The news has been entirely too bleak lately. Still, controversy gets eyeballs. So I’d like to present a little controversy that does not have earthshaking implications: Breasts and the people who feed on them.
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Yeah the video was gratuitous. And there are more of them here. I especially liked the cradle hold. A very instructive video. Uh. Where was I? Oh. yeah. Prejudice.
Is there prejudice against breast feeders?
Asked to rate the woman as a job candidate, the students (men and women alike) gave the lowest rating to the breastfeeding woman, with second-lowest rank going to the strapless-bra lady. But the woman going home to bathe her baby did roughly as well as the one who received the neutral message. In other words, signs of parenting didn’t trigger perceptions that the hypothetical woman was less capable. Rather, that result appeared after people were primed to think about the woman’s breasts. It didn’t matter much if they were being invoked as a source of food or as a source of pleasure.
So thinking about breasts makes people think that the big breasted are not so smart? Or is it that just thinking about breasts makes people stupid? I think this topic will require further research. Preferably hands on.
Some good research materials can be found here:
Breasts
This looks especially promising:
The Big Book of Breasts in 3-D
This could also be helpful:
The Breast Book: An Intimate and Curious History
from a review:
Using over 600 illustrations and photographs, BREASTS is about changing social mores and attitudes, from classical Greek statuary to the Victorian corset to Twiggy to Pamela Lee. BREASTS is about envy and etiquette, differences-why 90 percent of French women do not breastfeed, for example-and adornment, including make-up, tattooing, nipple rings, and more. BREASTS is about politics, art, religion, kitsch, and burning the bra. About perceptions-90 percent of men prefer a size C over a D. About high art-whether the humanist breast in Renaissance painting or its feminist send-up by photographer Cindy Sherman-and pop art, from Vargas girls to World War II bomber mascots to Madonna. BREASTS is about getting them right-falsies, bust improvers, gadgets, pumps, and creams-and showing them off, like Jayne Mansfield’s, immortalized in cement in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater.
And don’t forget they provide brain food for infants and an obsession for post pubescent men (a different kind of brain food).
And a bit of advice: what ever the size of your female partner’s breasts, they are the perfect size and the size you prefer over all others. That is my story and I’m sticking to it. Fortunately it is true for me. My mate cross checks. She watches to see who (or what) I’m ogling. So be careful out there.
Cross Posted at Power and Control
Comments
5 responses to “Prejudice Against Breast Feeding Women?”
As a gay man, I try to avoid viewing breasts whenever possible. In addition, I’m at work and can’t watch the video… however, the initial screen seems to show a child who is FAR too old to be breastfeeding, in public or not. Eww!
John,
Yes. That is what the episode is about. Breastfeeding an 8 yo.
And of course “it’s the perfect size” is good for any combination.
I’m with John on the 8 year old. NO. I think there’s a point where it begins to become abuse. Will she be breastfeeding the child still at 25?
No culture breast feeds that long. There’s something sick there.
P.S. If she still wants breast milk, fine. Get a pump. Put it in a glass.
One has to ask what the point of breastfeeding is after the child can eat solid food… and Kathy’s right–if you feel there is some nutritional benefit to breast milk beyond that point, then get a pump and a glass and go to town if you’re so inclined.