A friend of ours was told by some effed up biatch that she should feed the infant in the restroom. Our friend said "Hey lady, why don't you eat in the restroom?"

Custom G (aka SWMBO) used to feed Il Nudgelino (aka inch3) "on demand" These days, the party's over, but it is still all about the dowas.

And LJ, I'm surprised at you. Were you out smoking dope during your greek history classes? Edipal indeed.

Oedipus would poke his own eyes out if he had any idea, oh wait. Never mind.

Well I've got a problem with it. All those damn women draping diapers, blankets, and sweaters over their shoulders like serapis.
This ain't Mexico, bitches....this be the good ol' USA. Lose the cloth! :rtfm:

A couple of years ago one of our well known female talk show hosts..[its a show that does a run down on the national/international news for the week and usually puts a comedic spin on it] caused a *stir* when she started breastfeeding during the show (its live).

It was in the news for the week and in all the newspapers, but all the hype was *supporting* her right to breastfeed ....the ABA has a HUGE presence over here and its very common to see Mothers Breastfeeding everywhere and anywhere. Not too many bother with the cloth nappy or anything, as mentioned, the babies head covers everything anyways.

I still dont get the fascination with boobies, but hey, I'm happy with it and I aint afraid to exploit it at times either :)

I liked these parts of the story:

One mother who didn't like the cover explains she was concerned about her 13-year-old son seeing it.

"I shredded it," said Gayle Ash, of Belton, Texas, in a telephone interview. "A breast is a breast -- it's a sexual thing. He didn't need to see that."

Last I checked--and maybe I'm wrong here--boobies are not actually sexual things...though they can be.

The same woman...later in the article:

"I'm totally supportive of it -- I just don't like the flashing," she said. "I don't want my son or husband to accidentally see a breast they didn't want to see."

Aaaaaaah! My eyes! I was forced to look at a big tittie! I feel so violated!

:eek::biglaugha

The thing that gets me is that you cant even see the nipple. I've seen bathing suits that cover less than you can see in that picture.

What?
 

As far as I'm concerned, there's NO inappropriate place to nurse. The more public breastfeeding the better. Fuck, I think people should be able to go out in public naked. Who has the right to tell me that I HAVE to wear clothes? Our country is so fucked up in terms of sexuality BECAUSE of the way we treat our bodies. I'm with Flint on this one (I thought he left?).

It's fucking hot out there and I should be able to strut my pimply honky ass in public if I want. I've seen outfits that are more ugly than a naked body. Fucking prudes! And the whole "I don't want my child to see" crowd can shove it too. If kids saw more real and/or average breasts, they wouldn't fetishize them. Breasts are breasts for fucking christ's sake. Go nude in protest I say! Anybody in the cellar brave (or stupid) enough to join me?:mad:

"It's all about the dowas."

I'm with you, but guys who can't pass the pencil tests should have to wear bras.

No, it isn't. Not to me. I don't understand it - not even a little bit. Breatfeeding is natural and healthy.

It doesn't matter where you are. If you have a problem with breastfeeding then it is your problem. It is a natural, healthy thing.

The very idea that there is an "inappropriate location" for breatsfeeding is repulsive to me. Of course, it isn't on the Taliban-level of female repression, but it sure as hell springs forth from the same backwards-ass belief system. Defining the act of a mother feeding her baby as "inappropriate" (and expecting her to cater to your mental hang-ups!) is sick, sick, sick. I can't be any more clear about it than that. I disagree with you 100%.

"A breast is a breast -- it's a sexual thing."

And what exactly is the sexual function of the breast ???

It's curvy and soft and seems to turn men on!

BTW--I see you're back!! Hee, hee!

My conservative Catholic Mom breast fed me in church. I guess you'd like to be the one choose between a crying hungry baby and a happy fed baby. That choice isn't for you to make, until you have a kid and then I bet your wife straightens you out. :)

Brianna has a very, very good point.

But Pangloss may be right, us menfolk might not like them so much if such a big deal wasn't made of them.

All I know is Brianna is right.

Right, she was right: breasts "turn men on" - so a breast hang-up (if you have one) is your problem.

Well, I suppose a gay man wouldn't be turned on by a breast. At least not a woman's breast. I find Flint's passion for public breast feeding rather interesting...tell us more, Flint. ;)

My wife is due in about a month, our first child.

When my baby is hungry, I am not gonna give a flying fuck about some bigot's puritanical human-body complex.

Ah, that's it, then. Your hormones are all out of whack! :D

Congratulations on your baby-to-be!

So it's ok to look at a breast in public if there's a kiddie attached to it, but if it's just the boob itself that's wrong? Reminds me of the movement around here to let women walk around topless, just try it and then tell me boobs arn't sexual objects.

Oh, there was the funniest woman on the news a while back talking about it, when asked if she cared about men looking at her chest she replied "well of course they can't stare! Staring means they are sexualizing me and that's harrasment". My friends and I got into an argument afterword about how long you were allowed to look at a womans breasts without getting in trouble (we were mostly trying to embarass the hell out of the girls present though :D)

Ok, so the people who would be desturbed by loud public flatulence can also take their "backwards-ass belief" about a perfectly normal bodily function and leave where ever they paid to be? I don't particularly care about public feeding, but your over-the-top juvenile attitude and tactic of simply attacking those who argue with you is pathetic Flint. Get back to me after you think of a more compelling argument than "you have personal issues" and can understand the difference between "it is a horrible, shameful act" and "please refrain in a few situations".

I seem to remember a court ruling that 4 seconds was ok, but over that was "leering".

I support topless nursing. :D

@9th: Maybe you should've corrected my grammar, or something, and that would change my fundamentally simple position, which you haven't offered a rebuttal to, at all, except to do more of the same thing you accuse me of: tossing out over-exaggerated counterpoints. <insert smilie>

Not really, I'm saying you didn't have a position to begin with. There is no rebuttal to "you are just an unsophisticated moron" because then we decend into something more closely resembling "am not. are too" than anything rational adults would call a debate. Post #30 was me advising you to actually read what people post. If I say "there are situations where otherwise acceptable behavior becomes intrusive on others" then do not accuse me of saying it is an unacceptable and unatural act. What the heck is anyone supposed to say to a line like "The very idea that there is an "inappropriate location" for breatsfeeding is repulsive to me". Really. Not only is your language hilariously bombastic, but I can either assume you are talking out of your ass or you have no concept of situational etiquette. Let me restate for clarification "I have no problem with public breastfeeding, and I'm sure most people do not, under all but a few circumstances". If you talk loudly on your cell phone on the street, in your car or at the mall then no one is going to care very much. Try it at an expensive restaurant and you will be asked to stop or leave.

Now then, is it really so much to ask a mother to feed her child either before or after the short amount of time it would make those around her uncomfortable??

So do you want her to feed the child on the toilet or outside with the smokers? Babies eat constantly and on their own schedules. They don't have the stomach capacity for three meals a day. It can be done discretely and generally is as long as nobody makes a big deal out of it. You'd be suprised at how often you didn't notice.

There was a short period of time when the cultural norm of breast-feeding on demand was suppressed, mostly to market baby formula to the middle-class. People now understand that babies get a lot more than nutrition from their mothers and societies norms are shifting back where they belong. Do we really want to make good mothers another group of social outcasts?

All you men!

I had two babies. I breast-fed them on demand. I somehow managed to NOT nurse them while I was out at restaurants or grocery shopping or at Kmart or any other damn place. The babies slept on most excursions. If I was at a restaurant and my infant needed feeding, I think I would go out to
my car--not because it would be "wrong" to breastfeed in public but for my own comfort. I wouldn't want people staring at me.

"Hilariously Bombastic" would be a good name for a rock band.

Lucky you.

YMMV. I didn't feel especially lucky--when my infants were subjected to a lot of stimulus (the shopping mall, a restaurant) they dealt with it by sleeping. It was all too much for them so they ignored it.

@9th: There is no inappropriate setting for a healthy, natural act. Any percieved inappropriate-ness is strcitly in the eye of the beholder, as there is no locational context that changes the nature of the act - except to the observer, if they choose to take that point-of-view. My "hilariously bombastic" position is that: the rights of a mother and her hungry infant outweigh your sqeamishness at seeing a boobie.

Your rebuttal is to compare breastfeeding to #1 farting and #2 a loud cell phone conversation. Something tells me you're missing the point?

I think Brianna has it right... Maybe cause she has them and did it.

Mine didn't sleep. In fact, once they woke from their nap, got a diaper change and clean clothes on, were fed, got placed in their car seat, got removed from the car seat and had the vomit wiped off them, got a new change of clothes and another new diaper, got placed back in the car seat and were driven to the planned destination - they always wanted to be fed right away. Breastmilk is digested quickly.

Even if the baby could be persuaded to wait until a more convenient time, the breasts often couldn't. At feeding time the hormones go to work and "let down" often occurs whether it's convenient or not. So mom could either nurse the baby, or look like a wet T-shirt contestant. Which is more "uncomfortable"?


edit: LMAO. This is jinx.

Breast Meat
 

That's what I said yesterday, Flint, and I concur 100%. I do understand Bri if she chooses to go to her car, but I don't understand 9th at all. Does he think breastfeeding is "gross," or "disgusting"? Just WHAT about breastfeeding bothers him?

Breasts are just one physical attribute of sexuality, and they are fetishized out of all proportion to the other attributes (hair, legs, eyes, ears, nose, buttocks, feet, personality, intellect, etc.). Breastfeeding is declining in this country because of insecurities women have about keeping up with Cosmo/Maxim stereotypes. Kids need it and good moms will do it when it's time to do it and when and where they want to do it.

I'm glad you're in support of breastfeeding. But the above statement is nonsense. According to the CDC it's been increasing in recent years. And of all the women I know who didn't breastfeed or stopped early, not one of them did it because they were insecure about no longer being an attractive Cosmo stereotype. They stopped because it was painful, difficult, and/or embarrassing in public or even when others were visiting in their homes. The last thing they gave a damn about was whether they were hawt.

Whatever the reason, it is healthier and should be encouraged - not scandalized.

What do you all think of women who breastfeed even when the kid is old enough to come into the kitchen and unbutton mommies blouse? Teeth is nature's way of saying, "No more breast for you!"

I personally find I get uncomfortable beyond the second birthday.

"situational etiquette"
 

I think I understand. I heard on NPR this morning that Iraqi goat herders are being killed for not putting diapers on their goats when they bring them into town. Apparently this presents an "inappropriate" temptation, meaning: the exposed genetalia of the goats, when viewed by the general public.

Now, in this case, "situational etiquette" dictates that exposed goat genetalia can be tolerated "under all but a few circumstances" . . . Is that how it works?

What are you "supposed to say" ??? Ummm... Offer a rebuttal, or admit you were wrong? Or...just never come back to the thread?

I just don't feel comfortable telling you what to say. I'm sure if you had something to say, you'd say it. Unless "situational ettiquette" dictated otherwise.

Keeping in mind that I don't have children, I think it is up to the mother when to feed the child. Mother usually knows best. I don't think it is fair to expect a baby to eat in a bathroom or in some dirty corner, would you eat in a restaurant bathroom?

Nonsense. Teeth start coming in well before a baby is even a year old, often at 4-6 mos. "The minimum predicted age for a natural age of weaning in humans is 2.5 years, with a maximum of 7.0 years."

Babies don't care if mom is in a church or restaurant or car when it is time to eat. A screaming, hungry baby is a much worse distraction than a contentedly feeding one, in my opinion.

I'm of the opinion that the human body is not something to be ashamed of, and that breast feeding a baby is a perfectly natural function. That said, I don't think it hurts anyone to place a light covering over the shoulder to shield the baby and breast from the gawking of those nearby. I'm not about to go hide in a bathroom or alley but I am willing to use custom clothing or cloths to keep the function semi-private.

Personally, I could care less if a mom wants to whip it out in full view and feed. Anyone that thinks this is 'disgusting' or a 'turn on' has some personal issues that have nothing to do with feeding a baby.

By the way, my 14 month old had her first tooth come in at 4 1/2 months and had 9 teeth by 12 months.

Stormie

Apparently, the rebuttal to this is:

Which leads to the question: why would anyone have to refrain, in any situation, from doing something that there isn't anything wrong with doing in the first place? What is it that makes it wrong, in those situations where the only new element introduced is the reaction of an observer?

Reading back over this thread,(yeah I like tits, so what) in the original link and the personal experiences of the posters, I noticed all the objections that were made in public places were by women by women?

Could it be behavior issues women have, having covering them up being drilled into their heads from youth?

Or, are they just selfish bitches that don't want their husbands/boyfriends seeing any strange, possibly better, boobs?

No boob with a child attached to it is better than one without a child attached to it. Not for sport, anyway.

I think breast feeding should go on as long as mom and child are in agreement that it should, so long as the child doesn't have to drive over to mom's to get a meal. :D

When my kids were that age, the World Health Org. recommended breast feeding until age 2. Child initiated weaning was also recommended.

I haven't read all the posts so maybe you all know this already, but I just learned that Victoria's Secret kicked a nursing mother out of one of their dressing rooms and told her to breast feed in the bathroom! I mean, Victoria's Secret for the love of god! They turn a profit based on the tit! What hypocrites!

:)I think the term is haute (or haut). Hawt is what they say on a farm.

Sorry for being off topic. Kindly return to your discussion of tits.:rolleyes:

As for Victoria's Secret, Victoria's secret is that she's anorexic.

My long-running schtick about punching people in the nose, which I've never been serious about, may actually come to fruition, if I encounter one of these troglodytes.

It's a slow morning for me, so I can't tell if you already know this and were just teasing me... but I was using "hawt" as the mocking internet slang term for sexy, as one would exclaim when, say, receiving the latest issue of Maxim. "Teh new hawtness" is also a farkism.

I have never, nor will ever understand what the fuck the problem is if a woman breastfeeds a baby in a restaurant. I remember going into a cafe with my sister in law, her baby, the elder toddler and my mum. \Baby wanted a feed. My sister in law was very discreet, she covered up as much as was feasible given the circumstances and still we got dirty looks from the other patrons. Get over it! If it's an appropriate place for a mother to be with her baby, then it's an appropriate place for the mother to feed baby.