January 10, 2012

I'm disappointed in you Sesame Street

That's it.  I'm fed up.  Anyone who disagrees with me is totally entitled to their own opinion, but I firmly believe they are wrong.
Breastfeeding is NATURAL.  Bottlefeeding is NOT. 
Don't start yelling at your computer about how not all women can/want to breastfeed.  I understand that.  I am just saying that breastfeeding is how women were made in order to feed their children.

What is not natural is injecting breasts with silicone or saline, stuffing them into a tiny bikini and plastering them on the cover of magazines.  But that appears to be okay, while a mother feeding her child is "gross". 

I just can't stand it.  It is so dumb.  How can people really think like this?  It's been said before and I will say it again.  People have been so conditioned to see breasts as sex objects that to see them any other way is, well...awkward.

Now comes this Sesame Street controversy.  Apparently, the PBS show is no longer airing a show from the 1970s where a woman teaches about breastfeeding. She actually nursed her real-life daughter on the show, although the baby was completely covered by a blanket and so was she.  But it is amazing that it has been more than 30 years since that clip aired and NOW people have a problem with it. 

I am sad to hear that Sesame Street has reportedly pulled the 1977 clip and edited a breastfeeding shot out of its video for "You're My Baby."  The baby in the video is fed from a bottle.

What's the problem?  What are we so scared our children are going to see?  The children who watch Sesame Street have probably seen their mother or someone close to them breastfeed a baby.  At what age are children made to feel like breastfeeding is something that should be hidden away?

I love that my daughter knows all about breastfeeding from watching me feed my son.  And I hope when she becomes a mother that she will want and be able to breastfeed. 

True story: This past summer my daughter went camping with my in-laws.  It was a military swap meet...so a bunch of men (and quite a few women) were hanging out and enjoying themselves.  And there is my little girl with her baby doll.  All of a sudden, my daughter lifts up her shirt and puts the doll on her breast.  When asked what she was doing, she simply replied, "I'm feeding my baby."

Exactly.  Just feeding a baby.  Get over it. 

2 comments:

  1. We would love for you to link to the original article and the petition!

    http://boobietime.blogspot.com/2011/12/not-exactly-wordless-wednesday.html

    http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/bring-breastfeeding-back-to-sesame-street/

    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  2. So agree agree with you about breastfeeding. Breastfeeding offers so much more than regular formula. I currently have twin daughters age 3 who I am still nursing, and will continue to breastfeed until they self - wean.

    ReplyDelete