Jan 12, 2012 -- 9:36PM, Erey wrote:

Jan 12, 2012 -- 9:02PM, mountain_man wrote:

[

I don't see this in totally for and agin terms. There is more to it. Essentially I tend to agree with Erey.

Breastfeeding is natural, a wonderful bonding experience for a mother an child. There is absolutely nothing about it that should be hidden.

What alot of people don't realize, especially men is that it is not always a wonderful experience for mother and child.  For many, many, many women it is a painful, agonizing, frustrating, weeping experience.  Occasionaly newborns die because they are not getting enough food (rare but it has happened). 

It was very, very hard for me with my first child, but I was determined and I was able to get through that very difficult patch and it did become a wonderful experience.  During the hard times I was so frustrated and in so much pain that I burst into tears, in front of strangers, which made me feel even worse, I felt mortified and I cried even more.  I am not and never have been a weeping woman but I lost control there. 

In short, I would never ever judge a woman poorly for choosing not to nurse.  I have many friends that tried very hard to nurse and were never able to get it established and so they gave up. 

In my oppinon and I think we all agree, a happy, less stressed mother is better for any baby than breast milk. 

Generalizations have their place, but often they do not hold.

My son was a fuss-budget from the word go. He flipped himself over from tummy to back in the hospital nursery when he was 3 days old. And so it went : he meant to get on with it. And he did : Star Student of his high school class, State champion in the mile and 2-mile as a high school senior, awarded a cadetship to the USCG Academy, then after a red-shirt year when he left a full running scholarship to GA TECH. He's never looked back. His son is the one on scholarship at MIT. Of course said son also married a brilliant woman.

Our older daughter was a placid baby who never missed a trick, neither did our younger daughter, an in-between. Our older daughter was valedictorian in high school and graduated from GA Tech with high honors. Our youngest also graduated from GA TECH and is a respected financial analyst.

I'm not so certain placid moms or nursing moms give their children an edge.

Jan 12, 2012 -- 9:25PM, farragut wrote:

I agree, Dave, and I further propose that fornication is a natural and wonderful bonding experience between lovers, potential mother and father. One of its most delightful manifestations is cunnilingus. There is absolutely nothing about it that should be hidden.

Hyperbolic strawmen never makes for a good, or rational, argument.

If any of you have been to beaches where female toplessness or nudity is allowed, I think you can vouch for my experience that after a short while you really don't pay much attention to it.  Yes, you still may stare a bit at a beautiful or handsome person, but that would most likely happen if they had a bathing suit on anyway. 

OTOH, if you want to make an obsession with breasts, hide them-- that'll do it because our imaginations then tend to take over, and imagination is generally stronger than reality. 

 "don't drag the rest of us down with you."

You need not come with me.