Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Sexy milk containers

I was just reading comments by readers of one of the local newspapers giving their opinion on breastfeeding in public. A week or so ago two mothers were asked to leave the Bayside shopping mall after they were breastfeeding their babies on a bench inside the mall. This made front page news in the Tabletalk and needless to say each and everyone who likes to give their opinions in newspaper made sure they had something to say. Obviously you find the pro-public feeders on one side who believes that breastfeeding is as natural as sneezing to the conservatists on the other side who thinks that eating in public should only be allowed once you can use a fork and knife and chew with your mouth closed. What I also found a bit disappointing was that some people made a racial issue out of it saying that "some people have different cultures", which was an obvious referral to the fact that it was black women that were involved. Then you get the people who really gets nasty when they start refering to "malls in Khayalitsha" or the "culture of peeing behind bushes" which has nothing to do with breastfeeding at all. I am not walking around in malls looking for women that are breastfeeding, but I am pretty sure that I have seen white women doing exactly the same. Making this a racial issue is so typical of many white South Africans. Why  can't we leave out the colour of these women and decide what is best for babies when they are hungry, what is acceptable for most people (for heaven's sake, we consider ourselves to be residents of a democratic country) and then decide whether it should be allowed or not? Then, no matter whether you are black or white, you stick to the rules. Apparently there are also no facilities in Bayside mall for breastfeeding, so where does a mother go? Do do we keep our mothers who fork out more than enough money on baby stuff in that same mall to sit at home until their children can eat with a knife and fork and in the mean time let the security people spend their time on sniffing out mothers with hungry babies instead of pickpockets and shoplifters?


One lady mentioned that showing breasts are "too sexual". My word, has she seen the pictures of women in shop windows and in magazines?  I fell in love with a manequin when I was sixteen because she was dressed provocatively with the sexiest body I have seen on a (plastic) woman. I cannot remember falling in love with a woman that was breastfeeding before. This reminds me of an incident that happened on one of the Cape Town beaches some time ago. Topless bathing are becoming more common on Cape Town beaches nowadays. I was actually lying next to a topless bather two days ago at the Langebaan Lagoon, but that's another story. Anyway this sexy woman with her all over sun tan was walking around like it was the most natural thing to do. Being a man I couldn't help evaluating the cup size and level of sagging, but I was rather disappointed when she later picked up her baby form what I first thought was a cooler box and breastfed the little creature with what I would believe after so much time in the sun could be nothing more than sour milk at a very awkward temperature. What a passion killer that was for me. To this lady who thinks it is "too sexual", believe me, seeing two sexual objects turn into milk containers was everything except sexual. Please South Africa, when 9 black women breastfeed in public and only 1 white woman does the same, it does not mean that we have different cultures. It means that there are 90% blacks in South Africa and only 10% whites. I wish I had two breasts and a baby right now,  I would like to see that security guard asking me to leave while my child is crying for food...

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