| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| runninaroundnaked |
Posted - 05/18/2009 : 7:20:29 PM
what is the naturist view on this? |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| nude charles |
Posted - 09/24/2009 : 4:47:00 PM
I was in Barcelona for two weeks (Sep 2009), and women were breastfeeding on busy public streets. No baby covering. My feeling was that they were proud of it. |
| Warmskin |
Posted - 09/23/2009 : 8:48:22 PM
Interesting that it is people who are the only life form who fear nudity and breastfeeding. Too much demand for exclusiveness makes us less natural. I, for one, am fine with being in the same room with a woman who is breastfeeding. If she is comfortable with it, why should I feel uncomfortable? After all, the baby is not pooping in his diapers, he/she is getting nourishment, the same as we would get at the dinner table. If eating is that awful, everyone should eat in the bathroom, alone.
Just my little take.
"It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself."
Thomas Jefferson
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| old hippie |
Posted - 09/23/2009 : 2:06:03 PM
quote:
Originally posted by allnaturalwife
From a woman's point of view: Many of you might be surprised by my views as a woman a lifelong nudist with three children, and someone who is usually liberal in these matters. As far as breastfeeding in public, I find it to be quite "tacky" and inapropriate. Of all the nudist moms i see at our club, all of them put a small blanket over the baby when breastfeeding. And more often then not they go off to the side of the main area..under a tree or something. Furthermore this is an intimate moment between mother and baby..not just " the baby having lunch" as if its no different than my husband sitting next to me by the pool eating a cheeseburger.
Do I think that a mother breastfeeding in public is "an abomination"? Wouldn't say that, but just not too classy in my opinion. Also, in my opinion there is NO comparison that can be made between breastfeeding and ANYTHING else...so I do not buy the argument that "its no different than......." Its different than everything.
Jenifer, I stand corrected.
The "having lunch" was my phrase, and it seems to have been a bit off target. My intent was to indicate that there is nothing disgusting or abnormal about the act of nursing. But my experience with this event is entirely external. In the 50's and 60's, when my mother was raising my sibs and me, we were all nursed until we could handle pureed food (Gerber's and such). My mother, who is as staid and respectable as you could imagine, was quite comfortable feeding the baby in a public place; but as you indicate, she would sit off to the side, and usually toss a little blanket over the nursing child. While there was no question what was going on, it was handled discreetly. I saw this as completely normal beavior for the twenty years that my parents were raising young children.
What I was clearly not aware of was the special intimacy that you describe. Naturally enough, my mom never discussed this with her young son (me) - and none of my now-grown sisters has said much about it either. Thank you for the enlightenment.
The practice seems a bit less in favor today, but growing back in acceptance. I do think that members of the public need not show disdain when a mother chooses to nurse the child, especially when handled as you describe. Surely, with the recognition of the health benefit, it is a practice which should be acceptable.
Dum vivimus, vivamus! |
| allnaturalwife |
Posted - 09/21/2009 : 2:14:06 PM
From a woman's point of view: Many of you might be surprised by my views as a woman a lifelong nudist with three children, and someone who is usually liberal in these matters. As far as breastfeeding in public, I find it to be quite "tacky" and inapropriate. Of all the nudist moms i see at our club, all of them put a small blanket over the baby when breastfeeding. And more often then not they go off to the side of the main area..under a tree or something. Furthermore this is an intimate moment between mother and baby..not just " the baby having lunch" as if its no different than my husband sitting next to me by the pool eating a cheeseburger.
Do I think that a mother breastfeeding in public is "an abomination"? Wouldn't say that, but just not too classy in my opinion. Also, in my opinion there is NO comparison that can be made between breastfeeding and ANYTHING else...so I do not buy the argument that "its no different than......." Its different than everything.
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| wardt |
Posted - 09/20/2009 : 02:03:16 AM
I had heard about public breast feeding of course but had never seen it until this summer. I was visiting my cousin and a bunch of our family was together watching a DVD in the living room. My cousin decided to breastfeed her baby. She didn't feel it necessary to leave the room. She just pulled down her top enough for the baby to get at her breast and started feeding her baby. The rest of the family other than myself are not nudists but did not pay any attention to my cousin feeding her baby. Her baby wanted to eat and she wanted to watch the DVD and it was her own house so she saw no reason to feed her baby there in the living room. Eventualy she did cover up the baby nursing. |
| Taxman |
Posted - 06/08/2009 : 3:39:44 PM
quote:
Originally posted by runninaroundnaked
warmskin says jesus might not be offended;so for that matter...would the Pope be?
Good question. After all this Pope (at least in public) has yet to come down very hard on those under his control who have taken advantage of the young children.
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| Warmskin |
Posted - 06/08/2009 : 12:26:14 AM
I can understand that juveniles would get aroused about breast-feeding, but mature men and women? Are we really understanding and mature if we don't think we can handle breast-feeding?
My thought here is that we may as well close down every naturist resort, if the sight of non-excretion activity is happening near other people. Why is the breast so horrible? Do we need to go back to the Victorian era of not being allowed to show our ankles? How about those sexy piano legs the Queen thought were too racy for public consumption?
Who decreed that breast-feeding was reprehensible? I am really curious about that, thus my energy about this topic.
Values change constantly, and I hope the public can pull its socks up and grasp the concept of being human.
I don't mean to offend, neither am I a juvenile who gets his kicks in this discussion. It's the philosophical nature of me.
“In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.” -John Adams |
| thornapplebison |
Posted - 06/07/2009 : 05:39:02 AM
Alright. This has become very creepy. A bunch of guys sitting around debating the merits of a woman breastfeeding her child in a public setting, especially when most of them seem to be debasing the act into, "a kid having lunch," is just grotesque. I've stated my opinion and have nothing more to say on it, other than to express my suspicion that some people on the internet might be getting their rocks off on thinking about this, and I'm not going to help them out with that anymore.
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| Warmskin |
Posted - 06/07/2009 : 04:47:06 AM
Another facet this interesting discussion might be what is preferable -- violence or the human body. We are comfortable watching all sorts of gratuitous violence, but we cringe at seeing a woman breast-feed her baby. It's an upside down world.
I'm not saying there is no controversy with this topic, but the premise that breast-feeding, in that many people say must be hidden, is on par with relieving yourself in the restroom is simply something I can't agree to, even though I know honorable people will disagree.
Perhaps we have all seen and heard sloppy eaters. I would surely place them below the dignity of a nursing child in public. Imagine a sloppy eater in a cafe, who makes loud noises while he eats. Poor mannered as this hypothetical man is, he then belches with muffling himself. We would all agree that man is uncouth, but he would still not be in any violation that would have him banned at the cafe.
Conversely, we have a hypothetical woman who breast-feeds her very hungry baby in the booth next to the rude man's booth. The woman is a humble person. She does not seek to inflame anyone. She quietly feeds her hungry baby while she is waiting for her meal.
Which of these is the most obnoxious? I would say the man is. He is rude and obnoxious. The woman is doing what is lovely and natural.
It would be my contention that we as a people are uncomfortable with our human nature. We would prefer raw, gratuitous violence, or an obnoxious eater at a local cafe, to maybe seeing a human breast.
Why are we the only mammal type life form to have this problem and who brought it on? Somewhere, there was a disconnect between normality and an unhealthy regard for a woman in her natural function. Meanwhile our critter friends have no such odd feelings about it all.
I cannot even find a spiritual reason for this anomaly in Christianity, which is the majority religion in America. Can anyone in the Christian faith imagine Jesus rebuking a woman who is breast-feeding? I can not, for one. I can understand that someone might object to my usage of his name. What I am trying to do is find the origin of the seeming ban of breast-feeding in public. If I were more of a sociologist, perhaps, I would know. Lots of times, religions can be the source of things like this, but I am going back to the roots of the teachings of my own religion and cannot find anything close to this banning motive.
I guess I've said enough in this one post. 
“In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.” -John Adams |
| old hippie |
Posted - 06/07/2009 : 12:16:52 AM
"continue the conversation" ? ....Um, yeah. If mother is comfortable with that (and I can't imagine why not, at a nudist resort), I have no problem either. As Warmskin says, the kid is just having lunch. Now, you may feel neglected at being outside looking in, and feel left out of this deep bonding experience that you are reading into the occasion; but for as much as I can tell (never having been a mother) the kid is having lunch. It's a very natural act, and as a naturist I find it completely normal.
I'm really not clear where this "chewing grass" aspect comes in - -humans are omnivore mammals, not ruminants; we are not equipped to derive nutrition from grass very efficiently.
Dum vivimus, vivamus! |
| thornapplebison |
Posted - 06/06/2009 : 7:51:25 PM
So, then, most of you seem to advocate that a woman at a nudist resort, in a public setting, when her baby is hungry, should simply lift the child and bring him to her breast? And the rest of us should just continue the conversation without missing a beat?
Would you have her chewing some grass at the same time?
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| nakeddan |
Posted - 06/06/2009 : 6:30:08 PM
Even at Disneyland there is an unofficial breast feeding park area right next to the haunted mansion attraction. My wife breastfed both of our kids there when they where infants in the '80 and '90s. It is totally natural and, in California, a woman's right to breastfeed her child is protected by law -- just as it ought to be.
What is wrong with people?
Stay naked! |
| Warmskin |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 9:56:17 PM
I'm speaking from perhaps a more ethereal vantage point that is oddly joined at the hip with the more earthy.
I don't conceive that breastfeeding is on par with using a bathroom, or taking a shower, or partaking in sex. What I am driving at is how uncomfortable the general public is with a baby being fed naturally. Is not your act of eating food at a restaurant rather intimate? I am not considering what the public thinks in this specific concept. Whether it's a baby or an adult, it's imbibing nourishment. Whether it's from a nipple, or the end of a fork, does anybody really stare at either an adult eating, or a baby being fed? Isn't that rude of somebody to stare at a person who is eating.
Perhaps we could agree that changing a diaper on a restaurant table is not a good thing to do. However the point of contention is not about excrement, but rather drinking a fluid, which the rest of the restaurant customers are doing.
While the public may be excessively antsy about a non-sexual or non-excremental activity in regards to a baby being fed, I find it to be a clean, wholesome activity, that is perhaps as neat or neater, as watching a guy slobbering while trying to down a long string of spaghetti, and getting sauce all over his shirt.
I'd feel much more comfortable with watching a baby being nursed naturally than watch a guy drinking one beer after another, and then start to belch. Yet, people would feel less offended by the beer drinking belcher. A lot of people would laugh at the beer drinker, but shriek with horror as a baby drink some mother's milk. Is there something wrong here? As one man said, (I think H.L. Mencken)"No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people."
I don't want to get too far down on my fellow citizens, but I wish we Americans would be a little more graceful about life. If they were, nudism would be more commonplace. We are great at invention, productivity, working all year around, but we have so much to learn about being comfortable with our body. Compare and contrast us with Europeans. Americans are still mired down by the rather late Queen Victoria, with all her strange and bizarre views of the human body. Americans seem to be, on the whole, quite antiseptic about being human.
“In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.” -John Adams |
| old hippie |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 9:35:02 PM
Thorn, you are right that a certain level of propriety and respect should be observed in a public setting. This does not prevent a mother from nursing her child, though; it simply demands a bit of discretion. When I was a younger person (ages ago, in the 50's) and my parents had the good fortune to enjoy many children younger than me, my mother was comfortable nursing my siblings in numerous settings ranging from home to railroad cars. She would easily throw a small blanket or a towel over her shoulder, maybe sit quietly off to the side. No one questioned her activity ( it was widely recognized and universally accepted), and no one seemed bothered. The baby was quieted, and life went on.
But I think part of that was the easy acceptance of the times. Kids went skinny-dipping in the river, parents were in charge of the home, and gas was $0.22/gal. I think things have changed a bit. Now everyone seems ready to take offense at any small slight, and we are all edgy about the chance of incurring such wrath. Makes for a less friendly society, I think, but I have no illusion of changing it.
Dum vivimus, vivamus! |
| thornapplebison |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 7:47:17 PM
Warmskin, it seems unlikely to me that you even read any of my posts. This discussion is not about a woman breastfeeding her baby in a private situation, such as with family or very close friends nearby.
However, you demonstrated the slippery slope that Safe said isn't here when you moved in the course of your post from defending the idea of breastfeeding in private to celebrating matter-of-factly done (whatever that means) breastfeeding wherever a woman may be.
I will say again that a woman is not a cow. Breastfeeding is not merely a biological process, and I would be embarrassed for any woman who treated herself as if it was.
There is a difference between the natural and the debased. Debased behavior is necessarily natural-- but it is lacking any of the spiritual and emotional refinements that separate humans from animals. I am not saying that there's anything to be ashamed of-- just the opposite. I'm saying that breastfeeding is an intimate moment that deserves to be elevated above the level of public display.
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