**Disclaimer: This post is referencing mothers who are told that they must cover, not mother’s that choose to cover.
There are attempts to control women all around us. A woman is expected to be sexy, but not so sexy that a man can no longer control his impulses. A woman is expected to be smart, but not so smart that she knows more than a man. A woman is expected to be successful, but not so successful so that she makes more money than a man.
Women get paid less for the same job. Women’s bodies are used to sell products. Women’s desire to have children and raise them gently has been devalued. Women went from being told they had to stay in the kitchen to being told that if they were in the kitchen they were less of a woman.
When a woman is told that she must cover so that other people don’t feel uncomfortable or so that no one makes rude comments or harasses her it suggests that she is responsible for what other people feel or do. It is the same line of thinking as telling a woman that she asked to be raped because of the clothes she was wearing.
It is an attempt to control a woman when she is told she must cover while breastfeeding.
Breasts are for babies. Breasts can also be used during sex. But the breastfeeding relationship is not a sexual relationship, breastfeeding is not a sexual act. The fact that breasts are sexually attractive is a cultural phenomenon. There are many cultures on this planet where the sight of breasts does not evoke feelings of sexual arousal. The natural function of breasts is to feed children. Sex organs are organs involved in sexual reproduction. Breasts do not fall into this category. (This is heavy stuff, but we must move on.)
In our culture we expect that sex organs be covered, but the suggestion that breasts are sex organs is just plain incorrect. Worse, the idea that breasts should be covered perpetuates the over-sexualization of breasts. This undermines the breastfeeding relationship between a mother and her child.
It perpetuates the over-sexualization of the female body when a woman is told she must cover while breastfeeding.
The female body has become a marketing tool, a toy to be used only by sexual partners, a sexy package for display. There is an illusion that she is powerful only because she is sexual. In reality, the over-sexualization of the female body depreciates its true value.
We have become estranged from the force of nature that is the female body. The female body can house, nourish and grow a baby, birth this baby into the world and then sustain the life of this child. All on its own. With no help from anyone. This is the greatest power in the world. We don’t need to see less breasts. We need to see more breasts in their natural function. Women nurturing their children is the foundation of civilization. We are the most important people. We will do what’s best for our children, not what you tell us to do.
It undermines the power of the female body when a woman is told she must cover while breastfeeding.
Abby Theuring, MSW
