Hunter was hungry.
I’m watching Whale Wars, getting all pissed off that people want to kill endangered creatures — illegally — so people can eat them. It’s nothing new. I watched the same thing last season and I know what to expect, but it keeps happening. Even with the monumental and very brave efforts of Paul Watson and his crew. Paul, I think you’re tops.
I can turn on any news channel and see the Gulf getting blacker and slicker with unbelievable amount of oil and it seems to me that not enough is being done fast enough. Instead of seeing the live feed of poison spewing out and destroying eco-systems and killing sea life with repercussions for all of us for years and years and years, I should be seeing things being tried to stop it. But I don’t. And BP keeps spilling.
And during a commercial break from the Sea Shepherds, I check out Christie’s Facebook page to find a story about a mom being forced to breastfeed her baby in the bathroom after attempting to feed during a Colorado Rockies game, and I don’t want to believe this keeps happening. I find it hard to believe that was the most “lewd act” going on in the stands. You’ve been to baseball games, right?
Our society as a whole is getting more progressive — technology is proof. Yet things that seem simple enough — don’t send whales into extinction, put a freakin’ cap on that oil leak, and let a baby eat when she’s hungry no matter where she is — end up being colossal failures.
If someone was illegally slaughtering an animal in the house next door and you knew it, would you just smile and go about your day?
If your toilet bowl started to overflow and wouldn’t stop would you calmly go into the kitchen to make dinner and when someone asks you about your toilet, you say you want your life back?
If it was time for you to eat your very favorite meal, would you think that the bathroom was the best place to enjoy it?
Even if you all agree with me and say no to all those questions, these things keep happening.
As a society, we are too complacent. With all we know, with all the technology, we forget the simple things that should be common sense.
I’m hoping the new generation of babies get so disgusted with the often cold stance of our advancements, that they start a back to basics movement. A movement a lot of us are starting now. And we have to keep it up.
A coup. A change. And I hope I live to see it. To see the whales. To see the blue waters of the Gulf. To see mothers and children being treated with more respect.
Tags: bp oil, breastfeeding in public, colorado rockies, whale wars
Twitter: RanaAurora
says:
Hear, hear.
I definitely agree that the baby should eat whenever, and the bathroom isn’t very sanitary but…what’s wrong with using a nursing cover? I nursed whenever, wherever, but used a cover not only because I am uncomfortable with public exposure, but because I respected that most other people are too. My daughter received the same benefits she would’ve without the cover.
Just an interesting example…I am a somewhat young high school/middle school teacher, but I look VERY young. As such, some of my male students make lewd comments about me (never TO me, of course…I just hear from the other students). If I were to just pull up my shirt at one of our school football games around those boys, for no reason, I’d be fired and probably arrested. If I do that because I’m nursing my daughter, the boys still think about it the same way…that’s just how it works. Not that I shouldn’t nurse there if needed, but I can use a cover just as easily as not. So…no issue then, right?
Twitter: RanaAurora
says:
The problem with a nursing cover, LG, is that not all women WANT to use one, and not all babies will tolerate it either. A LOT of babies, in fact, will cry and pull on it, think you’re playing peekaboo, or other NON-nursing activities. It’s not productive.
Not to mention nursing covers draw much more attention to the mom, when a double-shirt method can be done in a manner where unless you are right NEXT to the mom, it just looks like she’s holding her baby.
If you were fired and arrested for nursing in front of teenage boys, you’d create a huge lawsuit because that’s ILLEGAL. You are protected by law because your baby’s meal is more important than the hard-on in a boy’s pants, and pulling up your shirt for no reason is COMPLETELY different than pulling it up for the purpose of nursing. Apparently they think you’re hot, so chances are they’d be more embarrassed or shocked at seeing your breast… but you’d also be showing them that you’re NOT just a sexual object. Trust me, it is NOT the same thing to them.
We all do things we don’t “want” to do for our babies.
As for my students…shocked? Without a doubt…”guess what I just saw?!” would be mobile-posted to facebook within seconds (trust me, I’ve seen their conversations). Embarrassed? The very small handful of respectable ones probably would be…the ones who leave the room or change the channel when a Victoria’s Secret commercial comes on, for example. I am surrounded by teenaged boys and am VERY familiar with their thought processes, reactions, etc… not only at work but, being the oldest of 13 children, a few of my brothers are still teenagers. Plus, I hear their conversations because for some strange reason they think I can’t hear across my classroom. These are the boys that will scour Nat. Geo. magazines for tribal articles in hopes of seeing topless native women…believe me, they do NOT care about the context of the nudity.
Think about it…if a guy sees a woman as attractive, then in his peripheral vision sees her pull up her shirt, the initial reaction is the same…then, when she brings a baby to her, that doesn’t mean he will think, “Oh, never mind, that’s not sexually attractive anymore…she’s nursing.” Yeah, they might be weirded out by it, but the thoughts won’t change. I wouldn’t be changing a thing if I nursed without a cover in front of them…just leaving less to their imaginations.
I realize the REASONING is completely different in randomly pulling up one’s shirt than it is for nursing, but the exposure of a private area is still the end result. I promise that, especially if they find the woman attractive, males won’t see it any differently (and I have been assured of this fact by respectable adult men), and we’re not doing any favors to the few men who are attempting to be respectable and not think of women inappropriately.
People keep saying “your baby’s meal is more important than _________”, but no one is saying your baby shouldn’t eat. I would just use a cover and/or go to a more private area, which is all anyone ever asks. No one says “the kid will have to get over it and wait”. It’s okay if the cover calls more attention to what I’m doing…I’m not ashamed that I’m nursing, and I’m sure you’re not either…I’m just not okay with exposure.
The Holistic Moms channel on youtube made a video to encourage possibly reluctant young moms to nurse by showing pics of moms nursing all over the country, which is a great thing. I think the video will work to convince moms to nurse who just think nursing is weird, or that no one does it anymore.
However, it WON’T convince moms who are modest and unwilling to expose themselves…if they didn’t grow up around babies like I did, they won’t realize that they can easily be covered and still nurse in public when needed, especially with how much better nursing covers are now. Too many women say to such moms, “don’t be ashamed, you don’t have to cover up, it’s beautiful!”…it is beautiful, but that doesn’t mean strangers need to share in the experience.
This line of thinking could keep modest women from nursing, and that’s the most important part…getting the most women to nurse, regardless of how they handle it, right?