Breastfeeding Activists Target Barbara Walters and "˜The View'

A new group of activists have joined the fray of fighting for women’s rights; their goal to nurse without shame or scorn where and when they choose or need. Cleverly touting themselves as ‘lactivists’, they’ve put Barbara Walters under fire due to some insensitively ignorant comments made by the long-time reporter and current co-host of ‘The View’. On the May 17th show new mother and co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck returned to the show and the discussion turned to her discomfort at nursing her daughter Grace. When the topic of breastfeeding was brought up, Walters related a story about a recent plane trip she’d taken, where a woman sitting in the next aisle over nursed her child. Walters stated: “It made me very nervous, she didn’t cover the baby with a blanket. It made us uncomfortable.” Further offense was taken at what was perceived to be an almost celebratory or congratulatory response to Hasselbeck’s decision to give her daughter formula.

According to the NYTimes, nearly 200 protesting mothers showed up quickly afterwards, babies and boobies ready to fire back at Walters insensitive comments with what is referred to as a ‘nurse-in.’

They stood nursing their babies in the unmistakably public venue of Columbus Avenue and West 67th Street. They held signs reading, “Shame on View,” and “Babies are born to be breastfed.” […]

But the rally at ABC is only the most visible example of a recent wave of “lactivism.” Prodded by mothers who say they are tired of being asked to adjourn to the bathroom while nursing in a public space, six states have recently passed laws giving a woman the right to breast-feed wherever she “is otherwise authorized to be.”

Adding further insult onto injury, Walter’s spokesman related bemusement at the protests, attempting to dismiss the commentary as singular and not reflective of Walter’s overall view on nursing. Interesting that this isn’t her ‘view,’ when she as a co-host spewed it out for public consumption on the national show, ‘The View.’

Despite the attempt at back-peddling that is going on with ‘The View’ folks, the controversy has had the benefit of generating attention on prejudice and reprehensible behavior towards nursing mothers. These situations getting more discussion time will hopefully lead to greater acceptance and understanding.

In interviews and Internet discussions, hundreds of women recount being asked to stop nursing in public spots, including the Children’s Museum in Huntsville, Ala.; a knitting store in the East Village; a Radisson Hotel lobby in Virginia; a public bus in Los Angeles; and a city commission meeting in Miami Beach.

As a nursing mother, my take on the situation is fairly personal ““ I’m offended at the unaccountable offense. When I nurse my child, I do so for her. Her comfort and hunger are the first priority. The next priority is my comfort while carrying out the task. The last thing I worry about, or should worry about is someone attempting to sexualize (which is where the squeamishness comes from) the tool I use to feed my child.

Additionally, the ignorance about how important nursing on airplanes is for the child is unexpected from a woman reportedly as intelligent as Walters. When it comes to protecting my child’s ear drums from rupturing, or even discomfort, my child is always going to come first. (When she wouldn’t nurse on the plane when we visited my folks at Christmas, the result was a 102.5 temperature and a trip to the emergency room).

So I’ll answer Ms. Walters ‘view’ with a quote from another celebrity that celebrated infants and children with more aplomb and grace:

“I will do it on a plane; I will do it in the rain. I will do it here or there, I will do it anywhere.” ““ Dr. Suess

(Related links: Feministe, Ms. Musings and The Freewheelin’ Kim-Loi Mergenthaler.)

This entry posted in Abortion & reproductive rights, Breastfeeding & Lactivism, Whatever. Bookmark the permalink. 

130 Responses to Breastfeeding Activists Target Barbara Walters and "˜The View'

  1. 101
    mythago says:

    WTF is so “angry”? and “harpie”?-like about that?

    Well, you know, women are doing it.

  2. 102
    Barbara says:

    I agree that in this instance it probably would have been futile to ask a tv show to give time for an alternative point of view. I don’t actually watch the show much, so I probably shouldn’t characterize the reaction as extreme., because I don’t have enough knowledge about all of these other apparent insults to breastfeeding women and breastfeeding generally. Honestly, I think a lot of these sentiments — e.g., breastfeeding is gross — especially if expressed by younger women, are just so much repressed guilt that they didn’t do it. On the other hand, who cares — that doesn’t give them the right to deride women who do.

  3. 103
    Ol Cranky says:

    The reason I referred to other things that are natural (including shitting and peeing, which gus are natural things we all do) is because the first reaction one usually gets when they are not interested in breast feeding themselves, are uncomfortable with it etc is the “it’s natural” response. My point was (aside from not being made well at all) that people react differently to all things natural – these things (as well as many others) are all natural, things many (if not all) do and yet we seem to have appropriate and inappropriate reactions to all these things. That’s not what I’ve referred to as words being put in my mouth. In this thread, I have been accused of being against breast-feeding and/or that I think it must always be hidden from view.

    There are also the implied accusations that I must be objectifying women’s breasts as a tool of sexual pleasure for men. Sorry, as a straight women I do not objectify women’s breasts & as a woman who has endured the objectification of her own breasts, I don’t support it (and, from my point of view, if my breasts are going to be used as a tool of sexual pleasure, it’s gonna be my own).

    I gather now I’m a misogynist for using them or that I am part of the patriarchy because I have the audacity to actually say that I think the vitriol about this particular show was an extreme over-reaction – and the rabidity towards any dissent pretty much fits the definition of the word hystrionics. As much as I rolled my eyes with the ancient and archiac “wandering uterus” etiology to “female over-emotionality” when I was in college, I do not buy into the culture that a legtimate word must not be used (or must be misspelled) to fit it with some uber-PC “feminist” code of conduct. Personally, I find it counter-productive to caste aspertions on a person or any statements they made because you’ve gone to some extreme in analyzing/deconstructing every word in a statement (especially if it’s one with which you disagree or coming from someone you don’t like). I did use the word harpy intentionally (I thought I’d said that somewhere, but maybe not) – again, this was to make it clear that the reaction to Walters’s statement greatly exceeded it’s worth (and was, again, counter-productive). When reacting to this degree about something that was just plain stupid – like Walters’ statement, you desensitize the rest of the world from strong reactions that are legitimately expressed against something truly outrageous (something like this). This misconnect in actual reaction to severity of situation actually fosters the image that women who give push back against the “traditional” view aren’t exactly rational, instead of enforcing the notion that intelligent, articulate women are going to express their views and that they are worthy of attention.

    My belief is the real reason behind this insistence on women’s seemly behaviour is that no one takes you seriously until you get visibly pissed off. So if women *don’t* act pissed off, others can pretend we’re not really *that* sincere in what we’re saying. And the second we act pissed off we are labeled as “hysterical women.” It’s a double-edged sword, the degree of anger expressed should be correlated to degree of the offense (I’m sure there’s a more clear way of saying this, but I hope you catch my drift).

    From the get-go, I was clear about the part of the show that I had seen on the news and that my comments to not understanding the reaction was based on that bit of the show that was played on the the news program I watched. I do not watch the show (not that I’m home, but if I were, I don’t think it’d be my cup of tea), so I’ll believe you all when you say this is a pattern with them. I have to admit, I find it odd to hear adult women actually think breastfeeding is gross (I don’t understand why anyone would think breastfeeding is “gross” even if they’re not comfortable with it themselves). I think it’s strange that Meredith Viera engages in this since I thought she had problems with the “boys club” at 60 minutes about taking care of her small children during her short tenure there and am surprised she hasn’t been “called” on it. As for Hasselback, if she thinks nursing her child is/was gross, what is she going to think the first time her baby gets sick and she is exposed to the Linda Blair-spinning-head-puking-pea-soup routine?

  4. 104
    pam says:

    As for formula not killing, you might want to think about third world countries and formula mixed with contaminated water.

    http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/BF/200312-formula-report2.htm

  5. 105
    mythago says:

    aside from not being made well at all

    No, you made your point quite well, which is that there are natural things that we consider disgusting and private, and breastfeeding is one of those things–like shitting. Acting all gosh-what-did-I-say? when people called you on it, and coming back with sexist crap like “harpies” and “histrionic”, is pathetic.

    Ideally, most mothers will choose breastfeeding … at least for a little while.

    It’s not an either-or thing, y’know.

  6. 106
    Anne says:

    It’s more like this: women aren’t heard until they are shouting and angry that no one is listening, and then, the response is something like “I hear you but I’m not going to listen to you because you aren’t being polite.”? But when polite, of course, no one feels the need to listen at all.

    Well put, Barbara.

  7. 107
    LolaRennt says:

    Ol’ Cranky, sorry but wrongo.

    [quote]Lola:

    Thank you for a calling me an ignorant asshole . I was providing an example in which people who have had the audacity to express any discomfort with anything “natural”? (including but not limited to nursing) are verbally attacked with the “it’s natural, you have no right to feel any discomfort”?.[/quote]

    Fact is, when I made my post I had not, HONEST TO GOD I had NOT read your comments.

    Someone says it every frigging time, though I hadn’t thought anyone would say such a thing here, to be truthful.

    To sum up: while yes, I do believe that people who abhor or are otherwise disgusted by breastfeeding (or who think it’s analogous to shitting and fucking) are either very hung-up or are in fact ignorant assholes, I was not calling you yourself anything. If you honestly believe they are similar things, then I’ll revise and say probably my comment does apply :)

  8. 108
    LolaRennt says:

    Also for what it is worth, I myself was uncomfortable nursing in public, and did not do so. I am sometimes uncomfortable when certain friends make a huge deal every time their 3 year olds want to nurse, and make damn sure everyone in the room knows about it before letting him start. I do not think they are doing anything wrong, but there are many instances where I myself am “uncomfortable.” No one says everyone has to be comfortable with every action taken by others; it’s when they make stupid comments (like Walters, or about excrement) and try to ban the actions by force that I start to grit my teeth.

    No one should be barred in any public place from feeding a baby, period. If we are talking about a private business, they should have the right to bar anything they want, but then I reserve the right to boycott, give them bad publicity, and call general public attention to the fact that said business owner is, in fact, an ignorant asshole. He can pay the price.

  9. 109
    Crys T says:

    “There are also the implied accusations that I must be objectifying women’s breasts as a tool of sexual pleasure for men.”

    Errm, no, that was NOT what was being said. What was being said was that the disgust felt by those members of the GENERAL PUBLIC who get all squirmy and offended over breastfeeding is the result of the sexual objectification of women’s breasts. Which is, btw, EXACTLY what the “oh mah GAWD, a BOOBIE!!” reaction is. OK?

    “I do not buy into the culture that a legtimate word must not be used (or must be misspelled) to fit it with some uber-PC “feminist”? code of conduct.”

    Ok, so when it’s YOU using sexist language and/or imagery, well, that’s all right, because it’s “accurate”. I see.

    Look, Bean already went into Walters’ stupid comments were not one-offs but reflect a history of her disparaging and discouraging breastfeeding. You may think women who are offended should react in a more seemly way, but a lot of us are fed to the teeth with that and think it doesn’t work.

    I for one am not going to sit politely in a corner until TPTB decide that I’m worthy of their “giving” me the rights that should be mine anyway. You want to do that, you’re welcome to, but don’t expect me to think it’s a good move.

  10. 110
    Julia says:

    I have lived in Germany the last 4 years – and while a lot of things I hate about it, I nurse in public without any fuss. On the train, on the plane, on the bus. People smile at me and are happy to see the baby – they don’t say “put that boob away now!” Walters is just so alienated from what it’s like to be a real mother – having to deal with a baby on a plane is one thing, having to additionally make sure everyone around is comfortable is asking too much.

  11. 111
    Julius Edlavitch MD says:

    I was amazed that Barbara Waters did this. It may be her value to not nurse in public but someone so liberal should accept others values too.
    Did she nurse her own children?
    Sometimes TV personalities are so plastic in their dress and such that nursing could be offensive too.
    I really like Barbara Walters and have respect her for years. I am very disappointed in her comment
    Julius Edlavitch MD

  12. 112
    George R.Litchfield says:

    As always, Barbara Walters is “on-target” about breast feeding.

  13. 113
    Colleen says:

    While I would never breast-feed myself, I see no reason why a woman should not be able to do so. A baby’s health is always a priority, and if people can’t see that, then they are blind. Barbara Walters never gave birth to a child, so I see she has no sentiment towards the act. She even tried to redeem herself on TV, and I don’t think anyone took her side.

  14. 114
    Robert says:

    While I would never breast-feed myself

    I would never breast-feed myself either. It’s not the caloric inefficiency that stops me, it’s that I would get terrible neck cramps trying to reach the nipple.

  15. 115
    Beth says:

    I think that one of the reasons that more women don’t breastfeed is that they never see it. People bottle feed in public all the time so subconsciously we see that as the way to feed a baby. If more people saw breastfeeding they would grow more comfortable with it and see that as the way to feed their children.

    When I was nine I was at a friends house and a guest of theirs excused herself to go nurse her infant. I was of course very interested in the baby and followed her. We had a nice conversation and neither of us were uncomfortable with the situation. Then my friends mother told me that she was not to be disturbed and I was made to feel ashamed for seeing this very natural act.
    I nursed my daughter for quite a long time. I was never big on public nursing but that was my choice and if it was necessary I did it as discretely as possible. But never in the rest room.

  16. 116
    clyde says:

    As I remember the “mid 60’s,” it was just about then, that women stopped wearing or began burning bras and young moms openly breastfed without the help of lactation consultants so common today.

  17. 117
    Ampersand says:

    I’m sure many of those women had some woman’s help Clyde. It’s not quite as intuitive as people tend to think it is. The first month is a real learning curve, in fact. The upside is, once you get the hang of it, it’s a skill that doesn’t leave you or the baby. But some mama / baby pairs need the help! (Sydney and I did!) – here we are 19 months later and I’m just now weening her though!

  18. 118
    mythago says:

    Robert: yoga.

  19. 119
    Kim (basement variety!) says:

    Oye vey, I posted on Amp’s account, that’s what you get for too much sharing I guess – a big jewish man breastfeeding and going to lactation specialists.

    Sorry Amp, my booboo.

    So, here re-post my response to Clyde, but this time logged in properly:

    I’m sure many of those women had some woman’s help Clyde. It’s not quite as intuitive as people tend to think it is. The first month is a real learning curve, in fact. The upside is, once you get the hang of it, it’s a skill that doesn’t leave you or the baby. But some mama / baby pairs need the help! (Sydney and I did!) – here we are 19 months later and I’m just now weening her though!

  20. 120
    Jasper says:

    But Kim, it was worth it just for the look on my face, LOL.

  21. 121
    Kim (basement variety!) says:

    Hehe.

  22. 122
    consuela says:

    Well, this is quite possibly the lamest way to get absolutely no point across whatsoever, but that’s not what pisses me of about it.

    What pisses me off is that these women took offense to the fact that their public breastfeeding made somebody uncomfortable.

    And in all honesty, I think it’s gross too. And if I were sitting next to that woman on that airplane I would feel funny.

    And I know they get pissed because their argument is this:
    a) it’s natural
    b) the baby is hungry and needs to eat

    So, here’s my rebuttal, ladies.
    Several, nay–ALL of my non-breastfeeding bodily functions are completely natural. Many of which need to be tended to immediately or certain harm will come to my body.
    Of which these are:
    -vomiting
    -shitting
    -pissing
    -changing my tampon
    -belching
    -farting
    -scratching
    -etc etc

    now, out of social courtesy, I choose to take the time to find an appropriate place to do these things.
    I HAVE TO SHIT.
    And sometimes I HAVE TO SHIT RIGHT NOW.
    Sometimes I HAVE TO VOMIT RIGHT NOW.
    Sometimes my period just started RIGHT NOW.

    But I’m not just going to drop my pants wherever I may happen to be and just take a shit in front of whoever is there just because I have to. I’m not going to just pluck out my tampon and toss in in the street and proceed to put a new one while I’m sitting next to you on the bus. And why shouldn’t I?
    It’s natural!!
    It needs to be taken care of in a timely manner.
    It’s called TACT.

    Look, your baby will not die if you breastfeed it somewhere private or if you have to wait 15 minutes to get yourself somewhere appropriate.
    Seriously, ladies. Have some respect for those around you who don’t want to see your drooling grommet sucking on your floppy titties.
    PLEASE.
    These woman can walk around flopping their tits out whenever they please, and not get arrested for indecent exposure.
    If I did that, say, walk around the grocery store with one of mine hanging out in broad daylight, I bet some people would have something to say about it and it just wouldn’t fly.

    I think it’s nasty.
    Just because it’s natural doesn’t mean it isn’t gross.
    Ebola is natural, vomiting is natural, decomposing is natural.
    natural but gross.

  23. 123
    Kim (basement variety!) says:

    You’re a charmer, Consuela. But honestly, tell us how you really feel. Don’t hold back now.

  24. 124
    mythago says:

    Anyone get the impression “consuela” is a guy with breast issues? All the clenching about flopping titties…

  25. 125
    aniks says:

    wow, i’m glad my baby and i are canadian

  26. 126
    Elaine says:

    I think that anyone who is opposed to breastfeeding in public places is a sexually perverted, ignorant, moronic, emotionally immature, mentally retarded, mentally ill, stupid, obnoxious, and sexist bigot who hates women and kids. They really need to grow up and overcome their obnoxious hang-up about breastfeeding. I’m writing this as a 44 year old woman who is childfree by choice and who is related to kids who were breastfed as babies. These kids are my nieces, nephews, and cousins. Breastfeeding is an honorable activity that promotes women’s and children’s health and it shouldn’t be shunned, criticized, or prohibited at all.

    I also know that what the infant formula companies do in third world countries is downright criminal and immoral. In fact, they kill 1,500,000 babies, toddlers, and pre-schoolers every single year and that is a holocaust that is worse than what Adolph Hitler did in the entire period of World War II. The nazis killed 1,500,000 children and teenagers during this war and almost everyone admits that it was completely wrong to do this. Why on earth should the infant formula companies be allowed to do this to young children every single year? This is very sad and crazy to me and it completely baffles me that the whole world isn’t outraged by it!

    It isn’t just the expensive price of the infant formula and the filthy water that kills all of these unfortunate children in third world countries every single year. There are also about 9,000 babies who die from not being breastfed in the USA every single year. The USA needs to really change it crummy attitudes about nursing moms because we are the world’s superpower and have to set the good example. The rest of the world imitates us in everything and our infant feeding methods in the USA contributes to the disaster of 1,500,000 babies dying every single year because of formula feeding. No baby in any developing or rich country deserves this fate because they didn’t ask to be born. If you aren’t going to kill them by shooting, stabbing, or beating them to death with baseball bats, then you should not feed them junk food that can kill them.

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  29. 127
    Simple Truth says:

    I came here curious about the issue because I, too, have discomfort issues with a woman who breastfeeds in public without covering up. I’m not one of the people who feels the need to charge over and state my opinion, but at the same time, I’ve seen more naked breasts and nipples than I really wanted to (without staring – I promise I do my best to not look but it becomes an exercise in finding new and exciting ceiling tiles when it’s right in front of you and obvious.)
    I think the best posts here for my own understanding were from Robert, Lynn and Ol’Cranky – whether you agree with them or not, they were the most understanding on other’s viewpoints. LaLeche, Elaine – you scare me and you’re everything that makes me uncomfortable about seeing a woman breastfeed in public. I don’t want to be charged or told what the fuck am I looking at if I seem uncomfortable, and it’s not up to you to hold me accountable for that. To be called ignorant, misogynistic, asshole, and everything else is not going to make me more comfortable with you. Respecting me will, and will cause you to get respect in return.
    It’s not an issue of me impinging on your rights, as I’m not the one telling you to put it away or find an inconvenient changing room. I realize that motherhood is a very demanding experience and that babies need to eat. But please forgive me if the sight of uncovered breast, which I have been trained from childhood is a no-no in public, causes me to experience some discomfort. I will do my best to smile at your face and then count ceiling tiles if you do your best to be understanding of me as well.

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