LITEROTICA PODCAST
LIT CAMS (200 Free Tokens)ADULT TOYSVOD MOVIES

Lactivists: The Debate Continues

How do you feel about breastfeeding in public?

  • I have no problem with breastfeeding in public so long as the mother is discreet.

    Votes: 20 66.7%

  • No! Absolutely no breastfeeding in public!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Obligatory “other” (please explain)

    Votes: 10 33.3%
  • Total voters
    30
  • Poll closed .
M

McKenna

Literotica Guru
Joined
Dec 5, 2001
Posts
15,267
Lactivists: Where is it OK to breastfeed?
Babytalk magazine generates controversy with nursing cover

NEW YORK (AP) -- "I was SHOCKED to see a giant breast on the cover of your magazine," one person wrote. "I immediately turned the magazine face down," wrote another. "Gross," said a third.

These readers weren't complaining about a sexually explicit cover, but rather one of a baby nursing, on a wholesome parenting magazine -- yet another sign that Americans are squeamish over the sight of a nursing breast, even as breast-feeding itself gains more support from the government and medical community.

Babytalk is a free magazine whose readership is overwhelmingly mothers of babies. Yet in a poll of more than 4,000 readers, a quarter of responses to the cover were negative, calling the photo -- a baby and part of a woman's breast, in profile -- inappropriate.

One mother who didn't like the cover explains she was concerned about her 13-year-old son seeing it.

"I shredded it," said Gayle Ash, of Belton, Texas, in a telephone interview. "A breast is a breast -- it's a sexual thing. He didn't need to see that."

It's the same reason that Ash, 41, who nursed all three of her children, is cautious about breast-feeding in public -- a subject of enormous debate among women, which has even spawned a new term: "lactivists," meaning those who advocate for a woman's right to nurse wherever she needs to.

"I'm totally supportive of it -- I just don't like the flashing," she said. "I don't want my son or husband to accidentally see a breast they didn't want to see."

Another mother, Kelly Wheatley, wrote Babytalk to applaud the cover, precisely because, she said, it helps educate people that breasts are more than sex objects. And yet Wheatley, 40, who's still nursing her 3-year-old daughter, rarely breast-feeds in public, partly because it's more comfortable in the car, and partly because her husband is uncomfortable with other men seeing her breast.

"Men are very visual," said Wheatley, of Amarillo, Texas. "When they see a woman's breast, they see a breast -- regardless of what it's being used for."

Babytalk editor Susan Kane says the mixed response to the cover clearly echoes the larger debate over breast-feeding in public. "There's a huge Puritanical streak in Americans," she said, "and there's a squeamishness about seeing a body part -- even part of a body part."

"It's not like women are whipping them out with tassels on them," she added. "Mostly, they are trying to be discreet."

Kane said that since the August issue came out last week, the magazine has received more than 700 letters -- more than for any article in years.

"Gross, I am sick of seeing a baby attached to a boob," wrote Lauren, a mother of a 4-month-old.
Click to expand...

The rest of the story can be found here.

Good Lord. It sucks that it's sometimes women who perpetuate this idiocy.




Here is the "offending" photo:

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/07/28/mn_breastcover121.jpg




And yet, there was very little comment made about this particular cover:

http://images.scotsman.com/2006/06/28/2006-06-28T235541Z_01_NOOTR_RTRIDSP_2_OUKEN-UK-SPEARS.jpg


Or how about the gazillions of tit, ass, and other photographs featured in catalogs like Victoria's Secret? So basically it's okay to use a woman's body to sell anything from panties to cars to sporting events and beer, but showing a woman breastfeeding is taboo?!

There's something wrong here... :rolleyes:
 
I voted "other" -- because I don't feel "discretion" is even necessary. It's natural. Deal.
 
I voted 'other' for the same reason as impressive.

Move to the UK. Today I have repeatedly seen more breast exposed on the beach than on the cover of either magazine. There are more breasts in one issue of a tabloid newspaper than are exposed in a year in the US media. (and the readers' response is usually - More please!)

Og
 
McKenna said:
:kiss: :heart: <------- same for you, Og
Click to expand...

Reciprocated (without discretion).

30 years ago my wife breastfed our eldest daughter in a cathedral's coffee shop. She was soon surrounded by jealous grannies...

Og
 
Me too, other- my kid would grab the edge of my descretionary shawl and raise it high, so she could show everyone my tit

One of the first times we went out to dinner after my son was born, the restaraunt manager asked me to take the baby into the bathroom to nurse. I obliged, and found it to be no place I would want to pee in, much less sit down to nurse a baby.
I came back to the table and popped him on the tit. Babies always want to eat with the rest of the family. The manager came back- i told him to mop his fetid swamp of a bathroom, or I would have to CHANGE the baby at the table, too.

I will say, though, when I did go to change him, the room sparkled :)
 
I voted first choice before I read anything else, but like the others I have no problem even if it isn't discreet. It's a natural and affirmative thing.
 
Yeah, the poll options are kinda lame. If I could edit them, I would. :(

I voted "other" too after reading Imp and Og's postings.



Stella: The restaurant story is priceless! It's one thing if they have a "mother's room" set up, quite another if they ask you to feed the baby in the same place as you'd ... well, I won't be rude.
 
Polls are always hard, even when you spend hours thinking it through. The nice part is we can always discuss things.

The whole "breast is a sexual object" I think sums up American thinking. Women, in large part, are just sexual objects in many cultures, ours especially. I think sometimes people get more disturbed when this particular paradigm is countered with something like that very modest picture of a baby feeding.

I mean, damn, it's barely recognizeable as a breast in the picture. Most of the photo is a baby. "Giant Boob" indeed. I think that is a matter of perception.

If a man's naked chest isn't a sexual object, why should a woman's be? Because our viewpoint is directed by gynocentric men? That's worth thinking about (and i've nothing against men who like women (or women who like women, for that matter, but I've a strong impression that if lesbians controlled the media, we'd see plenty more breasts).

Once upon a time, an ankle or the nape of a neck was a "sexual object".
 
malachiteink said:
Once upon a time, an ankle or the nape of a neck was a "sexual object".
Click to expand...


Still is in my book..... :rose:


EDIT: Sorry McK, off topic...will you ever forgive me?
 
Breastfeeding is a-ok with me, wherever and whenver and however.

I do admit, though, this kinda gives me pause...

And yet Wheatley, 40, who's still nursing her 3-year-old daughter
Click to expand...

I know the breastfeeding orgs recommend it up to 3 years old, but I think that might wig me out a little. :eek:
 
America is full of puritanical hypocrites who need to be educated, or subverted. A friend of mine expressed milk at work IN A BATHROOM STALL and put it in a cooler she brought with her. One of the younger girls complained that it was too gross for her to be doing that at work. Oy vey.
 
Voted first option, should have voted 'other'. C'est la vie.

Anyhow, What jackass came up with the idea that the only purpose a breast serves is sexual. And what's wrong with sex anyway?

Ya know, for supposed 'thinking man' we don't do a lot of it. ;)
 
LadyJeanne said:
I do admit, though, this kinda gives me pause...

I know the breastfeeding orgs recommend it up to 3 years old, but I think that might wig me out a little. :eek:
Click to expand...

I'm a huge proponent of child-led weaning. Age will vary from child to child based on emotional maturity.

With my three, that was 8 months, 27 months, and 22 months.

When the younger two passed 18 months, my mother started in with the P-A remarks like, "When are you gonna let 'em have real food?" :rolleyes:
 
I'm just so pleased to read the opinions on this thread...

why is it that I can find this kind of open-minded view on Lit and yet I can't find it in mommy groups!??!

:confused:

the world is a strange place....
 
SelenaKittyn said:
I'm just so pleased to read the opinions on this thread...

why is it that I can find this kind of open-minded view on Lit and yet I can't find it in mommy groups!??!

:confused:

the world is a strange place....
Click to expand...
Where is it you live? ;)

I've said it before I know, but- when you are nursing a 28-month old toddler, and you have a mohawk, bike jacket and black leather jeans on- NOBODY says NOTHING to you- no matter what they might be thinking. :cool:
 
SelenaKittyn said:
I'm just so pleased to read the opinions on this thread...

why is it that I can find this kind of open-minded view on Lit and yet I can't find it in mommy groups!??!

:confused:

the world is a strange place....
Click to expand...


Sadly enough, the ability to think critically and behave with consideration and moderation are NOT prerequisites for motherhood. Too often the only qualifications are an inability to count and unfamiliarity with the word "no".

(am I bitter? No, not really....much...)
 
La Leche

This UK based organisation campaigns for breast feeding:

La leche

Edited: Oops - started in Illinois 50 years ago.

My wife used to be a member of a local UK branch.

Og
 
Last edited:
Stella_Omega said:
Where is it you live? ;)

I've said it before I know, but- when you are nursing a 28-month old toddler, and you have a mohawk, bike jacket and black leather jeans on- NOBODY says NOTHING to you- no matter what they might be thinking. :cool:
Click to expand...


There are many more mothers who think nursing til a baby is 28 months is "Gross!" or "Disgusting" than not, unfortunately... :(

The public nursing debate is mostly about newborns, even... they don't even talk about the toddlers who often graze and will come by to nurse for comfort and then run off to play again...
 
I voted Obligatory "other" because I don't even think i tneeds to be discreet. It's a beautiful thing, and as right as rain.
 
SelenaKittyn said:
There are many more mothers who think nursing til a baby is 28 months is "Gross!" or "Disgusting" than not, unfortunately... :(

The public nursing debate is mostly about newborns, even... they don't even talk about the toddlers who often graze and will come by to nurse for comfort and then run off to play again...
Click to expand...
yep, both of mine nursed about three years. But that last year, in both cases, was hardly at all- at wakeup and bedtime, and in moments of trauma.

Even so, I lactated for six years non-stop. It made a great bar stunt- squirting milk down the throat of a curious dyke! ;)

Tastes a bit like coconut milk, if anyone is wondering. More "sugary" and less "cheesey" than cow's milk.
 
Stella_Omega said:
yep, both of mine nursed about three years. But that last year, in both cases, was hardly at all- at wakeup and bedtime, and in moments of trauma.

Even so, I lactated for six years non-stop. It made a great bar stunt- squirting milk down the throat of a curious dyke! ;)

Tastes a bit like coconut milk, if anyone is wondering. More "sugary" and less "cheesey" than cow's milk.
Click to expand...


I love Joey's description from Friends: "It tastes like cantaloupe juice"... I thought, wow, that's pretty accurate! :D
 
SelenaKittyn said:
I love Joey's description from Friends: "It tastes like cantaloupe juice"... I thought, wow, that's pretty accurate! :D
Click to expand...

:eek: There goes any hope of me developing a breast milk fetish.

Cantaloupe is immediately ejected from my stomach in an extremely forceful manner. :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

OffNSFW
How do you, as an author, describe breasts?
3 4 5
Replies
106
Views
3K
cadeauxxx
cadeauxxx
H
How to write he's got a big dick
2
Replies
47
Views
1K
stickygirl
stickygirl
joy_of_cooking
workshop this plot with me? serial killer picks the wrong girl
Replies
19
Views
264
TarnishedPenny
TarnishedPenny
NivKay
Vignettes
Replies
11
Views
169
KittyOfSteele
KittyOfSteele
lovecraft68
Is there a term for this?
2
Replies
25
Views
441
JenniferSmithJones
JenniferSmithJones
Back
Top