Wednesday, April 30, 2008

A perfect example

of double standards if ever I saw one. The lovely Maggie Gyllenhaal is allowed apparently to do this
but not this!
The internet is awash with comments from disgusted people who think she's somekind of pervert for breastfeeding in public but I hear little criticism for being spanked in a film or using her body to sell underwear (which I have no problem with either). How sad is it that in our society to make money or entertain breasts in all their glory are fine, but when feeding a baby it's an outrage. Quite pathetic.
I for one think the picture with her baby is lovely.
I'm still feeding Jensy, which means all together in my whole life I have been breastfeeding for 4 years and 8 months!

19 comments:

Rebekah said...

Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely! Agree with you 100% honey...breastfeeding is a beautiful bond between mother and child, we should not be ashamed of it. And Maggie flaunting her lovely, sexy curves is also beautiful. The world is crazy! Wake up people!!!

Anonymous said...

I'm all for breast feeding in public, but I don't think people should flash their boob to the world. When I'm eating a meal in a resaurant or walking down the street, I don't want to see another woman's boob and nipple flashing back at me in full view. Feed your baby; it's a wonderful bond between mother and baby. Please keep it as that. The world doesn't need to be involved in every detail of that precious moment.

Anonymous said...

I am a mom who is currently breastfeeding my 6 month old. I recieve all kinds of stares and weird looks and even had someone ask me to cover my child while breastfeeding. What I don't understand is how it can be ok to see all of the images on television but it is offensive to see me breastfeeding my child.

Anonymous said...

I don't want to see a woman urinate or defecate. Why should I have to see her feed a baby?

tracy said...

Are you talking out of your arse? Could be why you get the acts of having a poo or wee mixed up with nursing and feeding a child.

Anonymous said...

I don't know where you people are from, but here in Canada it's perfectly legal to expose your breasts in public. I think undoing your shirt to feed your baby is a very tame form of exposure, and I don't so much as blink when I see women feeding their children. It's no where near in the same family as going to the bathroom, and babies need to be fed often, so I don't see anything wrong with that picture.

Anonymous said...

If feeding is comparable to urination and defecation I ask you to please eat YOUR dinner on a toliet. Since they are one and the same you should have no problem with it.

Stevyn Colgan said...

Madness. At least that's what one of your brave 'anonymous' commenters is suffering from. I see women breastfeeding all the time in London. What could be more natural? And comparing it to the passing of bodily wastes is particularly stupid and uninformed. I suspect that 'Anonymous' is a self-flagellating self-image hater who cannot bear the thought that he/she once latched onto Mummy's nipples themselves.

Nicole R. said...

Good for you (and your baby) Maggie!! As someone who is a bit cynical when it comes to celebrities..I am proud of her!

Laura Beth said...

I breastfed my baby at the jiffy lube today, at a furniture store..I pop my boob out for my little man anytime and anywhere! What I love about this pic is that she's so relaxed and her baby is adorable and healthy. That's what matters. People are weird. If someone made a remark to me, I'd squirt em' in the eye!

emma davies said...

the way i see it is, wen my babys hungry i will feed her.
if people have a proplem seeing it they shudnt look, its there problem, not mine.

Anonymous said...

if more celebrities did it, it wud promote breast feeding, in a good way and encourage more to do so

Justine said...

i aggree completely. Its crazy how the world thinks. nudity is ok to sell products but not to feed your child! It what its made for!! I agree with evie, she looks relaxed and comforable in this pic. i think its great. its funny I was just talking bloging about this same subject.

Anonymous said...

don't get me wrong- i think that breastfeeding is an amazing, wonderful act and i absolutely, 110% support its nature.
in today's society we are conditioned mercilessly through endless forms of media, to see women; their form, figure, breasts, lips, and bodies, as sexual objects, on a constant basis.
when a women breast feeds in public, as relaxed and natural as it appears, one may expect everyone around them to embrace it, and be reminded of the bond between mother and child. i feel that it does not receive the respect it deserves, and that society, due largely in part to a massive sexual ignorance and immaturity, may never learn to uphold one of the only remaining natural and precious experiences humanity has left. that is why i am less on the "good for you!" side. i think to share this most intimate experience with the public so casually is incautious- most witnesses cannot handle it maturely, and it will not be given the proper respect it deserves.

JENNY WESTMARK said...

Ok, the difference between seeing something on tv or a movie, and seeing it out in public is simple....CHOICE! You can choose to turn off a dirty movie, you cannot choose to turn off the woman sitting in front of you on a bus when she decides to expose herself to the world to feed a child. Some people have what is called modesty, look it up, and don't want to be subjected to watching a bodily fluid, yes, bodily fluid come out of a woman's breast into the mouth of a baby. I have a baby and I breast-fed, but I did not ever feel the need to force my boobs on the world and indeed didn't want to. They are for me, my child, and my husband, not Joe Blow who's gonna wack off in the bathroom with the image of my child eating in his head.

tracy said...

If you think nursing in public is forcing your breast upon someone then you were doing it wrong!
Nobody can see anything, but they can see plenty of breast on billboards and magazine shelves.
Why should women and children hide away indoors until they wean. That would be five years of my life indoors (and rickets), that or leave my baby to cry for ages when out, which has consequences with regards to poor attachment, supply issues and in long term, if it happens often, brain development. Or the person with issues could just look away or get themselves therapy.
Life doesn't stop because you have children. If a child is allowed in a public place then so should breastfeeding.

Unknown said...

I'm afraid some of our (anonymous) commenters suffer from Americania: it's sad to think that women buy into the propaganda that breasts are for sensual or sexual titillation only. Like the man in London said, no big deal. However, could you possibly elevate yourself to think that the very thing that makes men and women unique, i.e. the growth and cultivation of children, could ITSELF be considered attractive, hereby reducing the need to be censored from the 'visual', since all women, by definition, nurture children or are capable, or removing the 'naughty-naughty' from viewing the female breast. What is WRONG with anonymous who says please, not while she is eating? Is there something disgusting about breastfeeding that puts her off HER meal? What about HER breasts, are they disgusting? Get a grip, sweetheart.

Yawn. I'm bored with Americans. I am one, but please, could we be a little less parochial? We all have internet and access to education, don't we now, folks? Breasts, biology, children, breastfeeing. Get it?

Anonymous said...

Why is that so many self proclaimed "decent people" are so obsessed with sexual perversions all the time? Breast feeding is not sexual or porno-graphical!

This reminds me of a story about a European family being thrown out of a public swimming pool in US with police escort because their 6 month old girl was not wearing a bikini????!!

Come on! How twisted can you be? Should we demand that dogs were pants now?