I don’t think one lactating breast will cause the ultimate downfall of anyone’s moral code.
I’m in Georgia, good ole’ U-S of A, where exposing your breasts for any reason is considered a mortal sin by half the residents, so I feel your pain!
- two unnamed supporters of the scourge that is public breast-feeding
Having my breasts discussed worldwide at length is pretty disconcerting. I’m disappointed in a handful of people who have tried to reduce the incident to a simple case of hurt feelings. Yes, my feelings were hurt. Rosa Parks probably had some hurt feelings too when she refused to sit in the back of the bus.
- Erika Ross
Perhaps I’m a bit more open-minded in some respects than some folks, but I have a difficult time understanding why some many people are so threatened by an exposed breast. As a society- and it appears this may well be as true in Canada as it is in the US- we seem to have no problem with graphic, bloody violence. Show us a partially naked breast, though, and the peals of righteous indignation can be heard hither and yon. Hypocritical? Perhaps. Silly? Without a doubt. Out of whack? You bet.
I’ve always wondered what it is in our moral makeup that allows us to feel no conflict with watching a brutal, bloody murder, while the sight of a naked female breast launches the self-righteous into paroxysms of righteous indignation and moral outrage. Suddenly, the moral fiber of society is in question, and the innocence of our children has been violated. WTF?
Seldom does this contradiction become more ridiculous than when it comes to the issue of public breast-feeding. If you somehow find anything even moderately erotic about a mother breast-feeding her child, you have bigger issues than you might think. Most mothers will find a way to at least be reasonably discreet, but really…what is there about breast-feeding that should be considered dirty or inappropriate?
When Erika Ross lifted her shirt and unsnapped her bra to nurse her newborn daughter last month in Dufferin Grove Park, she never expected that people across Canada, the United States and even Finland would end up weighing in on it.
But the innocent gesture unwittingly drew her and others in her community-minded Dufferin-and-Bloor neighbourhood into a passionate international debate on breastfeeding in public. During the past six weeks, moms and “lactivists” from around the world have weighed in, using e-mail and on-line message boards. There’s also talk of activists across North America planning a rally in Toronto during World Breastfeeding Week this August, possibly at the park where the bra-haha began….
Recreation turned to recrimination on Jan. 7, when Ms. Ross and her husband brought their baby and toddler to the park’s Friday Night Supper program. It was their first outing with their 12-day-old newborn and they enjoyed munching vegan food by a wood stove and catching up with friends.
Then Ms. Ross, 33, pulled up her shirt and opened one cup of her nursing bra to breastfeed — inadvertently flashing the room (including a few men lacing up for shinny) for a moment when her baby didn’t latch on to her nipple right away.
Park volunteer Jutta Mason rushed over and asked Ms. Ross to move to the washroom. “She was standing up and appeared to be taking her shirt off over one side of her head,” Ms. Mason says. “She had most of her upper body exposed. The question was: Where was it going?”
Perhaps I’m a bit slow when it comes to these things, but why is it more acceptable to show a depiction of a human being being blown away, and yet the depiction of a female breast is cause for righteous indignation? When did it become more acceptable to show a breast being destroyed than being caressed? In this case, we’re not even talking about a breast being caressed; we’re talking about the signature maternal act of breast-feeding. There is nothing inherently or remotely sexual in the act of breast-feeding. If you’re one of those puritans who are offended by the sight of a mother offering her breast to her infant child, I’ve got a simple piece of advice: GET OVER YOURSELF.
At least the province of Ontario gets it. According to the Ontario Human Rights Code, women have the right to breast-feed their baby anytime, anywhere. What is so surprising is that this attitude is such a rarity.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, Saving Private Ryan is about to start on the Disney Channel….
