Tuesday, August 30, 2005

When a breast isn't just a breast: New law doesn't stem discomfort over public breastfeeding (The Daily Camera)

New mom Anne Michaels knows women who have no problem wearing push-up bras and revealing clothes that invite passers-by to check out their breasts. Yet, she says, they're uncomfortable when they encounter a nursing baby in public.

It's clear, she says, that mixing babies and breasts — as natural as it is — creates awkwardness for some people.

"In our society, the female body is something sexual," says Michaels, who lives in Boulder and breastfeeds her week-old son, Jack.

Discomfort with the practice has manifested in well-publicized events: A mom was asked to cover up or breastfeed in the bathroom at a Maryland Starbucks coffee shop in July 2004; this year in May celebrity journalist Barbara Walters commented on her TV show "The View" that a breastfeeding woman aboard a crowded flight made her "very nervous"; a Colorado woman was ticketed in July for indecent exposure while nursing her 1-year-old son at Carter Lake in Larimer County.



click to read more....

No comments: