Breast issue.

Now that Kickass Kids’ Books Week is over, we’re back to regular programming. And what better way to start than to talk about the recent furore over breastfeeding in public, sparked by an Associated Press article (read it at CNN) about the reactions to an issue of Babytalk magazine, on the cover of which a baby is shown nursing at the breast. The beautiful picture on the left is not from the magazine, but from The Department.

Quote from the story:

One mother who didn’t like the cover explains she was concerned about her 13-year-old son seeing it.

“I shredded it,” said Gayle Ash, of Belton, Texas, in a telephone interview. “A breast is a breast — it’s a sexual thing. He didn’t need to see that.”

The controversy spread to the blogosphere because the story carried a quote by SisterhoodSix blogger Rebekah Kreutz, who received a lot of flak for saying that seeing mothers breastfeed in public makes her feel uncomfortable and that it should be a private affair.

As a mother who breastfed for 21 months in public and in private, I think this is a storm in a teacup, much ado about nothing – you get the picture. Breastfeeding to me is a necessary part of parenthood, like changing a diaper. Sure some people will be turned off by it, but that’s because of their own inbred prejudices and conservativeness, not because there is any rational reason to be disgusted by it.

Breasts are made for milking. Fondling too, yes, but primarily milking. If you look at the anatomy of a breast, you’ll see that every part of it is designed for a baby to suck on for nourishment. Otherwise, there would be no areolae, since most men are perfectly capable of latching on without visual help. They’ve only become sex symbols because men just couldn’t let go of their mom’s apron strings and chose a depraved way to show it.

I nursed my daughter wherever, whenever, and I will do it again with my second baby. I breastfeed without a shawl, a bib or a nursing top, and if people can’t deal with that, too bad. They’re just victims of sexual popularisation, trapped in their own narrow-mindedness and passing it down to their children. Sad.