Recently, I received a Tumblr message from a reader in which he or she stated, “One of my classes is talking about the over-sexualization of breasts in American culture ... to the point where topless scenes in movies are commonplace but women can't breast-feed in public. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on that?” I do. I think it is ridiculous.
Breasts exist to feed babies; that is their first and main purpose. Men and women can play with them during sex all they want, but that is not the point of breasts. Because our society has associated breasts with sex, they are now banned or frowned upon in any context that isn’t sexual.
I think it’s ironic that people freak out when someone is breast-feeding in public and say things along the line of “Think of the children!” The mother is obviously already thinking of her child. She is giving her child natural nutrients from her breast milk.
Your child might not understand what’s going on when they witness someone breastfeeding, and they might not even care. The people freaking out are more concerned for themselves.
I saw a comic online in which a mother is sitting on a bench breast-feeding her child and behind her is a giant billboard advertisement for lingerie that prominently displays a woman in just her bra. A man in a suit is yelling at a security guard, “Nursing?! This is a shopping mall! We can’t allow women to brazenly display their breasts!”
The comic was a reaction to a group of mothers being asked to leave a public place near Pittsburgh because they were breast-feeding in public.
There have been many reports of women being asked to leave malls because they hold “Latch On” events where they all sit in the children’s play area and breastfeed for a minute then stop and let their children play.
Not only is it a mother’s legal right to breast-feed in public in these cities, but it is also their responsibility to their child to feed them when they need, wherever they may be. BreastFeedingLaw. com cites the laws from each state in the U.S. and the federal law regarding breast-feeding in public.
The website also provides an article called “Lactation and the Law” which breaks down points concerning “enforcement” and indecent exposure while starting or ending the feeding process.
I know some women don’t mind being told to do it in the bathroom, but I think women shouldn’t have to put up with being hidden away, especially when breasts are displayed on the walls in the same building where they are nursing.
I don’t mind women being topless on screen. If they are confident, then they should feel free to do it.
But women also need to own their breasts. They need to let men know that they do not have the right to force women to stop feeding their child in public when they ogle breasts in the movie theatre all the time.
Breasts aren’t inherently sexual, and we need society to understand that and to get over women trying to feed their children while out shopping, while at Disneyland or while waiting for the doctor.
