Australia has some serious issues with its attitude to breastfeeding, and the more that can be done to counter those the better. Go and have a read.
I've also put together a user's guide called Breasts in Australia: What's acceptable and what's not:
Acceptable:
Flashing your boobs at Indy. Wooo! Shaahsyatits!
Flaunting your boobs in Ralph magazine (but no nipple! That would be obscene!)
Flaunting your boobs in FHM (but again- no nipple!)
Flaunting your boobs in Zoo Weekly- A-OK as long as there's no nipple.
Breastfeeding: as long as you do it at home for an age-appropriate offspring of your own and keep the frightful business from assaulting the eyes of the good citizens of Australia, breastfeeding is fine.Not acceptable:
Breastfeeding in public: for god's sake woman! Don't you know that the minute your breasts are used for their primary biological purpose they become obscene? Put them away!
Oh heavens, a travesty on two counts! Breastfeeding in public is bad enough- When it's a child over 12 months old? Practically a hanging offence! That said, if you're interested in posing topless for a men's magazine after weaning the brat, you (and your boobs) are welcome.
4 comments:
I know it's natural and for some people, beautiful, but I just don't want to have to see it...cover the kid with a blanket or something. Especially if I'm trying to eat...I don't need to see a gimungous brown nipple looking at me.
I intend to breastfeed my own kids when the day comes - I certainly won't be wandering around with my bits hanging out.
Nyree- I'm afraid I consider the hangup your problem! I can't say I'm 100% blase about seeing women's nipples in public either, just because it's so rare. I'll admit to finding it a bit distracting, but frankly I'd like breastfeeding to be so acceptable and so common that we'd no more find the sight of a breastfeeding woman's nipple distracting than we would the nose on her face!
It's a western cultural convention for women's nipples to be covered up at all times and thought of as obscene. In some countries, seeing a woman's breast is as normal as seeing an arm or a leg. In other countries, seeing a woman's arm or leg is as obscene to society as a woman's nipple might be to some of us. The difference between a restrictive cultural prohibition on exposure of arms and legs- something most Australians would agree is pretty stupid- and exposed nipple during the act of breastfeeding is that the nipple is on display for a good reason, and that's the baby's health and wellbeing. Some babies simply won't feed with something covering their heads, not to mention it might be awkward for the mother to ensure her breast is invisible to potentially-offended passers-by from every angle. Honestly, it's something we as a society need to get over, because a lot of women are too intimidated to consider breastfeeding in public and instead turn to feeding their baby artificial formula while they're out just so they can avoid the dirty looks and negative comments that get directed at them. Aside from the fact that formula feeding has a multitude of negative health repercussions for the child, if a woman is compelled to BF less often for whatever reason, her milk supply will diminish. Concerns about milk supply are one of the primary reasons cited by women for giving up breastfeeding. Australia's hangups about breastfeeding have very real and serious ramifications for women and their babies.
I totally agree - it's my issue for sure and I hate that it makes me uncomfortable especially considering I know it's so natural and normal and good for the baby (way better than Nestle formulas!).
I guess in my family it was never really put on display. I don't remember my mum breastfeeding my brother and even my cousins who are spitting out babies like they're going out of fashion keep it hidden.
Think it might be slow progress on this one!
I don't know what the practice was in my family either- they're not exactly big breeders, so I only remember a single one of my cousins as a baby! I know my Mum breastfed my brother and I, because there are photos, and my aunt breastfed my 3 cousins (my grandma never breastfed my Mum & aunt), but I don't know if they felt scared or unwilling to BF in public or not.
I do remember my Mum's friend visiting us one day with her toddler, and she popped out a boob to BF him and my dad made some negative comment about him being too old for it... But Mum's friend is a lesbian and her baby was an IVF baby, so Dad might have just been looking for something to criticise. Certainly now that I'm better informed about BF than I was at the time I would take the time to educate him on exactly how far wrong such opinions are- the BF toddlers, I mean... I regularly have disagreements with him over his anti-gay bigotry.
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