Posting Pics of kid breastfeeding dolls

[Cin]

I don’t have any problem with a women breast feeding in public. None. Not even any. Not even a hint of any. Nope. However, I do believe whether or not to breast feed one’s child is a mother’s decision. Pressure to make her feel like a bad mother or a selfish mother because she chooses, for whatever reason, not to breast feed is problematic to me. I have a problem when WIC makes the decision for mothers needing assistance by not making enough formula available for them to do anything but breast feed. I have a problem when the United States Health Resources and Services Administration makes it a national goal to have at least 75% of all mothers breast feeding. Especially since the only mothers they can really control are those needing assistance. Feeling that a woman should have the right to choose not to breast feed does not mean that I don’t feel comfortable with breast feeding anywhere or anytime. It means I feel uncomfortable when controlling or coercing the choice of what to do with a woman’s body becomes the target of society and/or the government. A woman should have the right to choose what to do with her own body. And I get that a good many people, some of them even women, do not agree.

And I feel that breast feeding dolls are just over the top. There are tons of dolls that do all kinds of things. We don’t need breast feeding ones. Contrary to what the makers of these dolls are saying, I don’t believe a little girls needs to learn how to breast feed when she is 5 or 6 or 7 or whatever. It’s a tool to perpetuate society’s need to uphold gender roles and biological determinism. And I don’t agree with the argument that little girls need to learn to nurture. All children should learn nurturing skills. It’s time we focus a bit on ways to help boys learn this skill.