Everyday we’re bombarded through our televisions, and computer screens with whole commercials focused on half naked women parading around in skimpy lingerie, but when you scroll past a picture of a breastfeeding mother on Facebook suddenly the whole world is outraged. Why is public breastfeeding viewed as such a shame in our culture? The answer to that question is quite simple; we were groomed that way. We are so desensitized to looking at half naked women walking down a runway that it doesn’t bother us. Although, you don’t see a mother breastfeeding her child on every street corner so it stands out.
Why are new mothers attacked for giving their child the vital milk it needs? Those same people who get offended were most likely breastfed at one point to. A statistic taken from KellyMom.com which is a site where new mothers can find materials on being pregnant to good diets for mothers, says that nearly half of the mothers reported breastfeeding their babies on demand. Another statistic found through Wikipedia says that 63% of mothers have reported publically breastfeeding. When your child is screaming at the top of their lungs because they are hungry doesn’t mean you wait until you’re home from grocery shopping at Walmart. Nursing is natural, and in third world and Western countries is viewed as such and is much more common. Yet, in America people are hypersensitive to it and are often squeamish around a nursing mother. Most people when seeing a baby calf nursing off a mother will say “Oh how adorable!” So, going by that logic you would expect a child nursing off of a mother to get the same reaction, but in fact it is often treated in the exact opposite, with disgust. Why would you shame another human being for doing what is only natural? Breastfeeding in public is not illegal- anywhere in America and is not considered to be “indecent exposure” regardless if some people may view it as such. In fact, many states have laws stating that public breastfeeding is perfectly okay, and is encouraged. Mother of a 19-month old child, Ravion Lee states that “Many times you will see more ‘cleavage’ in fashion than you ever would from a mom feeding her child.” She was also quoted saying that society has groomed women to think that “If we use our breasts for anything other than ‘play’ it’s not okay.” If women weren’t so sexualized in the mainstream media maybe we wouldn’t have such a problem viewing them in different roles that don’t involve using their bodies for anything other than as just sexual objects. Point blank, breastfeeding your infant is one hundred percent natural and legal to do, whether it be in the privacy of their own home or out in public spaces. It’s morally wrong to keep a child from feeding, and keep a mother from giving her child the food it needs to survive, just because you have a problem viewing a woman as a sexual object. Our culture needs to be a little more understanding because after all, we were all an infant at some time. I believe in time that our society can readjust its opinion on breastfeeding in a few generations if we just open our minds.
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“What if I mess up?” “What if hates it?” “What if I never live this down?”
“Bre your client is here.” My thoughts are quicksand, the more I think, the less I’m able to move. My hands are two trembling earthquakes as I set up my station. Each second a chaotic whirlwind of emotion. Finally, I hear my own heels click on the hard tile, announcing my presence. Shoulders thrown back, eyes locked on my client like predator on prey, I pain on a radiant smile and a chipper tone. “Hi I’m Bre, I’m going to be your stylist today, please follow me to my station.” As my heel turns the pressure in the chest tightens, winding and contracting around my lungs. I carefully drape my client, hands cemented with false confidence. His face held the faces of all the others I would one day see in my chair. In him I see all the work I have yet to do. The demands of every ghost yet to come is embodied in him. Each syllable of every letter of every word is like a foreign language. Yet, I plaster on that million-dollar smile and just tell myself to “fake it until I make it”. As I begin to cut, I come to a key realization; that fear in essence is just false evidence appearing real. My instincts kick in and it feels like learning to ride a bike all over again. Fear was a wall, and I was breaking it down. All this fear of uncertainty and lack of knowledge was just a mirage. After the drowning waves of fear within me turn to a calm sea, I realize that I knew it all along. Many moons later I hear that same hum again; “Bre your client has arrived!” But this time, the things I viewed as weapons of my own demise have turned into my most useful tools. That fear of failure instead of holding me back, drove me forward. It empowered me to achieve success. Passing through the sliding-glass door-way it seems as if the clocks have stopped along with her heart. Light sprinklings of dust cover like newly fallen snow. Maple floors howl of emptiness. Cream colored walls whisper bittersweet snapshot childhood memories of what this place once was. TV’s stare back with blank faces. Plants now wilt with despair. Stillness now envelopes this place happiness once called home. The timeless woman is gone, and with her- my safe place. |
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