Empowerment: Women Now Choose Objectification Over ‘Creepy’ Breastfeeding

posted at 12:34 pm on June 30, 2010 by Lori Ziganto
[ Feminist Nonsense ]   

Originally posted at NewsReal:

You’ve come a long way, baby. But make sure you keep babies off my “fun bags.” Or so says Kathryn Blundell, editor at the parenting magazine, Mother &  Baby.

Under the headline “I formula fed. So what?”, Kathryn Blundell says in this month’s Mother & Baby that she bottlefed her child from birth because “I wanted my body back. (And some wine)… I also wanted to give my boobs at least a chance to stay on my chest rather than dangling around my stomach.”

She goes on to say: “They’re part of my sexuality, too – not just breasts, but fun bags. And when you have that attitude (and I admit I made no attempt to change it), seeing your teeny, tiny, innocent baby latching on where only a lover has been before feels, well, a little creepy.”

She concedes that “there are all the studies that show [breastfeeding] reduces the risk of breast cancer for you, and stomach upsets and allergies for your baby. But even the convenience and supposed health benefits of breast milk couldn’t induce me to stick my nipple in a bawling baby’s mouth.”

Thanks bunches, ’sexual empowerment’! You’ve now made nurturing a child “creepy”. Many websites, like Lactivist, are upset over the negative, and misleading, message that the above article sends about breastfeeding and the benefits thereof. That is an issue; breastfeeding is frowned upon far too often and many women succumb to the pressures of family or work, and wean their babies earlier than they actually want to.

I breast fed my daughter for nearly two years. She weaned herself but, admittedly, I would have likely cut her off at age two regardless. Because, unfortunately, if one breast feeds older babies, they are often looked upon as if they should be wearing Birkenstocks, making tie dyes, and following around Lilith Fair in a volkswagen van.

But, there is another issue here that I find equally disturbing. What bothers me immensely is the fact that women now see their breasts as “fun bags” and as something meant for “lovers” only and not as a part of nurturing and motherhood. This concept epitomizes the very worst in female and motherhood degradation and it shows just how much damage the “sexual empowerment” fallacy, pushed by the Leftist Femisogynists, has caused. The thought that women should exist solely as sex objects is now rampant — even amongst women themselves.

The theory behind this whole article, in a woman’s parenting magazine, is that motherhood and nurturing a child is, as they always claim, a punishment. Something that results in the cramping of one’s “empowered” style. Sex is super fun! Motherhood? Not so much. Also, creepy. And anyone who says otherwise is a nutty wing nut liar!

They have ended up diminishing women and womanhood itself with these constant attempts to demonize motherhood and to try to turn it into a punishment and a detriment to one’s happiness. Instead of realizing that being a life bearing nurturer is one of the very best things about being a woman and is an attribute in and of itself, they constantly try to take that away, all in the name of some delusional perceived equality via sexual empowerment.

They’ve dehumanized women, as Kathryn Blundell’s article shows, by encouraging women to focus on sexual “equality”.  That has now removed any requirement that women be treated as something other than a sexual toy – even by themselves. And now, this has culminated in the idea that being a sex object is more important than nurturing a child.

But oh-how-wrong they are. Guess what? Those concepts aren’t mutually exclusive. A woman can be a mother and a sexy and sexual being. A woman can nurture and breast feed her child, bonding  in a way that brings so much joy that it honestly cannot be fully described, and still be sexually enticing. Considering yourself, and your body, as only a vehicle for sexual amusements is not empowering; it’s oppressive. Resenting the natural functions of your female body is not empowering; it’s enslaving.

Breast feeding isn’t creepy. What is truly creepy is when women dehumanize themselves and demean motherhood to the point where they see their breasts as nothing but “fun bags.” Not creepy, and actually empowering, is embracing all aspects of your feminity, including being a life bearing nurturer. That is sexy. Moms can multi-task, you know. We can be barefoot, in the kitchen and still practice getting pregnant.

—–

Follow Lori  on Twitter and read more of her NewsReal posts.

Blowback