Breast is Best Anywhere

Earlier this year, Australian mothers descended on the Bribie Island Aquatic Centre, north of Brisbane, to stage a “nurse-in” protest in support of a local mother who was asked to move from the poolside while nursing.

It’s hard to say it more plainly. Mothers have a right to breastfeed wherever they want.

I’ve contentedly breastfed while giving workshops, while shopping in the mall and at public functions. There is no reason under the sun why babies cannot be breastfed in Congress, City Hall, at workplaces, at little League matches, at churches, temples, or funerals.

There is no reason under the sun why these places should be defined on male terms, suited solely or mainly to male bodies and responsibilities.

If the family really is the basis for this country, then the House, the state and the nation need to be more family-friendly or stop and check their own hypocrisy. 

Breasts were not put on the planet for men’s pleasure, though they are sexual, just as ears, necks and knees. Women evolved breasts to feed babies, babies who go on to be productive workers in our current capitalist system, who grow into the citizens that define our nation.

 Breasts are a natural part of how women reproduce and nurture life. What we should question are their social meanings. Why are exposed breast considered immodest in some cultures and not others? Who decides women’s rights?

We have to trust and empower women to use their best judgment about where and what is right for them and their babies.

Feminist advocacy has long campaigned for spaces like breastfeeding/breast-milk pumping rooms in malls and workplaces so that women have somewhere quiet and discreet to go if they choose. The key point here is that they must choose.

Banishing women to seclusion despite their own choice isn’t progressive policy. It’s a denial of choice and an act of domination.