Defying Mixed Messaging

This morning I became a fan of "If Breastfeeding Offends You, Put a Blanket Over YOUR Head" on Facebook. It’s a campaign to support women to breastfeed in public, which might seem a no-brainer, but is still an issue for parents. I’m long finished breastfeeding, but I support women to do it when they need to. A baby’s got to eat, after all. "Breast is best" is the current directive, yet women shouldn’t be doing it public and have to take political stands about carrying through? Unfortunately, it’s another example of the contradictory messaging we get all the time.

Contradictory messaging can be in a magazine that features instructions on making a luscious dinner and on the next page has an article with tips on how to refrain from eating it. It can be in an ad for a gym that purports to support a healthy lifestyle for all, yet presents a stick thin woman as the ideal. It’s the messaging that implies we should want sex all the time (especially now that we’re in the cougar range) but doesn’t acknowledge the myriad of hormonal, life stage or relationship issues that can influence sexual feelings. It’s unrealistic about real humans.

The argument against breastfeeding is that naked breasts can be seen as sexual and therefore shouldn’t be in public view. Breasts are sexual. But like the rest of us, they’re multi-functional- our bodies are capable of amazing things. Facing doublespeak challenges one-dimensional thinking, recognizes the many layers we are.

So I say go for it to all those women who defy derision and breastfeed in public. You take a stand for every woman on mixed messaging, and each step matters.

- Janet

Check this Out:  Infant Feeding Action Coalition

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