I find it both interesting and frustrating when people tell you when you 'should' wean a baby/child from the breast.
Why do assume that the child does not know themselves? Why do they insist on saying babies must be weaned? Could it be because of their own insecurities and comfort levels? I highly suspect so. Of course being raised in a society that views women breasts as sexual does not help at all.
Maybe if we had pictures and billboards all over the country of babies and children breastfeeding society would start to see the normality of it. It is how we and other mammals survive.
I love this paragraph from the OO7 Breasts website, in regards to breasts being sexual.
"Well, we do have a peculiar obsession with breasts in this culture. A lot of
people think it's just the human nature to be fascinated with breasts but in
many cultures, breasts aren't sexual at all. I interviewed a young
anthropologist working with women in Mali, in a country in Africa where women go
around with bare breasts. They're always feeding their babies. And when she told
them that in our culture men are fascinated with breasts there was an instant of
shock. The women burst out laughing. They laughed so hard, they fell on the
floor. They said, "You mean, men act like babies?"
Carolyn Latteier, the
author of Breasts, The Women's Perspective on an American Obsession, in a
TV program "All about breasts". (see
transcript)
1 comment:
Oh I loooove that site! It helped me so much when I was getting over my self-breast-hatred before I had Harri. And the article on why breastfeeding rates are low is fantastic!
Post a Comment