Much ado aboob nothing
About a week ago, MSNBC published an article about how some moms felt that the public display of a boob for breastfeeding is inappropriate (and this week is World Breastfeeding Week. Go figure).
One of my favourite bloggers, a Dr Petra Boynton, a sex and relationships psychologist whom I will try and interview one day, wrote a short piece about why people may feel uncomfortable about seeing boobs in that light, versus, say a man looking at a dirty magazine in public. In short, because breasts are mainly viewed as sexual objects, whipping them out, even if it’s to feed a hungry baby, may be seen as ‘gross’.
Here’s a blog entry that criticises this ‘phenomenon’.
This brings to light an alarming paradox even as we are in our 21st century. While we work to be more receptive towards different cultures and new ideas and practices, humankind seems to have trouble responding to old ones, such as the choice to wear a hijab or a corset, or in this case, to breastfeed. As the world turns, people are becoming more open-minded AND conservative (or intolerant?) at the same time.
In the 70s, my mother told me that women used to breastfeed on buses and trains and even people’s houses when they’re visiting. Today, we have to hide in toilets and designated little cubicles or as I did, in the car with those sunscreens and visors covering the windows as if engaging in some sort of illicit behaviour. Most of the time, we opt to express and bottle-feed, simply because breastfeeding isn’t such a widespread practice anymore, nipple confusion be damned.
If more mothers breastfed, you’d think that all the inappropriateness of the practice would’ve dissipated with time.
Oh wait. LESS mothers are breastfeeding (in Malaysia). And why is that, I wonder?
I wonder if this is so in Japan, where it is compulsory for all women to breastfeed. So far, I have met three Japanese moms who tell me that to breastfeed is their duty and that it is largely frowned upon to feed their children formula. Do Japanese men, belonging to a country that is full of paradoxes, frown upon the display of an infant suckling on an exposed boob?
As a mother who is proud to have breastfed, I say deal with it. If women feel threatened by a naked boob that is being used to nurture, then it is because of their own insecurities and narrow-minded upbringing. If you bring up your sons and daughters to view breastfeeding as a natural everyday occurence, they will not view it as merely sexual (or ‘gross’). And this nonsense will not be allowed to continue.
mamatulip
I breastfed both of my kiddos — one for much longer than the other due to lactose intolerance on his part — and to be perfectly honest, it never ocurred to me to not breastfeed in public — discreetly, of course…I didn’t just whip out my tit and flaunt it around town. But if I was out and my child got hungry, I fed him. Or her. That’s it. My kid’s hungry and he/she needs to eat. Deal with it.
Aug 04, 2006 @ 11:20 am
adriene
hmmm… i didn’t know japan had such a law. i’ll ask my japanese friends about it when i see them. in my 4 months here, i haven’t noticed any japanese women breastfeeding in public areas though.
Aug 04, 2006 @ 11:30 am
jennemede
Dont think it’s a written law but more like practice?
Aug 04, 2006 @ 1:00 pm
Palmdoc
Yes, it’s all quite hypocritical.
We put up a poll on this in the Malaysian Medical Resources
http://medicine.com.my/wp/?p=1271
Aug 04, 2006 @ 3:18 pm
Malaysian Medical Resources
Would you be offended?…
Apparently many US readers were “offended” by a front cover picture in a US Magazine.
Other comments include “SHOCKED”, “gross”,”sick”,”horrified”
Well, what is the magazine in question? Appa…
Aug 04, 2006 @ 3:19 pm
jennemede
I don’t think it’s hypocrisy. It’s more “the breast is sexual, so to show it is to be obscene”. If people were to start making baby bottles in the shape of perfectly shaped boobs, they would hv to be sold in an erotica shop.
It’s like those days when Malaysian TV banned the advertising of sanitary napkins (are they still banned?). apparently, they are obscene as well. Why? They made men feel uncomfortable.
Both images bring forth sexually related parts of the body, no matter how necessary they are. It’s like we’ve not moved an inch from two centuries ago.
Aug 04, 2006 @ 4:02 pm
jennemede
To add, while the men are partly to blame for getting hot and bothered about the sight of a boob even if it’s next to a baby, the American women are also being a tad silly about this brouhaha. Theyre not worried about how much cleavage is shown in magazines but are embarassed about a baby suckling. Nonsense!
Aug 04, 2006 @ 4:09 pm
E.T
I remembered this one time – I was sitting in a public bus next to a lady with a (probably) 3-4 year old (!) clawing and sucking at her nipple (it had to be exposed all the time ‘cos the kid was abit like an animal, for the lack of a more appropriate word).
Altho’ it was more ‘primal’ then alot of the normal ones I see around here (it’s pretty common here in Sydney, depending on where you are, I think) – the girl who was sitting opposite (facing) her totally freaked out!! She turned away and hid her face in her boy friend’s shoulders through out the whole bus ride!! hahahah – and the guy was just staring with disbelief!!
Anyway – when Angelina Jolie starts breadfeeding in public rampantly – it will be trendy and mainstream in no time!
Aug 05, 2006 @ 12:53 am