Breast Mystery

[dotinthesky]

Yesterday, on Bank station's busy platform, a baby begins to cry. The mother, to my right, picks up the baby, sits down, and gives her tit to the baby for a feed. Incongruous looks from some commuters (it doesn't bother me).

To my left, a 17-year-old blonde builder opens his copy of The Sun, right on the page 3 girl, and stares at her breasts as if his life depends on it.

Comments

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

I was awkward watching friends do it too before I had a baby. I can't speak for every breastfeeding mother, but somehow so long as someone isn't staring in a really creepy way at the mechanics, I can safely say I only feel awkward about it out of fear the people I'm talking to might feel awkward because they think I feel awkward ;-) I'd like to hope there's nothing on display (despite B's best intentions) so in theory you should just be able to carry on a conversation with me in the same way you would normally. In theory!

Perhaps because society has made it such a taboo is why we feel awkward watching friends especially do it. It's a real pity.

[steer.livejournal.com]

(Grin) That's a weird "spiral of awkwardness" -- I'm awkward because I think someone else might be awkward and they're awkward because they think I might be!

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

Exactly! And even knowing that doesn't make it any easier either!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

As far as I can remember, it's not a taboo in Brasil. We tend to be quite easy going with nudity, or with the body in general, and because we are a Catholic country (i.e. the worship of the Virgin and baby Jesus) we tend to look at breastfeeding with no contempt.

To me, people who are freaked out by breastfeeding probably come from conservative backgrounds, where there is an issue with the human body. But that's just my opinion.

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

Well, that makes you at least one friend I can definitely breastfeed in front of without worrying! :-)

It's very odd - as soon as I started breastfeeding, beyond the initial weirdness I stopped seeing my breasts as anything other than a food supply for B. Which is why I don't have any qualms about feeding her anywhere - my issue is what other people think rather than my own embarrassment and I don't want to upset people.

I wish people in this country were less hung up on nudity. I fully admit to having a problem with it myself and you won't catch me in any communal changing areas. I wish this culture didn't have that problem as it would be nice not to worry about it.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I think there's a segment of the British population which is very comfortable with nudity. I see it at the gyms I've belonged, where parents and children get naked together in the shower room (something my parents neved did with me.) And then there's the love of the page 3 girl, nudism, etc.

But yes, there is a large portion of people who are uncomfortable, for silly reasons I think.

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

I think the love of the page 3 girl is a different thing to liking nudity. It's still a covert love of the human form, in a sexual way, rather than an open, comfortable lack of inhibitions, non-sexual thing. There are some British people who are fine with it, I agree, but there's not many of them! You'd be seeing the minority who are because the rest of us would never dare venture to such places where we might have to expose a thigh ;-)

It is silly reasons, but it's as ingrained as apologising when someone walks into us, so there's little I think that can change society en-masse now. Maybe gradually over a few generations, and then only if people really wanted to. Mixing in cultures for whom even showing an ankle is considered taboo probably won't speed things along though!