I’m a new mother and I’m breastfeeding my son. I feel so awkward feeding him out in public because I get such dirty looks. I’m not going to feed my son in the bathroom and I already feel bad about having to cover him up. I don’t know what to do! Do you have any advice? – Kristin
Dear Public Jugs,
Breasts are meant to nourish a new life and feed a member of the next generation. That is literally why we have them dangling from our bodies – so that one day when we push out a slimy infant it can suck them to shreds and grow up fat and strong. It’s so backwards that women experience shame and embarrassment from doing the one thing our bodies are ANATOMICALLY designed to do.
I made a vow to myself a few years back to never again hide my tampon when going to the bathroom. You know how us girls do… we’ll wheel a whole suitcase in there if it means concealing the fact that we’re on our periods. And at a certain point in time that just got to be ridiculous to me.
Patriarchal systems have cemented what males experience in daily life as a sort of universal norm. So whatever guys go through and however guys see the world is just how the world is. But imagine if the reverse were true. Imagine if instead women turned to men and said… ‘That’s so WEIRD, you don’t bleed? You have no way of knowing your body is regulating it’s natural systems and rhythms? Nothing happens to you once a month that functions as a constant monitoring for your health and well-being? Nothing that marks your fertility (or sterility, in the case of men)? What a freak!”
Yeah. We’d be looking at a different world, ladies.
Anyway, my point is that the more we hide normal, healthy, completely FINE behaviour (like changing our tampons and nursing babies) the more society can point and say yeah that’s weird. The more you show something, the more accepted it becomes. All those people who make you feel uncomfortable for nursing your baby are A. probably jealous of your hot, new-mum tits B. simply not used to seeing it so it inherently scares them and C. fucking squares who can go kick rocks.
Wave your tampons and nourish that baby no matter where the hell you are.
