So I got this link sent to me. Read and then I'll spew out my rant following the link...
INFURIATING CRAP!!!! (that's the link there just FYI).
So... I mean are we REALLY that prude as a society? I mean b/c that is even coming from over here. Which, I've found it might surprise you, but seems that all of Europe, which includes England, is actually NOT as prude as the U.S. I came with the picture of England being very uptight and prude and wondered how on earth I'd survive. Instead within the first couple of weeks here I was watching FreeView (meaning public TV like ABC, PBS...) one evening at around 10-ish and out of nowhere found myself staring at a drunk man on TV naked as the day he was born swinging his man business around at a cop. Like he got tossed out of a bar, and was in the midst of his slobbery string of curse words, somehow managed to dis-robe when he couldn't stand up straight, and was swinging his junk around like it was some choreographed bit he'd planned out ahead of time. Well now, some may be thinking, "so we see that on cops all the time?". No. You do not. For television in America would've been prude enough, if not kind enough in this instance, to cover that bad boy up with a blurry spot or a black smudge.
At any rate. Drunken penis swinging is okay on national television. Mother discreetly feeding her child by the poolside while keeping a careful watch on her other child who is swimming happily...apparently not so okay.
So their reasoning was health. There are no food and drinks allowed in the pool for health reasons. Okay, now I'm not always that quick of a thinker. My best come-backs usually creep in about 15 months later. At any rate, it took me all of 45 seconds to tear this one apart. Was I a die-hard breast-feeder brazenly walking around with my boobs bared for all the world to see as it was my right b/c I had a newborn? Not at all. Actually, and much to my own surprise, I was very anxious about breastfeeding in public. I only did it a few times and was horrified the whole time. Wonder why? (And let me please add if you may not already know, I'm just not that shy of a gal by nature...).
However, let me please tear this one up.
1. They're worried about BREAST MILK which is going straight from mother's breast to baby's mouth as a health issue. How many times did you pee in the pool when you were little and I won't even ask that of you now as an adult.
2. If it wasn't going in the baby's mouth...guess what? It's actually something to be considered more of a health issue since I mean it COULD in all honesty just be pouring down her shirt, dripping all over every person that came within 10 feet of her thus infecting them with some flesh eating bacteria found only in breast milk.
3. To keep this from happening, if they really want to keep the no food- no drinks bit going, will they now test each female between the ages of 15 and 70 to be sure they are not lactating? Trying to sneak in like a cheap-ass at the movie theater with candy in their purse so they could skip out on buying their newborn a soda and bag of chips from the concession all the while inadvertently infecting everyone with this flesh eating bacteria only found in breast milk?
4. How many men would be lining up to apply for the job of testing breasts for lactation anyway? I know the economy is in the slump and jobs are scarce...I'd feel sorry for the interviewer.
5. Do they sit there with some heat seeking doom-a-flotchie gun and pick off pool piddlers? Each warm spot gets a kid tossed over the fence? I mean if we want to talk health hazards here...how much urine have we gotten in our mouths and ears and nose at a public pool. (oh I'm dry-heaving as I type).
6. I won't even mention the pants poopers or other nasty things that would leave everyone gagging that are REAL health issues. Chlorine be damned.
PUBLIC SWIMMING POOLS ARE DISGUSTING! THEY ARE ALL DISGUSTING! I personally, think they are ALL big giant cesspools of germs, bacteria and other stuff I really prefer to not know about. Ignorance is bliss and my ignorance and my bliss stay the hell out of public pools anyway. For that reason alone. Now that I know they don't allow breastfeeding though, I guess I can call it safe and head out for a swim.
So obviously if you did read the link, you noticed that they did amend the rule and apologize. Regardless of that though, I just am so flabbergasted by this sometimes I can hardly believe it. It is nothing, not even when I was young, single, thin and NEVER going to impregnate my lovely figure (well we'll be honest it IS true and I'm okay with the fact that I AM that vain but yes it is what I swore by for many many years) did it ever phase me one single bit to see a mother breastfeeding in public. It was normal, natural and commendable actually. I used to bitch a lot about things that I thought were deplorable at the time, but are just what comes along with kids. (Yes, I do still curse flat tummied, perky boobed 20 year olds who glare at my screaming crying children as if standing in line in front of me and having to listen to them wail b/c I won't give them everything they see is the worst thing they've ever had to endure for a whole 10 minutes of their lives...I curse them with 4-6 children who are possessed by Satan and talk like Gilbert Godfried). I do still do that. I can.
At any rate, what gets me...being a female and having boobs myself, is that I could walk around with a top on, that would likely show more breast than is ever visible when a woman is breastfeeding her child and be welcomed gladly by many. Okay so a lot of scowls from uptight folks too, but ya know what? How likely would they be to ask me to LEAVE vs. just talking smack, making faces and being horrified to themselves? I would not get tossed off a plane, out of a swimming pool, out of restaurants, stores, cabs...no. I would not. So please tell me, what is wrong with this picture?
It bothers me. It infuriates me. I honestly don't give a rat's ass if you think its awful, disgusting, weird...what have you, to feed a child via a breast (which guess what, that's what they're FOR, not just for fun! Functional too!) is it really so bad that we have to make women uncomfortable for needing to do it? It IS the healthiest option. It IS free! It IS a personal choice. It IS natural whether you like to think so or not. It IS sad, that women have to rush out of a store with a screaming newborn to find their car, a nearby restroom (which in itself is just a sad and gross place to feed a child) etc... out of fear of being reprimanded for feeding her child. Know where I did the majority of my public breastfeeding? In my car. In a dressing room (thank you Old Navy in Abilene for always being so understanding and sorry for that one time I wasn't so graceful out IN the store...). It is not right. It is not right at all. If you don't like it, then don't look. It's a pretty simple concept which seems to be one that is insanely hard for the world to grasp more and more. It's NONE of your damn business! Pretty simple. If it is not your breast or your baby, it's just not a bit of your concern.
My only solution I could come up with would likely end up exciting and rewarding those who probably detest public breastfeeding the most. I'd say we all shed our bras, cami's, layering tank, layering tee, and top shirt and let the boobies free! If we just had them out all the time, I suppose it wouldn't freak people out to have someone have a baby attached to it once in awhile. Not to mention it would just really make it much easier for said breastfeeding women as it is. I know I walked around my house topless for approximately 6 weeks with Kade and 13 weeks with Cody. That'd be how long I breastfed them each by the way.
With that. My rant is now finished. So is the video I've needed to load for a month now. So I shall return yet again.
If I don't get attacked by flesh eating bacteria only found in breast milk before I can get back....
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