lactvism

Breastfeeding Support: It Really Does Take a Village.

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:17:22 -0500

Breastfeeding Support: It Really Does Take a Village.:

You’ve heard that it takes a village to raise a child …we certainly have come to believe that it also takes a village to breastfeed a child!

In the past (and still in some countries and cultures of the world) a woman would always have her mother, friends, sisters, and other female relatives to help her when it came to the sometimes surprisingly difficult task of breastfeeding her baby.

In many of our lives today, we just don’t have that support network in place — and we may not be aware of how to create it.

We, Krista and Kelly, are here today as part of your village. We want to connect with you and share our stories, in hopes that they may be of help to you and other moms in this rewarding, though at times seemingly impossible, journey.

Our stories are amazingly similar — though they ended quite differently. May they encourage and help you along your path, wherever you may be.

Caring for Carter: this is wonderful. someone in one of my breastfeeding groups on facebook posted this.

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:16:28 -0500

Caring for Carter: this is wonderful. someone in one of my breastfeeding groups on facebook posted this.:

I went out to a restaurant for dinner and was so offended and appalled by what I was forced to witness. Someone was actualy eating ribs with their bare hands!! What about the little vegan children, how in the name of humanity can their parents explain this to them? Why couldn’t you take your…

How many cells are in YOUR breastmilk?

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:15:16 -0500

How many cells are in YOUR breastmilk?:

fuckyeahbreastfeedingmamas: 3735.EliasEnsie.Nursing.LibertyCapFa...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:15:15 -0500

fuckyeahbreastfeedingmamas:

3735.EliasEnsie.Nursing.LibertyCapFalls by Ensie & Matthias on Flickr.
Breastfeeding in Yosemite. Wow.

Available via Creative Commons License.

Breastfeeding Photos On Facebook Removed From 'Respect the Breast' Page

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:16:45 -0500

Breastfeeding Photos On Facebook Removed From 'Respect the Breast' Page:

“Breastfeeding mothers are accusing Facebook of censorship again. In what’s become an ongoing quarrel, Heather Stultz and Cece Buehner, founders of a “Respect the Breast” community page about breastfeeding on Facebook, are the latest activists to call out the social network for removing photos of nursing moms. …”

Photo

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:07:13 -0500

fuckyeahbreastfeedingmamas: future girls by Tim & Selena...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:06:35 -0500

fuckyeahbreastfeedingmamas:

future girls by Tim & Selena Middleton on Flickr.
Breastfeeding moment in Canada captured beautifully.

Available via Creative Commons License.

bexlife: Saturday morning nursing & cuddle session.

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 22:08:44 -0500

bexlife:

Saturday morning nursing & cuddle session.

thebreastfedbaby: I wish this weren’t so familiar

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 22:07:41 -0500

thebreastfedbaby:

I wish this weren’t so familiar

Photo

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 22:07:00 -0500

earthymamma: love it

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:13:33 -0500

earthymamma:

love it

Quora: Are Facebook policies to censor pictures of women's breasts misogynistic?

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:12:23 -0500

Quora: Are Facebook policies to censor pictures of women's breasts misogynistic?:

izythequeergirl:

Short answer: Yes, but…

This is indeed a double standard that falls unfairly on the shoulders of women. The idea that a woman’s chest is by its very nature sexual and a male’s is not relies on framing the world solely from the perspective of the heterosexual male.

Any straight woman or gay man can tell you that a man’s chest can indeed be very sexual:

Hey girl, let’s dismantle double standards surrounding public toplessness.

This is particularly problematic concerning the issue of breastfeeding. Facebook has continuously removed images of women breastfeeding their child even when the dreaded aerola isn’t visable.

Facebook has rightly taken a lot of flack for its ban on breastfeeding photos, and hopefully the campaign to get them to change their policy (including public “nurse-ins” [1]) will be successful.

However, as other answerers have pointed out, it’s not entirely fair to blame them specifically for the ban on photos of topless women outside the context of breastfeeding, since this is based on the larger societal taboo on topless women and done solely in the interest of not angering or alienating wide swaths of potential customers. To put it another way, it is a business decision, not an idealogical one.

But this is hardly the only issue on which Facebook has been accused of misogyny. Facebook long defended it’s unwillingness to remove pages trivializing, defending and encouraging rape such as “You know she’s playing hard to get when you’re chasing her down an alleyway.”

Facebook defended its rape joke policy in a statement saying “Just as telling a rude joke won’t get you thrown out of your local pub, it won’t get you thrown off Facebook.” [2]

While Facebook eventually relented and took down some of the offending pages, all someone has to do is label their pro-rape page humor or satire, and Facebook will wholeheartly approve it. [3]

And of course, Facebook’s many misogynistic transgressions only highlight the fact that while they do have a female COO, there is not a single woman on their board of directors. [4] It’s no surprise that the concerns of Facebook’s female users are so routinely dismissed.

[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/facebook-nurse-in-60-brea_n_1263532.html

[2] http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/11/02/notfunnyfacebook-day-of-action-against-facebooks-rape-joke-pages/

[3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15641998

[4] http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-08/no-women-on-facebook-board-shows-white-male-influence.html

'Million Boob March' Could Change Breastfeeding Forever

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:39:25 -0500

'Million Boob March' Could Change Breastfeeding Forever:

“I’m a little disenchanted with nurse-ins. I have to be honest here. I just fear that they aren’t serving their purpose — to gain acceptance of public breastfeeding by the general public. They end up becoming a great gathering of women who bond but the passersby who aren’t accepting of it continue to look with disgust. (Silly people, don’t they know breasts are for babies?) Still, I feel like the ‘Million Boob March,’ aka The Great Nurse-In currently being planned for August in Washington, DC, could make a change. A big change. …”

Breastfeeding support: less is not more

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:34:19 -0500

Breastfeeding support: less is not more :

“… most women hope to breastfeed. Most women are let down by a lack of practical support. …”

slowdownmom: Mom, in front of the cat?! Mother and Child with a...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:51:21 -0500

slowdownmom:

Mom, in front of the cat?!

Mother and Child with a White Cat, attributed to Manohar

Breastfeeding: Suck It

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:38:00 -0500

Breastfeeding: Suck It:

the-nip-project: freerangefeeding: Wow. For a society that...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:39:15 -0500

the-nip-project:

freerangefeeding:

Wow.

For a society that doesn’t allow women to be seen uncovered in public, this is powerful.

birthisbeautiful: earthymamma: one of the most hilarious...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:37:49 -0500

birthisbeautiful:

earthymamma:

one of the most hilarious things i’ve ever seen

This is brilliant!

This should be posted on large signs at stores, arenas, schools, my MIL’s face…oopps ;)

Boobie Time: What Nursing in Public REALLY Looks Like

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:37:03 -0500

Boobie Time: What Nursing in Public REALLY Looks Like:

hobomama:

Exactly.

Awesome piece!

naomieve: (via Secret agenda of breastfeeders « blue...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:17:28 -0500

naomieve:

(via Secret agenda of breastfeeders « blue milk)

There’s also the neat subset of this set which is “People who just don’t care what you think about their breasts, they’re going to feed their baby anyway.”