If you read my original post and replace the word modest for discreet, my argument still stands. And why double for restaurants? Everyone else is eating, why not the baby? Isn't that exclusionary?
By insisting that I cover up with a diaper (which btw, most breastfed babies don't need to be burped, they aren't swallowing air like a bottle baby) you are implying that breastfeeding is somehow sexual, obscene, something that Mom should be embarrassed about, and should not be done in public. Thus asking me to cover up in any way, shape, or form is inherently nonsupportive of the activity. Its a politer way of saying "We don't want to see it, make it go away." Which is the very attitude we are trying to change.
Why do American's view breastfeeding as something that should be hidden? Beacause they think the breast is reserved solely for sex. By including it in your list of things of the bodily parts that should not be "flashed" you are perpetuating this position. Its just a body part. There's nothing inherently rude about skin.
I think America needs to get over its puritanical views of the human body and the things it can do. Goodness knows a lot of Europeans don't hold these views and they have some of the highest breastfeeding rates in the world. And its culturally acceptable and encouraged to breastfeed the baby anywhere.
And if you still think I should refrain from exposing my breast because its rude, then I think it should be just as rude, obscene, and illegal for a man to wander around without a shirt, after all, he has breasts and nipples too. =)
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If you read my original post and replace the word modest for discreet, my argument still stands. And why double for restaurants? Everyone else is eating, why not the baby? Isn't that exclusionary?
By insisting that I cover up with a diaper (which btw, most breastfed babies don't need to be burped, they aren't swallowing air like a bottle baby) you are implying that breastfeeding is somehow sexual, obscene, something that Mom should be embarrassed about, and should not be done in public. Thus asking me to cover up in any way, shape, or form is inherently nonsupportive of the activity. Its a politer way of saying "We don't want to see it, make it go away." Which is the very attitude we are trying to change.
Why do American's view breastfeeding as something that should be hidden? Beacause they think the breast is reserved solely for sex. By including it in your list of things of the bodily parts that should not be "flashed" you are perpetuating this position. Its just a body part. There's nothing inherently rude about skin.
I think America needs to get over its puritanical views of the human body and the things it can do. Goodness knows a lot of Europeans don't hold these views and they have some of the highest breastfeeding rates in the world. And its culturally acceptable and encouraged to breastfeed the baby anywhere.
And if you still think I should refrain from exposing my breast because its rude, then I think it should be just as rude, obscene, and illegal for a man to wander around without a shirt, after all, he has breasts and nipples too. =)