Maggie's Farm

This piece is a bit behind the news cycle, but what the heck. Breasts are interesting subjects which keep popping into the news: see Anchoress. More on "boobgate" at Protein. Boobgate is just too silly, and not worth commenting on at any length. (Ed: Basil does a great job with the subject today.)

But remember the fuss about that BabyTalk magazine cover last month? I thought it odd that many were upset by story about the mom breast-feeding her baby on the cover. Some termed the image "disgusting."  Meanwhile, that magazine for new moms probably sat on a magazine rack five feet from a wide variety of porn magazines.

Why did anyone find that Baby Talk cover worthy of comment at all, much less negative comment? Can a society be puritanical and licentious at the same time? Well, why not?

We're not supposed to be reminded that breasts are for food? Nobody gets upset about using T&A to sell things (tits=hits, as the old blog expression goes), but something about using breasts to feed babies seemed to touch a nerve. Very strange, because feeding a baby is the most natural and beautiful thing in the world, or so we are told.

I figured that it bothered people because it's an animal function, and we aren't animals, are we?

John of Part-time Pundit has a theory, as quoted in his piece Where Feminism and Motherhood are Forced to Do Battle, in the Daily Illini:

Earlier this summer, breast-feeding mothers were harassed by staff at Sholem pool for breast-feeding in public. Women caring for their children have been harassed in restaurants, parks and pretty much anywhere you find children congregating.

The law is quite clear that breast-feeding is not indecent or sexual. The medical community and community health advocates have concluded breast-feeding is what is best for the baby (and usually the mother). However, there is still tremendous public pressure against breast-feeding.

Despite the fact I see more boobs walking across the Quad, or for that matter watching C-SPAN, somehow breast-feeding is apparently too much for this promiscuous college town. After all, Champaign County does have a syphilis epidemic for a reason. A society that uses breasts to sell every conceivable product on the market is horrified by the concept of a breast being used for its designed biological purpose.

It could seem plausible to blame the religious right; After all, they were responsible for the protests over the infamous Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction of 2004. However, the religious right is generally more child-friendly than those on the other part of the political spectrum. The religious right supports women having children in the first place, as opposed to the left which supports slaughtering them on the altar of abortion.

Here is a more reasonable theory about the source of resistance to breast-feeding: It collides head-on with radical feminism. When former Harvard President Lawrence Summers suggested there are biological differences between men and women, he was run out of town. Breast-feeding is the ultimate expression, next to child-birth, that women are indeed different from men.

The whole piece is here.

In my opinion, breasts are multi-purpose organs: breasts are for feeding babies; tits are for fun, bosoms are for comfort, and snuggling; and boobs are ART to look at. Guys look at boobs - always. We cannot control our eyeballs, which have little tiny minds of their own. And, dear lady readers, we love 'em all, regardless of size or shape. I know that you understand, ladies: you check us guys out in your own sneaky ways.

No workplace rules or social rules will ever prevent men from staring, or admiring, or glancing, or covertly appreciating. Guys are made to like them - and women are always interested in their own, too.  No amount of PC will prevent this fun and intriguing male pastime.

But I think that it is an unusual guy - or an adolescent boy - who would find nursing mothers sexually titillating.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breast-feeding for a minimum of 12 months. Not only is it best for the baby, but it's best for the mom, too. Every month a mom breastfeeds, she reduces her risk of breast cancer.  Moms with jobs find it challenging, unsurprisingly.

Image on top of blog: Picasso's Nursing Mother

For a t-rated, adolescent-type humor image, see continuation page for a gal for guys (or gals) who think they have it all.