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My Father's Day Awakening
Sunday, June 17, 2007

This morning while taking my run I was listening to "Natty Dread" by Bob Marley and it got me thinking about my stance on breastfeeding in public. Bob can have a transforming effect on people, you know, especially when he chants lines like, "Don't care what the world say. I'n'I couldn't never go astray."

Then I came home and shared my latest blog posts with my dear husband who looked at both sides of the breastfeeding in public debate (he's a Libra) and told me I was being unreasonable and was dead wrong on the issue. And so on that note, I concede defeat, although I feel like Oda Mae Brown when she had to hand over the 4 million dollar check to the nuns in Ghost. I'm smiling through clinched teeth.

My husband reminded me that while I personally didn't want to breastfeed openly in public, there are other moms who do and their harassers shouldn't be applauded. I have to remember that.

Labels: breastfeeding in public, commentary

posted by Jennifer James @ 12:20 PM,

8 Comments:

At June 17, 2007 2:41 PM, Fat Lady said...: Wow!!! What a revelation. If you're anything like me, it must be hard to relent. I tend to be pretty confident that I'm right on any issue I feel strong enough to argue about, so whenever I accept that I'm anything less than completely right - it takes some serious effort for me.

Which means that your post today raises my already considerable respect for you.
At June 17, 2007 3:20 PM, Jennifer said...: Ditto the fat lady. You rock!
At June 17, 2007 3:34 PM, Mamaebeth said...: my husband is my sounding board too... i love and hate it when he tells me i am wrong. :)

there was a pretty good article about a day in the life of a breastfeeding mom in parents magazine (July?). all the pictures were very nice and it had a nice message i think.

i was wondering if you could expand on the comment you made about black women being harrased more for BF in public though?
At June 17, 2007 4:25 PM, rach said...: It's so refreshing to see someone so thoughtful. What a process. Thanks for your honesty.
At June 18, 2007 6:49 AM, Leah said...: I hate having to change my opinion. :) But I love the graphic you chose! It cracked me right up!
At June 18, 2007 3:00 PM, Jennifer James said...: Hi everyone. It was very hard to relent! I'd rather cut off my arm before admitting I am wrong in any case. But after hearing my husband set it right I could see where I was veering off course. Thanks for sticking around to see the metamorphosis.

Mamaebeth -- One of the reasons I was against such open nursing is I believed it would create a double standard for black and white women. It may seem OK for white women, but "too African" and "barbaric" if black women nursed openly in public. I still feel this way about the double standard, but I won't let it interfere with moms' right to nurse wherever they are.
At June 18, 2007 4:11 PM, Eilat said...: Well, now *I* feel foolish. I just left two comments in older posts (was on vacation -- catching up!) and now I see this one.
re: black women nursing in public, whenever I see any woman nursing her baby, be it under a blanket, or however she likes, I make an effort to give her a smile. Any more may infringe on her personal space and make her uncomfortable, but sometimes I receive smiles from people on occasion when I nurse, and it gives me confidence. I do wish I saw more women of color NIP. It would be a beautiful sight.
At June 19, 2007 12:47 PM, Jennifer James said...: Hi Eilat. Glad to see you're back! Was wondering where you were especially since I was writing crazy stuff about breastfeeding in public. I got all your comments in my inbox and laughed at the start of this last one ;)