per ellipunk's request
Dear Ken et al. (hopefully, one of the addresses to which this is copied will reach one of Ken's supervisors!),
I received a copy of your story from a friend. I am extremely disturbed by the message you have sent out to your viewing area! You say that "most" people are made uncomfortable by seeing a woman nursing her baby. Exactly how is that message supposed to encourage women to breastfeed? Everyone agrees "breast is best," even the formula companies. The US Surgeon General, American Academy of Pediatrics, CDC, and WHO are all out there, trying to encourage women to breastfeed more often and for longer periods of time than previously recommended. Yet, you, Ken, you have the chutzpah to go on the air and tell women - including nervous new first time moms who might be watching your program - that their very PRESENCE in the outside world is making "most" people uncomfortable! How exactly is that encouraging them to breastfeed? Perhaps you aren't aware that new babies very often require breastfeeding every two hours, for anywhere from ten minutes to an hour at a time! I have personally breastfeed three babies - the first nursed for a full hour every two hours; the second nursed for ten minutes a side every 3-4 hours, and the last one nursed for 2-3 minutes at a time every half hour or so for the first month!! Unless you are suggesting that new mothers be condemned to a life of imprisonment in the home, babies MUST be fed in public. How DARE you suggest otherwise?
Regarding the offensive analogy between breastfeeding and urination - hardly. Urination is the excretion of bodily waste, whereas breastfeeding is the nourishment of a child via the secretion of milk, which is a food. Public urination is illegal, aside from being obnoxious. Breastfeeding is in most areas specifically legally protected (for example, in the city of Philadelphia, a mother is legally allowed to breastfeed in any place where the mother is otherwise legally allowed to be). Urination in public spreads disease, smells bad, and is just plain obnoxious and rude. Breastfeeding in public promotes public health (both the health of the nursing couple, and the health at large by promoting the idea that breastfeeding is a healthful behavior), has no offensive odor (and cuts way way down on offensive smelling diaper emissions!), and is in no way rude or obnoxious. Can I ask exactly why breastfeeding is then considered so offensive, while feeding a baby a bottle of chemically manipulated bovine milk is no problem at all? Quite frankly it seems very much more odd to me for any human being to drink milk originating from a bovine udder than milk from a human breast! And when you consider that every medical professional on the planet states that breastfeeding is the best choice for a baby, it's very very disturbing to me to see anyone rejecting that advice out of hand, and choosing to formula feed, to the detriment of that baby's health.
So. YOU are uncomfortable around breastfeeding mothers. Fine, Ken. STAY HOME! Avoid the grocery store, the Target, the doctor's office, the school yard, the public transportation, the pharmacy, the bookstore, or anywhere else that a new mother might have reason to be. Because, Ken, breastfeeding is good for society, and women with breastfed infants have lives to lead. I, for example, need to get the groceries, pick up new clothes for the kids, take the baby to the doctor, drop off and pick up the kids, and so on - and the baby needs to eat, and you can't tell a baby "sorry, you can't eat right now, it seems to bother this Ken character, you have to wait twenty minutes because gosh, this line is moving a lot more slowly than I'd expected." YOU, on the other hand, are an ignorant person who is feeding into the insecurities and secret fears of all nursing moms and would-be breastfeeders, at the expense of society. You should be ASHAMED of yourself.
Oh, and regarding your comment about men being unable to control their sexual impulses - my husband does fine. My dad does fine. My father-in-law does fine. My brother does fine. Pretty much all the men I've talked to about this - including my rabbi, an ardent supporter of breastfeeding who helped me handle a sticky situation with one of my sisters-in-law who unfortunately finds breastfeeding unpleasant, and many of my male friends who are aware of my commitment to the cause of breastfeeding, agree that seeing a nursing mom does not generate difficult sexual impulses but rather stimulates their fatherly feelings toward the baby. Furthermore, I have a 21 year old cousin (who was a semifinalist on that ESPN dream job sportscasting reality show, so he's clearly no wimpy kid) who tells me HE has no problem with public breastfeeding. He thinks it's "dope." I think you are giving men too little credit. Or do you think that women are, for example, unable to see a man urinating without becoming aroused because it is too hard to switch between penises as sexual objects, and penises as excretory tubes? Get real.
I truly hope this message reaches you and changes your opinion. I'm not holding my breath, though. I'm disappointed that KOMO TV4 aired this piece. I hope that the female newscaster who called you an idiot immediately following is being lauded for her honest and appropriate comments!
Sincerely,
Me
I received a copy of your story from a friend. I am extremely disturbed by the message you have sent out to your viewing area! You say that "most" people are made uncomfortable by seeing a woman nursing her baby. Exactly how is that message supposed to encourage women to breastfeed? Everyone agrees "breast is best," even the formula companies. The US Surgeon General, American Academy of Pediatrics, CDC, and WHO are all out there, trying to encourage women to breastfeed more often and for longer periods of time than previously recommended. Yet, you, Ken, you have the chutzpah to go on the air and tell women - including nervous new first time moms who might be watching your program - that their very PRESENCE in the outside world is making "most" people uncomfortable! How exactly is that encouraging them to breastfeed? Perhaps you aren't aware that new babies very often require breastfeeding every two hours, for anywhere from ten minutes to an hour at a time! I have personally breastfeed three babies - the first nursed for a full hour every two hours; the second nursed for ten minutes a side every 3-4 hours, and the last one nursed for 2-3 minutes at a time every half hour or so for the first month!! Unless you are suggesting that new mothers be condemned to a life of imprisonment in the home, babies MUST be fed in public. How DARE you suggest otherwise?
Regarding the offensive analogy between breastfeeding and urination - hardly. Urination is the excretion of bodily waste, whereas breastfeeding is the nourishment of a child via the secretion of milk, which is a food. Public urination is illegal, aside from being obnoxious. Breastfeeding is in most areas specifically legally protected (for example, in the city of Philadelphia, a mother is legally allowed to breastfeed in any place where the mother is otherwise legally allowed to be). Urination in public spreads disease, smells bad, and is just plain obnoxious and rude. Breastfeeding in public promotes public health (both the health of the nursing couple, and the health at large by promoting the idea that breastfeeding is a healthful behavior), has no offensive odor (and cuts way way down on offensive smelling diaper emissions!), and is in no way rude or obnoxious. Can I ask exactly why breastfeeding is then considered so offensive, while feeding a baby a bottle of chemically manipulated bovine milk is no problem at all? Quite frankly it seems very much more odd to me for any human being to drink milk originating from a bovine udder than milk from a human breast! And when you consider that every medical professional on the planet states that breastfeeding is the best choice for a baby, it's very very disturbing to me to see anyone rejecting that advice out of hand, and choosing to formula feed, to the detriment of that baby's health.
So. YOU are uncomfortable around breastfeeding mothers. Fine, Ken. STAY HOME! Avoid the grocery store, the Target, the doctor's office, the school yard, the public transportation, the pharmacy, the bookstore, or anywhere else that a new mother might have reason to be. Because, Ken, breastfeeding is good for society, and women with breastfed infants have lives to lead. I, for example, need to get the groceries, pick up new clothes for the kids, take the baby to the doctor, drop off and pick up the kids, and so on - and the baby needs to eat, and you can't tell a baby "sorry, you can't eat right now, it seems to bother this Ken character, you have to wait twenty minutes because gosh, this line is moving a lot more slowly than I'd expected." YOU, on the other hand, are an ignorant person who is feeding into the insecurities and secret fears of all nursing moms and would-be breastfeeders, at the expense of society. You should be ASHAMED of yourself.
Oh, and regarding your comment about men being unable to control their sexual impulses - my husband does fine. My dad does fine. My father-in-law does fine. My brother does fine. Pretty much all the men I've talked to about this - including my rabbi, an ardent supporter of breastfeeding who helped me handle a sticky situation with one of my sisters-in-law who unfortunately finds breastfeeding unpleasant, and many of my male friends who are aware of my commitment to the cause of breastfeeding, agree that seeing a nursing mom does not generate difficult sexual impulses but rather stimulates their fatherly feelings toward the baby. Furthermore, I have a 21 year old cousin (who was a semifinalist on that ESPN dream job sportscasting reality show, so he's clearly no wimpy kid) who tells me HE has no problem with public breastfeeding. He thinks it's "dope." I think you are giving men too little credit. Or do you think that women are, for example, unable to see a man urinating without becoming aroused because it is too hard to switch between penises as sexual objects, and penises as excretory tubes? Get real.
I truly hope this message reaches you and changes your opinion. I'm not holding my breath, though. I'm disappointed that KOMO TV4 aired this piece. I hope that the female newscaster who called you an idiot immediately following is being lauded for her honest and appropriate comments!
Sincerely,
Me