  Gratuitous sexualization is OK, but link a woman's chest to breastfeeding and watch out. (Sun Media files) |
At a recent Saturday afternoon barbecue, the host's son wasn't exactly craving grilled burgers and dogs.
He's not yet a year old, so obviously he can't chew -- let alone stomach -- these grilled offerings.
When a couple of guests wandered upstairs, my boyfriend and I decided to join them.
And there it was -- the naked breast with a small squish of a baby latched on.
It's a natural scene, this healthy pairing of mother and child, and one that many would call beautiful. Yet, I flinched, feeling like a trespasser who'd stumbled upon a very intimate and private moment.
The small group of us casually chatted away, although my boyfriend and I did pay a whole lot of attention to the dog, who, conveniently wasn't standing at breast level.
"I was like, 'Whoa! I wasn't expecting that,'" my boyfriend said afterward.
Like a pit bull going after a rare steak, I lunged at his admitted discomfort.
"If it was a chick sunbathing without her top on, you'd have no problem with that," I snapped.
"But breasts actually doing what they're meant to do, that's a problem."
Truth is, regardless of the basic logic, nature, healthiness and the flat-out fact that a baby's got to eat too, the sight of my friend's bare breast also made me twitchy.
We're a society that has diverted breasts so far off their natural beaten path that, unless being portrayed as fun play things worth ogling at, they tend to make us squeamish.
Boobs sans baby, well that's just fine.
Playboy and Hustler have made built multi-billion dollar empires out of exposing well-endowed sets, Maxim thrives on photographing starlets with their cleavage busting out, and highway billboard advertisers don't shy away from showcasing 'the girls' squeezed into tiny lacy things.
Gratuitous sexualization is OK, but link a woman's chest to breastfeeding and watch out.
When the impossibly sexy Salma Hayek fed a malnourished child in Sierra Leone earlier this year, the move -- covered by ABC's Nightline -- caused an instant Internet commotion.
Had she just cuddled the newborn, it would've amounted to nothing more than yet another Hollywood starlet doing her philanthropic part.
Thing is, Hayek didn't just hold the child -- she offered up her breast and nursed him. Hayek's instinctual goodwill gesture ignited mixed reviews. The Entertainment Weekly website gave her the "biggest eyebrow raiser award" while others applauded her. One woman wrote "Thank-you for doing what is normal and beautiful. I feel for women and men that think breasts are only for sexual gratification -- their loss. Why else do women have breasts but to nourish a child?"
Hayek, who quite possibly became the most glamorous poster-gals the breastfeeding movement could ask for, said she hopes the act will help eradicate the stigma of breastfeeding.
Had someone snapped shots of Hayek basking in the buff on a beach, no one would've batted an eyelash except to get an eyeful of her substantial bust.
Meanwhile, last year Facebook made the controversial decision to remove photos of moms nursing their babies, prompting more than 200,000 people to join an online group called, "Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene," protesting the site's policy prohibiting content viewed as "obscene, pornographic or sexually explicit."
Clearly, breastfeeding isn't any of the above, but good luck undoing years of linking breasts with highly sexual messages.
Soon, World Breastfeeding Week will return, an annual celebration held in 120 countries worldwide from Aug. 1 - 7 to promote breastfeeding.
While it's been happening since 1992, we haven't exactly come a long way, baby
We give thumbs up to the idea of yummy mummies and ridiculously oversized boob jobs.
We celebrate scantily-clad women flaunting their chests and turn breast-revealing wardrobe malfunctions into arousing water-cooler fodder.
But feed a hungry baby with them? Talk about costly for the public image.
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HAVE A DRINK ON ME
The proportion of mothers who attempt to breastfeed their babies rose from about 25% in the mid-1960s to 85% in 2003. However, just 17% of mothers breastfed exclusively for at least six months, as recommended by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Source: Statistics Canada
tanya.enberg@sunmedia.ca
