Embarrassed

A recent article published by the Huffington Post brought to light some major issues regarding breast feeding in public. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/07/hollie-mcnish-breastfeeding-in-public-embarrassed_n_3557230.html) I know it's a touchy subject, so I wanted to address this early on in my blog. I'll put it out there. I feel like a mother should have the right to feed her baby anywhere, anytime, and should never be made to feel embarrassed about feeding her child.

This says it all. "Embarrassed" is spoken word by Hollie McNish, a mother no longer afraid to speak out about breast feeding her child in public. Forced to feed in public bathroom stalls out of fear of comments, dirty looks, and society's pressures against nursing in public, McNish has finally had it. She wrote the words spoken in the video above while nursing her child in a public bathroom stall.

I have to say, this is perhaps one of the most inspiring things I have heard as a new mother. Breast feeding in the US is awkward. Although we legally have the right to breast feed in public now, most mothers still feel the need to cover up. And many of those that do (myself included) still fear that we will be kicked out of stores, restaurants, and other public spaces by people who think that it's "dirty" or "indecent" to breastfeed a child. Let's face it, society can be really hard on a new mother. Constantly telling us how we should raise our children, what, how and where we should feed them. The simple act of feeding our children has become micromanaged by societal pressures. We have allowed strangers to convince us that breastfeeding our children in public is something sexual. Katharine McKinney from the Huffington Post points out rightly that "If you don't support breastfeeding in public, then you don't support breastfeeding." Read the article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katharine-mckinney/breastfeeding-in-public_b_2814004.html

This brings up the greater issue. Since when did America have a problem with breasts? McNish points out that advertising has breasts everywhere. Although we are not the UK, we are often worse when it comes to sex in advertising. It's everywhere. For some reason, our country has assumed that breasts being displayed must be something sexual. Even though the actual purpose and design is intended for feeding our children. How did we make this leap? When did our country become so outraged at seeing an uncovered nursing mother, but doesn't seem to bat an eye at underwear models plastered on billboards, commercials, and magazines? Somehow, our country has equated feeding a child with the same indecency of Janet Jackson flashing the world during a half time Superbowl show.

One of the girls in a mommy group I belong to talked about an encounter she had while nursing in public. A man she didn't know made a comment while walking past her during a nursing session. He said, "hide your shame." Since when did feeding a child become something shameful? I would ask the question, if men in this country are so perverted that they have to make everything about sex, but the sad truth is, that even many women have a problem with nursing in public. Women have become embarrassed of their own bodies. We are shaming each other into covering up, and hiding away in bathroom stalls. We are eating away at an infant's right to eat.

It's not a singular occurrence either. It happens everywhere. Hollister, McDonalds, Facebook, Target, buses, court rooms, government buildings, the mall, the pool, a Delta airline flight, churches, and cafes across America. Mothers are being kicked off of flights and out of stores for nursing. They are being publicly humiliated by Judges in courtrooms, managers in restaurants, and random strangers who think they have a right to dictate when and how a child should be fed. The ironic part? That many of these same strangers are the ones who give dirty looks and comments when a baby is crying uncontrollably in public as well. The nursing mother is damned if she does, damned if she doesn't. We can't win. It feels like some of the most educated people in America are the ones that are helping to perpetuate the belief that nursing in public is "distracting" or "indecent." When a baby gets hungry on a flight, what are we supposed to do? Babies don't just stop being hungry for your convenience. Breastfeeding is necessary. As McNish and McKinney point out, before we had breast pumps, bottles, formula, and before society decided that it was something indecent, it was a necessary act. Breastfeeding is still necessary. Nothing has changed other than the attitudes of individuals.


1.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/07/hollie-mcnish-breastfeeding-in-public-embarrassed_n_3557230.html
2.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katharine-mckinney/breastfeeding-in-public_b_2814004.html