Boobs

I am about to write about boobs...boobies...breasts...tatas...mammary glands.  But first, I want to write a disclaimer, lest I accidentally offend someone: this blog post is in no way meant to be a commentary on breastfeeding vs formula feeding or families who choose to do one over the other.  It is more a social commentary about women in our country (and much of the industrialized West).

Yesterday I went to Motherhood Maternity to check out the sale on nursing shirts.  While I was trying some things on I overheard a conversation between a couple and the sales associate.  They were talking about the Breastfeeding Doll from Spain and how "wrong," "awful" and "disgusting" it was and the lady said "I am all for breastfeeding, but this is taking it too far."

I got instantaneously angry.  Our culture is so backwards! It is a scientific fact that the only reason God gave female mammals breasts is to feed their young.  That's it.  In fact, it is the single thing that makes us mammal, so it essential to our very identity.  Yet, when a toy presents itself that would expose little girls early to breastfeeding, people have a fit over it and use very pejorative terms like  "wrong," "awful" and "disgusting" to describe this key aspect of our humanness.  

Here is where my ire is raised: people in our culture will get upset over a doll that has little girls pretending to breastfeed, but things that oversexualize our little girls from a young age (like the scantily clad Hannah Montana that little girls want to emulate or the hooker-esque apparel of Bratz dolls or Katy Perry's very kid-oriented, Candyland-themed "California Gurls" music video that features her naked in the clouds talking about "daisy dukes, bikinis on top" and being so hot they "melt your popsicle *lick lips and wink*" oh and let's not forget her shooting whip cream out of her breasts... ) don't seem to draw the same condemnation.  It is mind boggling!  

The message we are sending to little girls is so wrong.  Using your body for what it was designed for is "wrong," "awful" and "disgusting," but flaunting it, cheapening it and objectifying it are OK and encouraged! You're as worthy as how deep your cleavage goes...but don't you dare try and use those breasts for the one and only thing they were created for!  That would be taking it "too far!"  

I will admit that I am a lot more sensitive to everything that is out there since I found out Rock and I were expecting a little girl.  I want her to have a healthy body image and realize her worth outside of her sexuality but it seems that everything in our culture is conspiring against us!  

Something I find interesting though is the recent fascination with Kate Middleton.  She is a very unassuming beauty who (now) dresses modestly yet still extremely stylishly and the world is obsessed.  If she wears something, it sells out within MINUTES (like her $1000 Burberry trench coat) and let's not forget her legendary (modest) wedding dress.  The world loves everything she does and uses terms like "beautiful," "demure," "elegant," and "graceful" to describe her.  This tells me that people still appreciate women who respect themselves by not letting it all hang.  It also proves that they don't really respect women who show all their wares...yet they obviously want to see the latter so...ugh.  I don't know.  I am glad there are women in the public eye who are OK for little girls to want to emulate (in dress) though. 

Again, this is not a blog trying to put down women who choose not to breastfeed or even women who like dressing sexy.  We live somewhere that we have that prerogative.  I just wanted to let some frustration out about the fact that we have so many conflicting messages out there for our little girls: pretending to breastfeed at a young age is  "wrong," "awful" and "disgusting" but dressing like a much older woman in skimpy clothes is OK, BUT if you do dress that way, although we want to see it, we won't respect you as much.  

Raising a self-confident little girl today seems like a daunting task.  But I am up for the challenge...I have to be.

Abby is already bucking culture norms...put a bow on her and you will awaken a beast!