Breast Feeding In Church?

[thesometimesaint]

The act of breast feeding is maternally adorable in a maternal setting.

While childbirth may be a beautiful, even spiritual, experience, most women

would probably not want to share it with the ward in sacrament meeting.

A people do lots of things in private that while public knowledge are not for public consumption.

[Bernard Gui]

Let's say I was raised in a family and culture where flatulence is not considered rude. On the contrary, it is to be expressed openly and proudly without shame or embarrassment. Having been raised on a farm, I was early on exposed to all manner of animal gas expulsion. After all, it is a simple fact of nature and a natural by-product of the life-sustaining digestive process. It truly is a thing of beauty.

One of the pithy slogans of this culture is, "Eveyone bow! The king's dog has broken wind." I am taught that our natural bodily functions are not shameful, but beautiful and worthy of public emulation. I believe there is absolutely nothing wrong with tooting in public, even tooting with great gusto. Letting it all hang out, as it were.

So, should I be surprised, offended,and outraged if someone not of my leaning gets torqued out of shape when I let one rip in church? Should they suggest that I excuse myself and go into the private room expressly set apart for tooting? Should I take umbrage if the bishop takes me aside and asks me to refrain from offending others? Should I just cover it up and try to squeeze it out silently? I think not.

If those prudish sensitive types have issues, it's their problem, not mine. I have the right, nay, I demand the right to flatulate whenever and wherever I please.

And if you don't like it, you don't have to listen or breathe.

[Maidservant]

Let's say I was raised in a family and culture where flatulence is not considered rude. On the contrary, it is to be expressed openly and proudly without shame or embarrassment. Having been raised on a farm, I was early on exposed to all manner of animal gas expulsion. After all, it is a simple fact of nature and a natural by-product of the life-sustaining digestive process. It truly is a thing of beauty.

One of the pithy slogans of this culture is, "Eveyone bow! The king's dog has broken wind." I am taught that our natural bodily functions are not shameful, but beautiful and worthy of public emulation. I believe there is absolutely nothing wrong with tooting in public, even tooting with great gusto. Letting it all hang out, as it were.

So, should I be surprised, offended,and outraged if someone not of my leaning gets torqued out of shape when I let one rip in church? Should they suggest that I excuse myself and go into the private room expressly set apart for tooting? Should I take umbrage if the bishop takes me aside and asks me to refrain from offending others? Should I just cover it up and try to squeeze it out silently? I think not.

If those prudish sensitive types have issues, it's their problem, not mine. I have the right, nay, I demand the right to flatulate whenever and wherever I please.

And if you don't like it, you don't have to listen or breathe.

You know, this is worth thinking about, but here is where I would make distinctions on breastfeeding versus what you bring up (flatulence or any other [insert practice]).

> first of all, I would love to have a culture where, indeed, 'tooting' in public in the natural course of being alive is also not a consideration for embarrassment but simply an acknowledgement of humanity, so you are presupposing a shared value judgment from your audience on 'tooting' in order for this example to make the most sense; but leaving that aside

> second of all, I think something that we are discussing here is not only 'well, here is a group of people who think one way [no public breastfeeding]' versus 'a group of people who think another way from another culture [public breastfeeding]' and subsequently one or the other group 'loses' out in being able to enjoy their life because of the need of the other group also to enjoy their life. And if you think about it that way, then, indeed, who wins that? If there are two equally valuable choices, but they cancel out each other's enjoyment, then how indeed do we make that decision in some third way? so the point IS that, yes, this kind of discourse in the Church and in the society at large is a discourse amoung society members about the shape of our society for future generation and the way we go about it and the value judgements we will make on breastfeeding. It's a worthy discourse, whatever one's point of view in the issue is. This kind of discourse is how we got to where we are at in society and how we will get to where we are going, for the sake of coming generations. It's not an easy thing, because I say 'discourse' which implies talking, but that's only a small part of it, most of it is the actual 'acting'--women 'acting' to do what they think is right, and others 'responding' in some manner when faced with that act--so that's also the discourse. Yes! we are trying to convince each other! ha ha. I guess that's how it works .

> thirdly, I think you may have captured beautifully what in the reverse women may have been feeling for years about something natural and even sacred or at least beautiful or at least necessary and functional. I'm not saying that the following is what you think, but that your manner of expression works either way.

//Let's say I was raised in a family and culture where [breastfeeding is] considered rude. On the contrary, it is to be [hidden with] shame or embarrassment. Having been raised [in a [can't think of adjective] society], I was early on [watching my mother leave the room and wear a huge tent over her body whenever she fed the baby]. After all, it is [an act that can lead to inappropriate thoughts]. It truly is a thing of [danger and repulsion].

One of the pithy slogans of this culture is, "[pick one; something re the nature of the breast]." I am taught that our natural bodily functions are not [to be acknowledged] , but [something to be wary of and handled with care and for heaven's, sake, not shared with other human beings]. I believe there is [something really] wrong with [breastfeeding] in public, even [breastfeeding] with [a blanket] . [Covering it all up], as it were.

So, should I be surprised, offended,and outraged if someone not of my leaning gets torqued out of shape when I [refuse to let another mother breastfeed or refuse to be in the same room as the breastfeeding woman] in church? Should they suggest that I excuse myself and go into the private room expressly set apart for [persons who do not want to 'watch' breastfeeding]? Should I take umbrage if the bishop takes me aside and asks me to refrain from offending others [by staring at a breastfeeding woman with obvious judgement or other less-than-wholesome thoughts in my eyes]? Should I just [live with my own thoughts and deal with them privately]? I think not.

If those [perjorative, contextual adjective to be applied to breastfeeding mothers and their partners] types have issues, it's their problem, not mine. I have the right, nay, I demand the right to [stare and think whatever thoughts] whenever and wherever I please.

And if you don't like it, you don't have to listen or breathe.//

Edited March 3, 2013 by Maidservant

[ERayR]

Let's say I was raised in a family and culture where flatulence is not considered rude. On the contrary, it is to be expressed openly and proudly without shame or embarrassment. Having been raised on a farm, I was early on exposed to all manner of animal gas expulsion. After all, it is a simple fact of nature and a natural by-product of the life-sustaining digestive process. It truly is a thing of beauty.

One of the pithy slogans of this culture is, "Eveyone bow! The king's dog has broken wind." I am taught that our natural bodily functions are not shameful, but beautiful and worthy of public emulation. I believe there is absolutely nothing wrong with tooting in public, even tooting with great gusto. Letting it all hang out, as it were.

So, should I be surprised, offended,and outraged if someone not of my leaning gets torqued out of shape when I let one rip in church? Should they suggest that I excuse myself and go into the private room expressly set apart for tooting? Should I take umbrage if the bishop takes me aside and asks me to refrain from offending others? Should I just cover it up and try to squeeze it out silently? I think not.

If those prudish sensitive types have issues, it's their problem, not mine. I have the right, nay, I demand the right to flatulate whenever and wherever I please.

And if you don't like it, you don't have to listen or breathe.

Your analogy doesn't do much for me.

Let me share a poem from my grandfather:

Where ere you be

let air blow free

for the want of a f***

is what killed me.

[Nathair/|\]

Whenever topics like this come up, I'm always reminded of things like Venus of Willendorf and the sacredness of life itself.

Edited March 5, 2013 by Nathair

[cinepro]

For me the greatest mystery in the Book of Mormon is why no one ever mentions the bare-breasted women as being immodest. Were they covering up back then?

[Nathair/|\]

I just found something relevant and beautiful from the Bad Catholic blog on Patheos.

Blessed John Paul II – a boss in all respects – when asked for a solution to the crisis of pornography, did something fantastic: He commissioned artists to create and display more art of the Virgin Mary, especially of the Virgin breastfeeding. His answer to the problem of porn was not the lack of nudity – it was nudity. It was not to simply avoid pornography, to tiptoe around it and run whenever it reared its head (though for many of us men, this is the best response) – it was to crush “writing about harlots” by “writing about virgins.” To check vice with virtue, yes, but even more than that. Pornography is to be destroyed by beauty.

[niralemma]

No one is having a problem with mother breastfeed her child in the church, but some modesty should be remain. They should wear proper breastfeeding dress which hides their breast to large extent while breastfeeding.

[Storm Rider]

I disagree. There are few things as beautiful, as innocent, or as wholesome as a mother breastfeeding her child. It is not her responsibility to care for the feelings of others, but to feed her baby.  There is something particularly perverse about causing a nursing mother to feel as if she is doing something wrong by nursing her child.  It is up to the mother to decide what is most comfortable when feeding her baby.

[Scott Lloyd]

I recall a news story a few years ago in which a woman brought a complaint of discrimination against a fast-food restaurant because she was asked to leave after a customer complained about her breast-feeding a baby on the premises. (She was covered modestly enough at the time.)

 

I felt then and still do that the proper thing would have been for restaurant employee just to tell the complaining customer to get over it. Better in the long run to risk losing the business of one petulant patron than to offend and create an unwelcoming environment for another customer who, after all, is tending to her own affairs and not being disruptive as would be, say, rowdy children or boisterous teens, which are quite routinely tolerated in such places.

 

As for the topic of this thread, well, I'm conflicted. I'm tempted to say that those who are annoyed by the sight of a breast-feeding mama should just avert their eyes and mind their own business. But then I remember that pretty much everyone is there, at least in part, out of a sense of obligation, and perhaps it is being considerate to take something that is potentially bothersome or embarrassing to others into a private room. It might be similar to removing one's crying child from the chapel temporarily until the child can be quieted. Maybe it's a matter of good manners.

Edited October 5, 2013 by Scott Lloyd