Breastfeeding IS a feminist issue

I am a feminist, I am a mother, and I choose to breastfeed my children.  These labels do not define me, but they help to explain my values and belief systems.  As a feminist/mother/breastfeeder, you can imagine my shock and disgust about the recent "incident" at American University in which Professor Adrienne Pine breastfed her daughter at work.

You would think that I would learn to NOT read the comments of blogs, Facebook posts, and news stories, as they are all too often filled with hate and vitriol, but it's like that trainwreck you just can't turn away from.  I've read people bashing this woman for bringing her child to class in the first place.  Having been a single, working parent, I understand all too well the dilemma that Prof. Pine was faced with:  lie about your child being sick and send them to daycare, take the day off and risk a write-up or other such negative reprimand, or take the child to work?  From all sources that I have read (including Pine's own account here), she chose what looked like the best option for her and her family:  take her child to work rather than risk reprimands that could affect her career.  The professor explains that when she was not wearing her baby, she was crawling on the floor or being held by her T.A. (while not the T.A.'s responsibility, she volunteered to help the professor by holding the baby).  When the baby started getting fussy, she did what any breastfeeding mother would do and started nursing her child.  Now, choosing to breastfeed her child in this instance not only helped to soothe the baby, but it also kept the baby from being a screaming disruption to the class.  So what's the fucking problem?

The problem is that Americans are not used to seeing breastfeeding as the normal way to feed a baby.  Since the introduction of formula in 1867, formula feeding has been looked at as a sort of status symbol, that is, those who can afford to do so can purchase a substance to feed their baby whereas those without that sort of luxury had to breastfeed theirs.  It is STILL seen this way in some third world countries where the benefits of breastfeeding would far outweigh the risks associated with formula feeding in an area without clean water supplies.

In America, breasts are seen as something to use to get a t-shirt from Joe Francis or beads from a drag queen on a float.  Breasts are seen as those things men can fondle and suckle on during intimate encounters with their partner (or just that girl they brought home from the club).  Breasts are those lumps on the chest that fill out and complete an ensemble ("the bigger the better, the tighter the sweater").  Breasts are those things that men lust after on the beach, strutting by in triangles tied together with string.  But using them for nourishment of your child?  Blasphemy!

I firmly believe that breasts can be both nourishment and sexual objects, but their primary objective is to nourish a child.  When did we move away from this?  When did it become okay to ask a woman to cover herself up when feeding her baby, or chastise her on the internet for breastfeeding her tot, or tweet about a woman feeding her child in a situation where she was doing the best she could?

Adrienne Pine explains that feeding her baby was not "some sort of radical feminist act", and maybe it wasn't, but this type of discourse encourages conversation from those on both sides of the F word fence.  We've been told as women that we can't have it all, in regards to motherhood and career, but why is that?  Why can't we have it all?  At what point in time does it stop being okay to bash women for trying to have both a career and a family?  When does that paradigm shift occur in which breastfeeding stops being seen as something to cover up and hide to do, and become as natural and commonplace as giving a bottle or pacifier while out in public?  This IS a feminist issue, it is a family issue, and it is an issue that needs to be more seriously addressed by policy makers who still believe that women should not receive paid time off when having a baby, who believe that it's okay for a woman to be fired from work because she has a sick child, and who still exempt salaried employees from being able to receive time and a space to pump milk to feed their child while they are away.