Why do people think breastfeeding is gross?

Question

Why do people think breastfeeding is gross but then they drink cow's milk.That is like breastfeeding from a cow.I always wondered how and why drinking cow's milk became so common.The picture I alway's think of is some farmer seeing calves drinking the mother cow's milk then the farmer is standing there and says"Oh,I can't wait to get a suck on that." Can you imagine instead of waking up and pouring cereal in a bowl and then getting the milk out of the fridge,you wake, pour a bowl of cereal,then go to the backyard and milking the cow's milk straight into the bowl?Does anyone have any theories of how drinking milk became so popular and common?Kind of a weird question,I'm not trying to stop anyone from drinking milk I'm just curious.

Answer 1

Hi!
I agree with you wholeheartedly!! it is kind of sad when feeding infants is the function of breasts in the first place!!!
My theory is....
A lot of people are stuck in the pre packaged culture! It is too easy to go and buy milk today so lots of people do!! It is quite easy to make oat milk, have you tried?It tastes great too!! They also think (well in The UK anyway) that it is perfectly ok to buy tabloid newspapers showing 'glamour models' with their chests [always huge and often fake] thrust out and wearing a 'sexy' pout!!! Men in the UK who buy these awful 'newspapers' would be the first complain about a woman breastfeeding her baby in a cafe "It ain't natural init , 'enry?!?!", more than a bit Funked-up don't you think? A lot of these people will disassociate supermarket packaged meats from sweet farm animals in their minds. Also for very young mums who have had to grow up really quickly, the convenience is there with packet milk. I had my daughter at 27 so I was a bit more patient. I think that breast feeding is only natural!! I breast fed my daughter for a fortnight and wished it could have been longer I was upset and felt like I'd failed when I had to stop. I bought a pump but very little milk came through . I was also bruised black! Chamomile ointment helped but in the end I just wasn't nourishing my daughter.

Andie.

Answer 2

There are various parts to the whole situation:

*In the past, the well-off often didn't nurse their children themselves. They had a wet-nurse who did it for them. So, there was a status thing involved in not nursing.

*Formula became available to be a healthier substitute for what people were trying to do if the mother was unable to nurse (she was dead, or unhealthy and simply not producing enough for the child). Of course, living in a society focused on $$$, it eventually got more and more of a push as something convenient and 'just as healthy' as breastmilk. Also, there were/are psychological games played, toying with people's emotions. "Dad can now feed the baby himself and not be left out of this wonderful experience!"

*Because formula came on the market and was going to be bought by those who had money, again, the not-nursing became a sort of status symbol of having money. Then, because bottle-feeding became so rampant, along with the whole 50's almost Puritanical media attempts, nursing came to be seen as something odd. And naturally so--what people see happening around them is what the brain processes as 'normal'.

*Add to this lack of breastfeeding as a 'visual' norm, our modern society's focus on sex and sexuality, they can not see women's breasts for what they really are--the location of the human milk production to feed human babies. They can not get their sexual views out of their head, and they are not used to seeing people breastfeed, and instead of questioning and thinking about what makes the most sense, they stay stuck in their personal psychological make-up.

Answer 3

This is my stab at this Q.Not so many years ago many people breast fed their kids as private as possible,however the hippy(HIPPI) age struck in and they as they thought ,against the establishment ( which provided everything for them) they had babies and to be opposing I suppose would haul out their bouzoukis any place any where and feed their babies causing tongues to wage.After that there didn't seem to be any happy ground.Incid. the hippy days didnt last long,and the stiffer scoiety took over again.

Answer 4

i see where you're coming from. i have no clue why. but see, what's the point of drinking milk when 99% of animals don't drink milk after infancy? and 99% of animals don't even drink milk from a DIFFRENT SPIECES!!!!!!!! so why do we? well, thank goodness i'm lactose and tolernt anyway.

good qustion

mEaTs nO tReAt fOr tHoSe yOu eAt

Answer 5

I don't think it's gross but my wife actually does. I guess it's just the thought of milk coming out of something that we find attractive and having a baby suck on the nipples. I dunno.

Answer 6

they are the most foolish people in the country dont even go near them.

Answer 7

How is this a vegetarian related question?

Answer 8

man... its not gross!!!!!!!!!!! protest!