Public Breast Feeding : Still
Taboo?
by Danna Schneider
In this day and age of feminism
and women's liberation, it's hard to believe that public breast
feeding is still considered somewhat of a "taboo". I'd
like to think Americans are generally open minded and accepting,
especially when it comes to a mother and her child.
The sad fact is that our culture
still views breast feeding in public as "indecent"
because of the exposure of a woman's breast (gasp). And partial
exposure, at that.
Although the vast majority of us
have seen this part of the female anatomy, some would have you
think of it as "vile" or "inappropriate". A
perfect example of American society's reluctance to accept
openly breast feeding follows.
Recently a popular, free magazine
for new mothers called "Baby Talk" featured a bare
breast with a baby nursing (no nipple was visible). The magazine
received hundreds of complaints about the picture. Readers felt
the breast was "inappropriate" for the cover. The
worst part of this whole scandal is that most of the complaints
came from women. Talk about shooting ourselves in the foot, so
to speak.
I was shocked that, of all
people, women would be offended by a demonstration of the
nurturing mother and child relationship. Should this not be
regarded as a picture of beauty and healthy exposure?
Then I wonder, is it just because
we as Americans tend to be uptight about nudity in general? Take
the Janet Jackson Superbowl incident, now dubbed "Nipplegate",
which resulted in an extreme sanitization of radio and
television, having networks running scared to even accidentally
show the wrong body part or say the wrong words on air.
Perhaps if breast feeding were
looked at on more of an objective level, as it was meant to be,
breast feeding publicly would not be such an issue. People are
blurring the lines between indecent, sexually oriented exposure
and the necessity of exposing one's breasts for the sake of
feeding a child.
We as women are encouraged to to
give our babies the most nutritionally complete food for their
development - natural breast milk, straight from the breast. And
yet we find ourselves struggling to find places that make it
comfortable and socially acceptable to breast feed.
The most ironic part about this
ongoing taboo, to me at least, is the minimal amount of exposure
necessary to breast feed. Heck, many women will almost
completely cover their breasts with a towel or blanket to make
themselves and others more comfortable.
It's about time we shake the
taboos, and promote tolerance and acceptance for women breast
feeding in public.
About the Author
Danna Schneider is the founder of
Breast Related News
, which gives daily news on breast health, breast surgery, and
new advances in natural breast enhancement. She also founded Natural
Breast Enhancement Reviews , which is all about natural
breast enhancement.
______________
Copyright 2006
| 
