**all the links for this post are embedded, so click on the orange text to see the article I reference.
I love reading the blogs about our local neighborhoods in New York City, as I find they are typically informative and intelligently written. One blog that I frequently read is about the neighborhood Park Slope in Brooklyn, adjacent to where I live. Apparently, one of the writers of this blog loves to complain about how much she hates women who breastfeed in public, and claims that Park Slope is filled with women who do this. Surprisingly, this writer is a woman who openly admits to have breast-fed her own children, recommends it to other women, but feels that you should not do so in public. “Doesn’t a kid have to eat, and shouldn’t you mind your own business?” Were the first questions that came to mind, however, I thought a little bit deeper about how comfortable I felt about seeing a woman feeding her child in public, and I also wonder just how comfortable you are with it. Oh, and I probably won’t be supporting that blog anymore, especially after being in this class.
I love reading the blogs about our local neighborhoods in New York City, as I find they are typically informative and intelligently written. One blog that I frequently read is about the neighborhood Park Slope in Brooklyn, adjacent to where I live. Apparently, one of the writers of this blog loves to complain about how much she hates women who breastfeed in public, and claims that Park Slope is filled with women who do this. Surprisingly, this writer is a woman who openly admits to have breast-fed her own children, recommends it to other women, but feels that you should not do so in public. “Doesn’t a kid have to eat, and shouldn’t you mind your own business?” Were the first questions that came to mind, however, I thought a little bit deeper about how comfortable I felt about seeing a woman feeding her child in public, and I also wonder just how comfortable you are with it. Oh, and I probably won’t be supporting that blog anymore, especially after being in this class.
I remember when I was a little girl, my mother would have friends over the house and they would breastfeed their baby where ever they felt like it. I can actually remember several instances of this, and to be very honest, I thought it was weird. My mother had never really spoken to me about it, only besides telling me that the woman is feeding her baby. I don’t normally notice it happening in public, but I was at a Christmas dinner party this past year, and a woman was breastfeeding her toddler right at the dinner table with us. I didn’t really mind and I certainly wasn’t offended, but it did make me pause for a moment, and gather in my mind that this was normal and go along with it. She happened to be the only mother there with children, and everyone else seemed okay with this. Maybe if I had children I would have done the same thing, but this is not the case.
Unfortunately, I found that not only was it just the contributor of this blog that strongly disliked women breastfeeding in public, but many other people seem to be uncomfortable with it as well based on some epic googling of “women breastfeeding in public.” Here are just a few examples of my search results:
- I find the coverage on this one to be pretty strange and controversial, look at all those comments! From March 2009.
- It’s a shame to see someone get a ticket for breastfeeding their crying, hungry baby in a no-standing zone in our dear city. From August 2009.
- I’m aware that there isn’t much validity in usmagazine, but Kim Kardashian is someone who a lot of people pay attention to in our society. I wonder what she thinks now, since she is pregnant.
- And of course, our beloved Facebook decides that if the entire breast is exposed in a photo on the site, that it is grounds for removal. There is a whole Facebook page dedicated to get rid of this ridiculous clause, or whatever they want to call it.
On the bright side, I was delighted to find many stories online where a woman was discriminated against or asked to leave if she was breastfeeding in public, and her fellow breastfeeding female friends rallied in protest in front of the establishment where the incident occurred. Just this year, in a shopping mall across from a Hollister (clothing) store, a woman had some major back up by her female friends after she told them about the time she was asked to leave the area because she was breastfeeding.
On an even better note, and although it’s not surprising, I did find the there are laws protecting the right to breastfeed in a public or private place. I speculate that these laws were created because so many women were discriminated for simply feeding their hungry baby, and women must have come together to fight for the law to protect them from this harassment. This certainly reminded me of many of our readings, but especially “Jane Crow and the Law: Sex Discrimination and Title VII” by Pauli Murray and Mary O. Eastwood. I found that the “Breastfeeding Bill of Rights” was inspired by and eventually introduced because a woman on a subway caravan was issued a desk appearance ticket for breastfeeding in public, which sounds exactly like what the earlier women’s rights advocates would have done, and maybe they even wanted to include this in earlier laws, but it was too soon for America to accept breastfeeding, as they were just accepting women into the labor force back when the Jane Crow and the Law article was written.
It does look like our nation is moving in the right direction, as President Obama instated in 2010 that an employer is required to provide an area and reasonable amount of time for a breastfeeding mother to feed her child or pump breast milk, all in the work place. However, not all employers offer maternity/medical leave, which is discouraging for women to breastfeed their children as it takes quite a bit of time.
Mayor Bloomberg is a huge advocate of breastfeeding, as his program, “Latch On NYC” initiative is to council new mothers while still in the hospital about the benefits of breastfeeding, and not have promotional products of formula in our NYC hospitals. One of the interesting comments on this article is that some women think Bloomberg should stay out of it.
If a child is crying and hungry, she should feed her baby, no matter where she is. It’s only natural, right? The sight of a breast in public should not bother us, either. All humans need to eat, and if adults can eat anywhere they please, babies should have that same right.
To conclude, I ask you this:
How did you feel the last time you saw a woman breastfeeding in public?
Do you think that the exposing a breast to feed a baby is lewd, sexual, or inappropriate in nature?
Are you a mother that has had any experience like the ones I shared above?
Do you agree or disagree that women should be able to breastfeed in the workplace, or a public place? Should she cover up?
This is an interesting post to consider in relation to the Acker article about gendered and racialized capatalism. Acker asserts that the stratification of gender roles as paid and un-paid work are embedded in capatalism.
ReplyDeleteBecause capatalism is the organizational foundation of our society, considering the function of un-paid work and the association of it to as Acker says, "unpaid life-sustaining work" as it relates to the social norms placed on it leads to different arguments. You could make the argument that a breast feeding Mother is at work and therefore the act of breast feeding in a public space should be sanctioned totally. Based on the argument that Acker makes, capatalism values un-paid work less than paid work and therefore the norms that are associated with paid work will prevail and a breast feeding Mother's position is at the mercy of those norms.
To answer your post questions. I generally have no comment about breast feeding in public. I am a single working student who does not spend my free time in places where there are children. I do generally appreciate people who modest in any respect and would appreciate someone breast feeding under a blanket or in a private space. I do think that we should all make accommodations for people in all phases of the child rearing process.
It's funny because, in our society, it's perfectly fine for women to be seen as sex symbols and to walk around with tiny clothing, showing lots of cleavage. However, when it comes to nursing our children with those cleavage causing body parts, it's an outrage.
ReplyDeleteIt's despicable.
Under patriarchy the role of women is very defined and caring for the children, being labeled as carers actually, falls in line with that definition. In capitalism, the work that women do in the home is unappreciated and not considered a contribution to the economy because it doesn't directly bring in wages. This is a recurrent theme as seen in Acker's piece as well in Boydston's. Nobody is calculating the unpaid wages of women.
The apparent masculinity in capitalism seems to be to blame for the absence of places for mothers to privately pump and, of course, for the reluctance to begin to do so. This discourages mothers to return to work and allows men to continue their dominance in the workplace.
women complaining about their peers nursing in public is just another testament to one of the facts that the feminist movement struggles. Women's first loyalty is to men and not one another, a key factor in the slow going successes of the movement.
i love what you just said, @TuriChic "The apparent masculinity in capitalism seems to be to blame for the absence of places for mothers to privately pump and, of course, for the reluctance to begin to do so. This discourages mothers to return to work and allows men to continue their dominance in the workplace."
Delete--Perfectly written. These laws probably didn't exist until recently because of how our nation was built on capitalism, which was entirely unsupportive of women at first, and is absolutely considered un-paid, life sustaining work.
@TuriChic You're wonderfully correct, and so are you @BooksForLife ! Thanks for your comments. A silly side note-- I read the Acker article after I posted this, and I was so mad at myself for that because it really does relate to what I wrote about, but you both helped me see that right away! I am really impressed that you both tied in the reading here, as it is really helpful for everyone that reads this to see how it relates since I left it out! Thanks!!!
This was really interesting blog to read. I totally agree that women should breastfeed their children in public, because the baby might get hungry anytime during the day. It is unbelievable that some women do not support breastfeeding in public. It does not bother me at all to see a mother breastfeeding her child in public. In my opinion, breastfeeding a baby is something normal and not inappropriate to do. Some mothers would cover up while they breastfeed their infants in public. I'm not a mother yet, but if I ever had a child and if my baby was crying because she/he is hungry I would breastfeed my child in public. People should be more understandable and supportive on this topic because no mother should be discriminated to breastfeed their child in public.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that women should breastfeed their children in public, because usually a baby has a schedule to eat and I think it is unfair if a woman has to stop everything else in her life outside her home just to be able to feed her child and it is also unfair for the baby. Just because other people feel uncomfortable around the bare breast of woman one should not feeding a baby. People just need to get over it and stop being so rigid and uptight about something that is not only natural but also a necessity.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jane Doe. I think the reason why breastfeeding is considered "weird" is because people are used to seeing breasts in a sexual nature rather than a nurturing one. American society in particular has conditioned people to feel ashamed of their bodies, unless of course naked bodies are used by corporations to generate a profit. Just as women's bodies were designed to bear children, they are also designed to feed them as well, and there should be nothing wrong with that.
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