Are We Still Having This Conversation?

Over three years ago, I blogged about how obnoxious I thought it was when young mothers felt judged for not breastfeeding their babies.  And I still agree with everything I wrote there.  But just recently it's come to my attention that there are still plenty of people judging women FOR breastfeeding their babies.  Which both astonishes and upsets me.  Didn't we get over this in the 70s with the La Leche League or something?  Or when science pretty much proved to the world that the absolute best thing for a baby is breastmilk?  And with a generation that regularly posts nude pictures of itself on facebook, I can't even fathom how this is even still an issue?

The more I think about it, the more angry I become.  There are people out there who honestly find feeding a baby to be "disgusting" or "inappropriate"?  Would these people prefer that I let the baby starve?  Scream loudly while in your presence?  Has our society become so backwards that nurturing a child can be called wrong or sexual?  It boggles my mind.  I have so many things to say about it that I hardly know where to begin.

And so I won't.  I'm going to let other people do my talking for me, because they were more eloquent than I probably could be, anyway.  So here are two great articles-- one satire, one serious, both from the Huffington Post, of all places-- which I need you to click on right now.  Really, read them.  Whether you agree with me or not, I think it's important.

How to Breastfeed Appropriately  (Thanks, Anna, for posting this on Facebook)

The Disturbing Trend I Noticed When My Breastfeeding Story Went Viral (and thanks, Candice, for posting this one!)

And, just because I kind of love it, here is a picture of Pink (yes, the rock star) nursing her baby right before a concert.  I keep discovering more and more of her music that I really like.  Finding this picture and discovering that we were born the same year convinced me that we are probably meant to be BFFs or something, if only she could meet me some day...

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I have one last point to make, and then I'll shut up about this subject for a bit.  Craig was telling me how one of the other teachers he works with is really into wrestling.  Teasing him, Craig pointed out that he found wrestling to border on the homoerotic side of things just a bit, to which this other teacher simply responded, "If you can't distinguish between a sport and a sexual act, that's your problem."

I think the same truth applies here.  If you can't tell the difference between nurturing a baby, and anything sexual at all, that's your problem.  And you might want to consider therapy.

And Pink-- if you're reading this, give me a call.  We need to hang out.