the only thing i could think of for the whole decency/exposure thing is, and while i understand the needs of the mother & baby, perhaps consideration for others whose cultures are quite different.
for example, somehow this came up in one of my classes, but my TA's religion/culture forbade him to touch women (skin contact) before he was married (and i'm assuming after he got married, skin contact would only be allowed to his wife and i guess to pick up his kids, and what not), but he made a distinction of keeping good personal space between himself and us when he would be describing labs and stuff (this is ismael, btw, for ariel & mel, and i think susanna told me about this).
he didn't make it too obvious, and he didn't impose anything on anyone, he just kept a healthy (slightly less than arm's length) personal space bubble.
now, while i think people should respect mothers for breastfeeding their babies, because it is a big task & more trouble than formula, i think at the same time, mothers should have some respect for other people who may not want to see exposes breasts, especially those who believe it's a major sin or something and that they're condemned to hell or have to pray for five hours to be forgiven or something.
i'm not very religious, nor do i advocate or think one religion is better than other, but if we're going to live in a country where freedom of religion is such a big thing, then i think at least we should respect people who do follow their religions, whether we agree with the beliefs or not, as long as they're not infringing on other people's rights. i think they're entitled to at least a belief/thought that breastfeeding should perhaps not be so public.
that being said, most people that i've seen breastfeeding in public are quite discreet. most of the time, you can't even tell that they're feeding at all. but there have been some who are like, let me take off half of my shirt and show the entire world my right breast... which, at that point, they should at least expect to be oggled at by people.
i'm not sure where i'm going with this. lol. i support breast feeding, and i personally don't mind it in public. i don't think the magazine cover is inappropriate, nor offensive. i think the rest of our society just needs to get used to the concept. i think given a few more years it'll be mainstream.
for example, somehow this came up in one of my classes, but my TA's religion/culture forbade him to touch women (skin contact) before he was married (and i'm assuming after he got married, skin contact would only be allowed to his wife and i guess to pick up his kids, and what not), but he made a distinction of keeping good personal space between himself and us when he would be describing labs and stuff (this is ismael, btw, for ariel & mel, and i think susanna told me about this).
he didn't make it too obvious, and he didn't impose anything on anyone, he just kept a healthy (slightly less than arm's length) personal space bubble.
now, while i think people should respect mothers for breastfeeding their babies, because it is a big task & more trouble than formula, i think at the same time, mothers should have some respect for other people who may not want to see exposes breasts, especially those who believe it's a major sin or something and that they're condemned to hell or have to pray for five hours to be forgiven or something.
i'm not very religious, nor do i advocate or think one religion is better than other, but if we're going to live in a country where freedom of religion is such a big thing, then i think at least we should respect people who do follow their religions, whether we agree with the beliefs or not, as long as they're not infringing on other people's rights. i think they're entitled to at least a belief/thought that breastfeeding should perhaps not be so public.
that being said, most people that i've seen breastfeeding in public are quite discreet. most of the time, you can't even tell that they're feeding at all. but there have been some who are like, let me take off half of my shirt and show the entire world my right breast... which, at that point, they should at least expect to be oggled at by people.
i'm not sure where i'm going with this. lol. i support breast feeding, and i personally don't mind it in public. i don't think the magazine cover is inappropriate, nor offensive. i think the rest of our society just needs to get used to the concept. i think given a few more years it'll be mainstream.
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