Why are people bothered by breastfeeding in public?

Question

Why do people have issues with something that is natural, normal and healthy? Does it seem like people are more comfortable with women dressing in revealing clothes then when women who are more covered, are breastfeeding?

Answer 1

Because breasts have been fetishized in our culture to the point of being seen as sexual organs (like the penis or vagina). They are not, of course, their sole purpose is for feeding one's offspring. And because breasts are so sexualized in our culture, they are perfectly acceptable in that context (videos, commercials, movies, magazines), but as soon breasts are being used for their true function, people are offended. To me, it's completely backwards. You could have a woman with so low cut a shirt, that she is exposing MORE breast than a breastfeeding mother, but people will only be bothered by the woman nursing her child. And to say that breastfeeding is akin to urination or defecation, and should be relegated to the same places that are for those functions, is ridiculous. Urinating and defecating are smelly, unsanitary, and require exposing one's "true" sexual organs, and there are sanitary reasons (aside from exposure) for why it is not acceptable in public. And again, the only reason people see breastfeeding as a "private" function along the same lines as going to the toilet, is because people see the breast as a sexual organ. But, again, it has no true sexual function. Western culture is the only culture that fetishizes the breast to the extent that we do, in most other cultures breastfeeding is viewed for what it is: no different than a grown up sitting down to eat. Just because the breast is involved, people think women need to go the bathroom to feed their children. Personally, I don't want to go and sit in a smelly, dark, dirty, germ ridden stall while my baby eats (when I have one). I have no problem covering up with a shawl or blanket while my baby feeds, I prefer it, but I refuse to go to a disgusting bathroom because people can't see breasts for what they truly are...and the law says I don't have to.

Answer 2

I am not a breastfeeding mom however it does not bother me to see someone breastfeeding in public. The only time I have been slightly bothered was on about 2 occasions where the moms basically undressed from the waist down to do it in public. That I find to be a little much. You can breastfeed a child without having to have both boobs hanging out. Otherwise there is nothing wrong with feeding in public...baby has to eat! Dont worry what others think about it. Do what you are comfortable with.

Answer 3

Breasts have been sexualized by our culture, so, there is a natural squeamishness about boobies out in public. Beyond that, I think a lot of people have a hard time de-sexualizing boobs enough to keep them okay on a psychological level with seeing a baby attached to one. Of course sex leads to procreation which leads to babies which leads to nursing but that doesn't work well for people who prefer to keep the procreation and the sexual act separate on a mental level. Boobs are for fun not food only cows/lower animals make food with boobs (that's the rationalization..if you can call it rational). Breast feeding and or ANY bodily function is considered very base, primitive, etc. I'll bet you money that the same people who are offended by a white middle class woman nursing would not be nearly so reviled by a National Geographic depicting some "native" doing the same. The Puritans and, later, the nutty Victorians, left an indelible mark on American culture. Look up your history or, better yet, get an Victorian-era Sears catalog--the Victorians were both scary and amusing.

Having said that, while it is natural and normal, there are nursing rooms available in many places today for that purpose. As a nursing mom, or at least one of the past and soon to be future, I wouldn't do it in public unless forced by some bizarre circumstance to do so (and, then, only covered) MAINLY because you don't know who is around and who wants a weirdo looking at you, judging you, or calling the cops on your for indecent exposure?

Answer 4

Because unfortunately we are a country of puritanical prudes. Hopefully, we will advance away from this, but I fear it is here to stay. I say feed on ladies! The more women that do it, the more acceptable it will become.

The acts of urinating, defecating and passing gas are not analagous to breastfeeding. Everyone eats in public and it is not viewed as disgusting. People that equate a baby sucking on a breast with any of the foregoing, have serious issues.

Answer 5

The people who are bothered by it have issues. You see more on billboard ads and magazine covers in the grocery store than you do on a breastfeeding mother.

Also, you have to be a freakin' retard to compare breastfeeding to urinating or defecating! What the heck, people? Do you not think at all? You can't compare the two - they're completely different! How in the world can you equate eating food with expelling waste? You eat food in public! Is that the same as when you take a crap?
BreastMILK is milk - it's food! Food that is going directly into an infant's mouth.
Piss and crap and other bodily secretions, which if done in public, can contaminate areas, spread germs, and make people sick. I can't believe how idiotic people are!

Answer 6

I'm not bothered by it, and am also mystified by people that are.

Ok, people, if you want a woman to breastfeed in a public restroom, you better be willing to take your own meals in that same restroom also. Most PRR's are dirty, stinky, nasty places(not to mention they also rarely have room for such an activity), so why should the mother and child have to suffer because you are uncomfortable with seeing a baby eat the way it's supposed to eat? And don't say "Well, she could have pumped". Sometimes, it isn't possible to pump enough, and sometimes that baby has to eat from the breast because the breast gets engorged and the woman is in an area where she can't pump. Get over it, people. If fat, ugly men wearing speedos isn't a crime(the same for fat, ugly women wearing a bikini), public breastfeeding shouldn't be either.

Answer 7

Read all the answers.
Still got mixed thoughts.

As long as a mother is discreet have at it.

Like if a women is out in the middle of the mall and is discreet about it, don't think anyone will give it much mind.

Hey, we don't eat in the bathroom, least I don't, and the little ones shouldn't have to either.

Answer 8

This issue is cultural in origin. In America women's breasts have been sexualised to an unhealthy degree. This has led to 'breastophobia' (my own term, of course) and is largely based in the religiosity of American culture in general (which I also think is excessive, repressive...to an unhealthy degree). Check out the advertisements in european magazines: tons of ads for body soap, etc., and depicting images of bare-breasted women - and guess what? Nobody even notices. much less cares. The day Palmolive places such adverts in Woman's Day" magazine, etc, is the same day hell freezes over! In central and northern europe women unhesitatingly sit bare-breasted on the beach and in city parks as they take in some rays during the summer months. Sauna's are co-ed and the 'sauners' typically buck naked. Nobody gives a s-h-i-t.

Answer 9

I don't have a problem with breast feeding. I breast fed both of my kids for 14 and 20 months. I do however think it is inappropriate to see it in public sometimes. This is not to say that public breast-feeding is wrong, just that if I'm eating at a restaurant, I don't want to see a big old boob accross from me while I eat my soup. There are ways to breat feed while not exposing everything.
Bottom line, as long as I don't I don't see the boob.... let the baby grub.

Answer 10

I'm a breast feeding mother, and I don't understand it, either.

-Breastfeeding in a restroom is NASTY. What if the person in the next stall is taking a crap while your baby is eating? Also, they're uncomfortable and unsanitary. I'm not gonna sit in a stall for 20-30 minutes.

-Breast pumping is not very efficient. I never get enough to fully feed my baby. Plus, if you pump in advance, you can't just skip a feeding. Your breasts fill with milk right on schedule, and there you are IN PAIN.

The only way to avoid breast feeding in public with a young infant is to stay home all the time. That's impractical and insulting.

Best breastfeeding quote (At an airport, waiting for an arrival):

12-year-old girl, with eye rolls and outraged expression: "Mom, that woman is FEEDING HER BABY right THERE in front of EVERYONE!!!"

Mom, in a very calm, relaxed tone of voice: "Well dear, we ARE mammals."