Heather wrote a remarkable post about breastfeeding and modesty, and it inevitbly attracted not only disagreement, but really unreasonable and inconsiderate disagreement.
One poster made an analogy I have heard many times - that of breastfeeding uncovered in public being comparable to putting a bottle of beer in front of an alcoholic.
Heather's response was brilliant:
The problem with comparing a mother nursing in front of someone struggling with porn to placing alcohol in front of an alcoholic is that breastfeeding isn't porn. If you want to go with that analogy, then I'd say it would be more like putting a Dr. Pepper in front of an alcoholic. Dr. Pepper is like alcohol in the fact that it's a drink and it's fizzy, like beer. Breastfeeding might be like porn in the fact that it involves a person and possibly some nudity. But not all alcohol is fizzy and not all soft drinks are alcoholic. In the same way, not all pornography is nudity and not all nudity is pornographic. Breastfeeding is not pornographic for the reasons I've stated in the post.
Might I add she has much more patience with the temper tantrums of that poster than I do.
I went to school with MJ and so I try to be kind. :)
ReplyDeleteexcellent metaphor
ReplyDeleteI had a feeling she was extra special or you wouldn't be posting those comments. She's not very tactful, is she?
ReplyDeleteIf nursing is porn and we shouldn't do it, then why aren't they closing all beaches, public pools, malls with sexy advertising, newspapers and magazines with underwear ads, oh, and the Internet, we'll have to cut that too. If you step out of your house- yes- you may see a boob. But that's because when you step out of your house you are in the real world and people have freedom. Of all the things to protest.....give me a break...
ReplyDeleteWhy not focus all that pent up sexual anxiety on a worthy cause?
Amen!
ReplyDelete