There seems to be a lot of articles recently about people, mostly women, breastfeeding in public. Actually, it's not just women, it's babies too! Blank slate? I don't know. Think of the scandal! Think of the children? What would the blind prophets of legend say?
So after much thought, I realized this debate is missing something critical: my opinion. Today I have decided in my blog to take a stand. This doesn't bother me. In fact, I don't see what the big deal is. It's very natural and healthy for the child, which makes sense since the nature channel is always showing other young mammals following their mothers around and nipping at their tits. If it's good enough for a pig, it's good enough for a baby. Speaking of which, have you ever seen the movie "Story of the Weeping Camel?" It's a solid movie, probably one of the top 2 movies I have ever seen about Mongolia, right up there with "something about a dog" - that names isn't' quite accurate but you get the idea. Actually, I must admit they were both made by the same people so my knowledge of the legendary Mongolian film industry is limited. Bygones. What I was saying was that in this move, the mother camel had hard delivery and shuns her white camel child. Most of the movie is spent watching the family trying to get the mother camel to nurse the baby white camel. Whenever the baby camel came around, the mother camel would kick it and let out a loud camel sound, something like the sound of a dead seal mating with an elephant in the suburbs. Yeah, that's what it's like. Actually, the first time the mother camel kicked the baby camel I laughed but it's still touching, you can feel the pain in the baby camels eyes. They say it was trained in method acting, and it shows. The movie might not sound like much, but the scenery and lifestyle documented in it are fascinating. Anyway, as much as their was a point, the point was it's natural for mammals to nurse their young.
But I digress. I was speaking of humans. I think it's a little awkward for people to be around mothers who are nursing, especially if you are an uncontrollable repressed sexual pervert (see conservatives who favor banning nursing in public), are uncomfortable with the human body (see comic book fans), or just don't believe in family values (see democrats). For everyone else, it's natural and maybe beautiful and just something that happens that you shouldn't actually put much thought into, like removing a pebble from your show.
For the sake of argument, let's say I am a comic book fan and I get all sweaty when a women near me is nursing. Get over it geek! I would scream at myself. Aren't we fighting a war (or two or three - what a jerk!) to stop extremo islamo-fascist governments that require women to be covered head to toe. And now we are telling women here to put more clothes on? Think of the millions of 7th graders around the world who would kill for this. In France, women bath topless. I have been to some of the beaches and believe me, it's a double edged sword. Think Aunt Bethel at Thanksgiving - they look just like soggy mashed potatoes hanging from your spoon. Ugh.
Anyway, I think I got used to it in Mexico, then again in Honduras. You don't actually see it that often in America. In fact, I don't remember that last time I saw it in America. In Mexico, I remember a women walking around the market with a baby strapped across her shoulder, everything out and about in the air, buying meat as people swatted bugs and shooed dogs like nothing was abnormal. When the baby was hungry, it leaned in. When it wasn't, it looked around. Seemed like quite a natural way to go about it, probably why National Geographic always posed women topless when doing their photo shoots.
In Honduras, it was even worse because I always knew someone who just had a baby, I saw almost all my females friend's breasts. It's a little weird initially because you don't know where to look, but yo get used to staring at something nearby or, god forbid, looking the woman in the eye. After a few conversations, you can look just to the right of her eyes and she can't tell. Quite frankly, the female body is a beautiful thing, breasts included. But when you put a 22 pound smelly screaming machine on the end of the breast, it's not so attractive. People need to just relax and move on with their lives.
People are so annoying sometimes.
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