Warning! Offensive pictures!
Postscript from Andrea: I hear lots of people say they don't mind mothers breastfeeding in public as long as they "cover up", but even that mindset tends to annoy me. First of all...older babies don't like being covered up and will throw the blanket off anyway. Second of all, it still implies there is something offensive about breastfeeding. Now, I'm not likely to be showing much skin myself; I try to make sure my shirt comes down over my breast. But that's my preference. And if some moms feel more comfortable covering up, that's OK too. I just don't like the implication that breastfeeding should be something private, something secret.
And don't get me started on the people who think women should go nurse their babies in a public restroom. How gross is that? Am I really supposed to sit on the toilet while I nurse my child? Or even the floor? How many adults would like to eat their meal in a restroom?
Here in Indiana, as in some other states, there is actually a law on the books guaranteeing a mother and child's right to nurse in public.
Not withstanding any other law, a woman may breastfeed her child anywhere the woman has a right to be. Source: Indiana Code 16-35-6-1 Chapter 6, Sec. 7End of rant :)
posted by Andrea | 3:50 PM
6 Comments:
That's a really cool law. Great post, though the first part sure makes me feel my biological clock ticking. I KNOW I don't know want one right now, I do know! But tell that to the hormones...sigh...
Wait, people are bothered by breastfeeding? WTF?
In the state of Washington, breastfeeding is protected under RCW 9A.88.10 - "The act of breastfeeding or expressing breast milk is not indecent exposure."
zapaper, those hormones are just doing what they think they're supposed to do! I agree that you definitely have at least one adventure to finish (not even counting that Ph.D.!) before you'll even have time to give to being a mom :)
Thomas J. Brown...are you being facetious? Is breastfeeding really so normal out there that you're surprised that some people are offended? If so, I'm jealous. That Washington law is the other half of what I think would be a perfect law: protecting the right to do it in public, AND decreeing that it's not indecent exposure. I think the Indiana law would be better if it had language about not being indecent exposure; otherwise, there are still people who can say "fine, do it in public, but cover up!"
It's not an everyday type of thing around here, but... I don't know. I don't see what the big deal is. It's natural and important to the baby's health.
When I was thirteen, my family was flying to Maui and I sat next to a woman who breastfed her child right there in her seat. It was a little weird because, you know, her breast was out of her shirt (did I mention that I was thirteen?), but I never once thought that she was being rude or that she should stop.
Thomas, if only more women were more comfortable nursing openly (which will only happen when this culture stops being so weird about it), even as a 13 year old boy you probably would not have thought anything of it, because you would have been used to seeing it more often.
I agree with what you posted however I need to add that some mother's, I think try to throw the breast feeding in people's face. As long as mom's understand that some people may be uncomfortable with them breastfeeding in public than I am okay with it, but there are some extreme cases where a woman flaunts her nrusing and one can just tell that they are trying to raise a stink. I do not think nursing is indecent nor do I think it is something to hide, but nurser beware is all I am saying.
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