What breasts are for

Yet another mother has been harassed for breast feeding in public. The store manager of the South Weymouth iParty walked up to the woman while she was breastfeeding her son in the store and asked her to stop because he did not want the other children to see what she was doing. Quick kids, hide your eyes, as if she was doing something perverted .(news coverage of the story can be found here).

Where has this guy been, under a rock? Does he not watch the news? How many times has this happened this year and the offending company has had to apologize for having an employees with their minds in the gutter? At least three?.( Flash back to those news items here and here. iParty was quick to issue an apology and promises to address the issue in their training of employees. Better late than never I guess.

This is a hot topic for me because I have five children and I breastfed all of them. I won’t bore you with the benefits of breast feeding, if you read, watch or listen to any type of media, you already know. What you may not know is how many awkward situations you run into.

While I was in the hospital for the birth of my twins, the nurse grabbed our camera and snapped some shots of us while I was breastfeeding. Both of them at the same time. Where the is no real way of covering up in those hospital gowns while doing it. On 35mm film. Which has to be taken to a lab to be developed. Which the photo-tech has to look at. Who you have to look at when you pick up your film. Who you want to slap the smirk off his face for being a little perv but can’t . Instead, you call over your 6 foot 1 inch tall built like a brick wall steel worker for a husband. Then ask said perv if he has something to say about your photo’s. No? You sure? Good.

Why is it in our society that women are made to feel awkward while breastfeeding in public and have to suffer through the summer heat with two layers of clothing,(one being a bra which are not made of a light material). This is not a problem in third world countries, that we are ( supposedly) soooo much more advanced than. Yet some people in this country still believe that children have to hide their eyes from the sight of a breastfeeding mother.

Who came up with the bright idea that breasts were sexual organs? Breasts were made for breastfeeding our children. Not for the spreads in X rated magazines. Not to be drooled over , not to be silicon enhanced. They are made to mature , to sag, come in every shape,size,color, and to be used for a purely innocent and beautiful purpose , the feeding and bonding with our infants.

The fact that we actually have to have laws to protect our right to breastfeed in public without harassment, is disheartening. It means that we still have a long way ahead of us before women are no longer considered a sexual object.

By the way , Massachusetts is one of the three remaining states that DOES NOT have a law to allow breastfeeding in public. Politicians , you are being watched as to how this is to be alleviated!

Ladies, forget iParty. Get to the root of the problem. Stage a "Nurse in" at the state house!