At least that’s how I am choosing to interpret the recent news about Kim Kardashian’s recently tweeted complaint about a woman breastfeeding at a restaurant where she was having lunch.
Last Friday, Ms. Kardashian posted the following to her twitter account:
“EWW Im at lunch, the woman at the table next 2 me is breast feeding her baby w no coverup then puts baby on the table and changes her diaper”
Of course, outrage ensued.
The diaper changing part, I can certainly understand. A restaurant table is not an appropriate place for cleaning up babies’ behinds.
But I am intrigued and confused by the idea of Ms. Kardashian being disgusted by a woman who was breastfeeding “with no cover.”
As she clarified with later tweets, she is not at all opposed to breastfeeding. Her sister does it! It’s natural! It’s beautiful! The problem, she says, is that the woman at the restaurant was too exposed.
I did not see the nursing mother in question, so I don’t know exactly how “covered” or “uncovered” she was. I do know, however, that it doesn’t take many clicks on the internet to find photos of Kim Kardashian and her siblings wearing less clothing than I consider appropriate. The idea of this young woman, who does not hesitate to use her own cleavage for the purpose of promoting her career and making money, being disgusted by a mother showing “too much” while feeding her infant is not making a whole lot of sense to me.
Public displays of female body parts are acceptable—as long your purpose is to tantalize and inspire lust?
Throw a baby in the mix and it all becomes just plain gross?
I see this as yet another symptom of our culture’s unhealthy and unbalanced understanding of the meaning of sex and God’s plan for our bodies. We have tried so hard and come so far in our attempt to separate sex from babies that we wind up in a very confusing place. This is where John Paul II’s teachings on human sexuality and God’s plan for marriage would help us to make sense of society’s sexual confusion.
The human body is not gross. But neither is it an object to be exploited.
Comments
Post a Comment
i think Kim was exactly right.
Spot on as usual, Danielle. There is a true double standard in place when it comes to the exposure of women’s bodies. Our culture is completely out of control on this one!
I think Kim should concentrate on her own cover ups before deciding babies need blankets on their heads to eat. It is possible to breastfeed modestly without a cover, but it’s I’d love to hear what Kim thinks “modesty” means and why it applies to mothers of infants, and not to herself.
In some parts of the world (and still today in those parts with very little European influence) women didn’t even bother covering up their breasts. Why? Because breasts are for babies, and there’s nothing sex-related to them. End of story.
Of course we can’t do that ourselves, because everything is all twisted up, breasts are sexy and it’s okay to use them in public to attract men, but it’s not okay to use them in public to feed your baby. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Still, go to other countries (in Africa and Latin America for example) and the most natural thing in the world is for a woman to pop out a breast and feed her baby, coverless.
What people against seeing babies feeding are really saying is “Stay home, Mummy,” because no baby with a normal i.q. is going to stand for a blankie over his head. Furthermore, doesn’t Kimmie have a sex tape? Fornicating in public is just fine as long as no one is procreating, huh? If the baby was a 20-year-old man playing with the ***** next to her, that would have been just an everyday lunch. Nothing to tweet here.
The Kardashians are disgusting; their TV show is one of many banned in my family.
To me it sounds like she was disgusted at the fact that she changed her infants diaper at the restaurant table and just threw the breast feeding part in to fluff up the story. Get over it people.
Gotta love the judgmental crazy Catholics. This is one of the huge things that scared me away from the church. Y’all disgust me. God is to judge others,how they dress, ect… we have no place in that.
Crazy is a pretty judgemental word, Sarah. Disgust has very judgemental connotations as well.
It is simple as to why some people believe this is disgusting, they think breasts are for grown men (and women) to use for their sexual pleasure and when they see a baby nursing it seems totally out of place. I agree Danielle, people need to read up on John Paul II’s writings on human sexuality, it will change their lives.
lol yes that is also a typical Catholic response. See I don’t promote myself as near perfect Catholic, so it is ok to use those terms. I know I am not perfect, and I know I don’t dress modest sometimes *gasp*
I’m not sure what Michelle Duggar uses when she’s breastfeeding out in public (or doing household chores), but from what I’ve seen on “17/18/19 Kids and Counting” she’s certainly covered up good and proper.
So there is NO excuse for this game.
Perhaps I should mention I was never breasfed in private let alone in public (I was given up for adoption at birth).
So Sarah when you wrote ‘we have no place in that’ you weren’t including yourself? Backpedal all the way home.
Well, I breastfed my son, until he was 11 months old - and while I never did so in a restaurant, I did in a movie theater, and no one even noticed he was THERE - never mind what I was doing. I, however, was banished to a private room at my mother’s house, because even with a “cover up” the mere fact that I was nursing my child was making my brother too uncomfortable to be in the same room at the same time with us. So we got to watch TV upstairs alone for some “private time together” when we’d go visit gramma… People are just plain weird. They act like humans were invented with plastic bottles in their hands, and rubble nipples in their mouths… eedjits… For what it’s worth, my kid is going to be 20 next week, and he’s only ever had ONE ear ache in his life, and he’s rarely had any other illness, ever.
Amen to that! I have long felt this way.
What I would like to know is why any Catholic woman who takes herself seriously, including her body, maternity and religion, would pay ANY attention to ANYTHING related to ANYBODY named Kandrashian - except a quik “My Jesus, mercy” as you pass the end cap.
Michelle Duggar does not breastfeed; she formula feeds so that she can get pregnant as soon as possible. Not exactly the way God designed it. There is no Catholic imperative to have as many children as possible no matter what; but she’s not Catholic either!
I realize that women who get jealous hate good-looking women, but unlike one of the other Kardasian girls this woman didn’t cover up her breasts to feed, then went on to change a diaper, and all in a restaurant. And if breast-feeding is natural, so is male urination. (Back in the ‘60s a high school teacher mentioned seeing, in Europe, a man using one of the slates they put against the wall to assist public urination.) So if women should be allowed to pull it out and do what’s natural, shouldn’t men as well?
None seems to be sincere when issues such as modesty is discussed. Will the females who walk about without clothes on certainparts of their body explain why they do so ? Only it creates LUST in man and there is no other advantage. Let the females decide whether they want to generate lust in the males.Many of the ills spring up from lust.
Don wrote-Posted by Don Schenk on Wednesday, Jun 23, 2010 11:09 AM (EST):
“I realize that women who get jealous hate good-looking women, but unlike one of the other Kardasian girls this woman didn’t cover up her breasts to feed, then went on to change a diaper, and all in a restaurant. And if breast-feeding is natural, so is male urination. (Back in the ‘60s a high school teacher mentioned seeing, in Europe, a man using one of the slates they put against the wall to assist public urination.) So if women should be allowed to pull it out and do what’s natural, shouldn’t men as well?”
Women urinate also You have reached a new level of unthoughtful comment. Wow.
Jeff:
I’VE reached a new low? So the women who are serious about breast-feeding in public without covering up are okay with you?
Posted by Don Schenk on Wednesday, Jun 23, 2010 11:09 AM (EST):And if breast-feeding is natural, so is male urination. So if women should be allowed to pull it out and do what’s natural, shouldn’t men as well?
While it is quite natural to see women nursing “wide-open” in foreign countries, I highly doubt men are found urinating in public in any of those same areas.
What is it about “nursing in public” that bothers you??
Sarah123, a person has just gotta love your judgmental crazy ANTI-Catholic response. Such is one of the huge things that scared me INTO the Church. Your ANTI-judgmentalism is ILLOGICAL. If you intend to leave all judging up to God, why for did you feel the need to judge the writer’s opinion?!?!
I agree Danielle- this seems to have some of the hints of what I call cultural schizophrenia. At the same time, no it is not appropriate to change a diaper on a restaurant table, nor is it appropriate to be immodestly exposed when nursing a baby, cover or no cover. We have somewhat lost our way in what the actual standards are or should be, and that is the basic problem. I am 45 and have nursed 13 babies in various settings around the world and I confess, while I am very clear in my mind about which part of what in the nursing relationship should and should not be exposed, I am not exactly sure this sleeveless dress I am wearing is ok or not ok with Jesus or his Mom, in general.
Sara, there’s a difference between judging and pointing out what is wrong. In fact, it is a responsibility to point it out. I’m sorry you left the church. You say you’re not perfect, and neither am I. But, we are to strive to be perfect. If we try to use such flimsy excuses that we are not to point out things that are wrong, simply because we don’t like it, then we easily fall from the narrow road and fall prey to the devil. We are accoutable for this before God, He knows all - our motivations and intentions. They can’t be hidden from him. Love the sinner and judge the sin.
God Bless.
Now I like Kim Kardashian just as much as the next person, but I hardly think that a person who became famous from a sex tape and then has posed naked for playboy and such has any right to talk about being appropriately dressed. I’m just saying
Women who breastfeed should be modest about it. I knew a woman who took advantage of the fact that she was breastfeeding to tease the men with an exposed breast and a knowing wink, being far too leisurely in bringing the baby to the breast. No two pieces for her! No scarf over her shoulder when her blouse is unbuttoned! I’ve breastfed in public too, but not like THAT. Sometimes when people act shocked, they have good reason to be.
As a mother it is disgusting for another mother to breast feed without covering up is worse than an entertainer such as Beyonce, Kim, Rihanna etc.. to parade around half naked they get paid to do that it is part of their job and in some cases is considered works of art last time I checked Beyonce gets paid top dollar to wear leotards with pure cleavage and pantyhose with no skirt or pants on tour as part of her concert “wardrobe”!!!
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give The National Catholic Register permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.