fighting for milk

I guess the nurse-in at The View/ABC-TV and Barbara Walter's little faux pas are fading away from public notice. Ever lagging behind, I did send commentary to Ken Schram, the Seattle-area commentator who likened breastfeeding to peeing in a glass jar at the mall, and to Rosa Brooks, the Harvard-educated lawyer who wrote in the LA Times that breastfeeding is undoing all the work feminists have done over the last twenty years. Oh well. I am clearly finding my voice again. Here's what I wrote:

Mr. Schram:

I take issue with your statement that men cannot change from thinking of a woman’s breasts as sexual objects to thinking of them as a food source. My husband, my teen-age stepson, my father and my brothers have all made the transition nicely. I certainly hope that my two breast-fed sons remember that a woman’s breasts are first and foremost for nourishing children. Their role in sex is serendipity. Rather than throwing up your hands and saying, “Oh us poor dumb men can only think about sex!” perhaps you might better use your position to educate your fellow men as to the real ways of the world.

Regarding the issue of covering up; I am reminded of the Victorians who put shawls over their pianos lest men become excited from viewing the piano legs. The shawl drew more attention to the fact that pianos have legs. Throwing a blanket over the baby’s head while nursing can be more of a red flag than a woman discreetly holding her child to her breast. In three years of breastfeeding, I’ve yet to see a mother outside of the comfort of her home, “bare it all” to breastfeed.

Sincerely,

and

Ms. Brooks:

I read your editorial in the LA Times Online with interest. I am sorry that you chose to perpetuate the myth that a mother with a job outside of the home cannot breastfeed her child. I am a full-time librarian successfully breastfeeding my second child. I use a breast pump twice a day to insure that my son has breast milk when I cannot be with him. My intention is to pump until he is a year old, as I did with his older brother. I am very fortunate to have an understanding employer who supports my decision to pump breast milk. Legally, the state of Pennsylvania offers me no right to do this. I do use that time to answer emails, make phone calls, or catch up on professional reading. The result? To date, I have not had to call in sick due to illness in my eight-month old. I am a happier and more content employee, knowing that I am doing the best that I can for my child.

I, too, consider myself a feminist. I am a graduate of Bryn Mawr College. However, I am disturbed at the trend of some women to proclaim that feminist achievements can only come from career women. Motherhood is an important and vital role in society. Rather than seeing lactivism as a threat to “all that has been gained,” it would behoove public figures such as yourself to join with Senator Olympia Snow to create legal protection for mothers to breast feed and pump milk for their children.