There has been enough about breastfeeding lately – is breastfeeding good for babies? Is breastfeeding good for mothers too? Is the idea of not breastfeeding Western? Here’s another question now – Whose problem is it if a woman is breastfeeding publicly?
Viv Groskop, writing for the Guardian, raises this question in light of the appearance of new post-natal accessories, designed to shield onlookers from a supposedly offensive, unsolicited flash of lactating boob. Basically they look something like giant tents with a rigid neckline, allowing you to look down at your baby.
Response to these ‘devices’ has been mixed (and extreme) with some claiming this gives them freedom to feed publicly without feeling conscious and others forming groups against it like the “If breastfeeding offends you, why don’t you put a blanket over YOUR head?” group on facebook (can I also add this group has more than 260,000 members).
Different views, different takes. ‘Safety blanket’ for some, an undue ‘apology’ for others.
Something just tells me that the very fact that some comapanies choose to call these cover-up shawls ‘Hooter Hiders’ means there’s something terribly wrong somewhere.
I grew up in Turkey (Turkiye) witnessing every able mother breastfeeding their baby. They used simple covers (much lighter material, more like gauze where your breasts are not exposed but you can still see the baby’s face.) There was never a discussion or a conundrum about breastfeeding in the media, never. It is just accepted as a part of being a mother, naturally. I’ve never seen any breastfeeding mothers’ breasts, neither anyone bothering them for feeding their baby in public. I wonder sometimes if the so-called modern society is making things harder than necessary =)