Post by susan on Jan 17, 2010 15:36:50 GMT -5
Or even if you were just part of a conservative/fundamentalist church (I see those churches as somewhat patriarchal, even if not officially part of the "movement") ...
I'm wondering because I experienced some criticism of my decision to openly breastfeed, whenever and wherever my baby or child got hungry, when I was part of a conservative Christian church.
And one thing that I've noticed from my recent browsing of the Above Rubies Forum, is that Patriarchy seems to place a big emphasis on women feeding their babies "God's way" (i.e. nursing-on-cue, which usually means frequent nursing, and meeting all of Baby's comfort-sucking needs at the breast rather than using substitutes) --
But Patriarchy seems to place it all on the women. It seems like women in conservative/Biblical literalist churches are more likely to get flack if they just lift their tops and nurse their babies in the pew (personally, my babies didn't like having their heads covered, but I wore big tops where it was pretty easy to nurse without hardly ever showing anything).
Some babies fuss and actually create more of a distraction if you drape their heads (plus many new mamas have a hard time with the latch-on if they can't see what they're doing) -- so it seems to me like a church intent on babies getting fed "God's way" would be more supportive of mothers being able to openly and comfortably breastfeed --
It seems like instead of admonishing the mothers who are trying so hard, they'd be admonishing the critics and encouraging them to get a handle on what breasts are really for -- that breasts are primarily for feeding babies, and only secondarily for sexual pleausure.
Anyhow, I thought I'd see what other women's "take" on this issue is. Specially since I really only dealt with this with my first daughter ... by the time my second daughter was born, we had sort of dropped out of church. Though we did go to a house church for a while, but not too regularly.
And I only have two children -- whereas some of you have dealt with all this a lot more. What is your experience? Do you think I'm just exaggerating when I say that it seems like they set this high standard for natural mothering -- but then it's all on the woman? And she better do it "right" 'cause it's "her" fault if some man gets sexually-aroused?
I'm wondering because I experienced some criticism of my decision to openly breastfeed, whenever and wherever my baby or child got hungry, when I was part of a conservative Christian church.
And one thing that I've noticed from my recent browsing of the Above Rubies Forum, is that Patriarchy seems to place a big emphasis on women feeding their babies "God's way" (i.e. nursing-on-cue, which usually means frequent nursing, and meeting all of Baby's comfort-sucking needs at the breast rather than using substitutes) --
But Patriarchy seems to place it all on the women. It seems like women in conservative/Biblical literalist churches are more likely to get flack if they just lift their tops and nurse their babies in the pew (personally, my babies didn't like having their heads covered, but I wore big tops where it was pretty easy to nurse without hardly ever showing anything).
Some babies fuss and actually create more of a distraction if you drape their heads (plus many new mamas have a hard time with the latch-on if they can't see what they're doing) -- so it seems to me like a church intent on babies getting fed "God's way" would be more supportive of mothers being able to openly and comfortably breastfeed --
It seems like instead of admonishing the mothers who are trying so hard, they'd be admonishing the critics and encouraging them to get a handle on what breasts are really for -- that breasts are primarily for feeding babies, and only secondarily for sexual pleausure.
Anyhow, I thought I'd see what other women's "take" on this issue is. Specially since I really only dealt with this with my first daughter ... by the time my second daughter was born, we had sort of dropped out of church. Though we did go to a house church for a while, but not too regularly.
And I only have two children -- whereas some of you have dealt with all this a lot more. What is your experience? Do you think I'm just exaggerating when I say that it seems like they set this high standard for natural mothering -- but then it's all on the woman? And she better do it "right" 'cause it's "her" fault if some man gets sexually-aroused?