Is there anything sweeter or more precious than seeing a mother breastfeeding her baby? It’s what the boobage is for. Centuries of sexualizing breasts ended up this week in a young mother at a public pool to move to a changing room or more secluded area to breastfeed her baby.
The woman has three children and her two little boys were playing in the water and mum was waterside watching them when the baby decided it was time for the milk bar to open. Now any of you who’ve heard a hungry baby cry know that there isn’t a mother around who’ll do nothing when this happens.
So as discreetly as possible she began to feed her baby while keeping her eye on her sons who are five and six years old. One of the pool staff told her that other patrons were offended by her breastfeeding and she’d have to move. Liana Webster told the pool employee that breastfeeding anywhere in Australia was completely legal but argument ensued and the employee told the woman that it was perfectly legal for pool staff to ask her to leave.
Liana began to cry, the baby began to cry and the little boys couldn’t understand why their mother was crying. They were at a pool where people wear next to nothing at all and folks objected to a baby getting a bit of milk from her mum?
Back to this sexualizing of breasts. What is it about our society that causes some people to assume our bodies are something to be ashamed of? Just this week in response to what happened to Liana Webster, TV presenter David Koch said that breastfeeding is something that should be done away from a public area. Like maybe the ladies’ room? Sure, everyone wants to go to the toilet to eat.
To be fair, it’s not just men who object to seeing a bit of boob – and I say a bit because the baby’s head covers most of it. I’ve seen much more on a local beach. It’s the fact that the baby is sucking on a breast that sexualizes it and both men and women can be offended. So I think it’s time we covered men up. Men like to have their boobs sucked and many women find men’s nipples sexually attractive so I think they should have to cover their nipples.
Breastfeeding isn’t easy. All the comments that breastfeeding women “flop their breasts out for everyone to gawk at,” is just not the case. Yes, the baby has to find the nipple and the mother has to drop everything no matter where she is and feed the hungry baby. When I had my first child very few women breastfed their babies.
“It’s so hard”
“You have to do it in the restroom”
“If you’re in public you have to cover the baby’s head with a blanket or towel, regardless of the temperature”
Then there was a huge surge in the promotion of breastfeeding as it was better for the baby and would end up with healthier, more intelligent babies which would result in less money being spent on health care. But… they still wanted us to cover up and not be seen. It reminded me of the olden days when women were deemed unclean during their time of the month and had to remove themselves from society.
Times need to change and people like Koch need to catch up. Feeding a baby is natural, normal and wonderful and anyone who has trouble with it needs to look in the mirror for a solution. Men, cover your nipples. After you do that, read these words from former US President Jimmy Carter. I respected him as President but after this I love him. Losing My Religion for Equality
