According to this recent news item on MSNBC [1], Emily Gillette, 27, filed the complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission late last week against Delta Air Lines, for kicking her off of a flight between Burlington and New York City.
Gillette said she was breast-feeding her 22-month-old daughter as their flight prepared to leave Burlington International Airport. She said a flight attendant handed her a blanket and told her to “cover up.”
The airline is defending itself by claiming that Gilette wasn’t being sufficiently “discreet.”
A breast-feeding mother is perfectly acceptable on an aircraft, providing she is feeding the child in a discreet way,” that doesn’t bother others, said Paul Skellon, spokesman for [the airline]. “She was asked to use a blanket just to provide a little more discretion, she was given a blanket, and she refused to use it, and that’s all I know.
Huh? Let’s see . . . I’m looking at my calendar . . . it is the year 2007 A.D.
I’m not going to waste any time wondering whether Ms. Gillette was “discreet.” Immoralist that I am, I don’t see any reason why any woman should have to be discreet while nursing her baby. There’s no more reason for this than for requiring a woman to throw a towel over her own head while she herself eats a pretzel. Or requiring a man to be discreet when he blows his nose.
I’m wondering why an airline would have a policy that requires a nursing mother to be “discreet.” What part of nursing needs to be discreet? The part about nourishing milk being made available to the baby? The part about the baby drinking the milk? The part about the baby not going hungry? None of these is the true fear, because no one would have any problem with a woman conspicuously feeding breast milk (which she previously pumped from her breast) out of a bottle. Nor is the worry that some portions of breasts are offensive. Women expose large swaths of tops of their breasts through their conscioius choice of clothing. To combat this “top of breast” onslaught, airlines would need to invoke strict dress codes. I haven’t heard any outcry for such airline dress codes.
This inane airline policy is really about protecting “us” from nipples.
Gee . . . I wonder what social segment is pressuring airlines (and everyone else) to protect us from nipples? Let’s have an unscientific survey. Let’s put 500 religious fundamentalists over here on my right. Now, by a show of hands, which of you fundamentalists think that the nipple of a nursing mother should not be visible in a public place? I see about . . . oh . . . 462 hands. Now, let’s put 500 secular humanists over here on my left. Please raise your hands if the airlines should protect us from seeing nipples. Two hands? Wait! One of you is clentching a Bible! Get over in the other group where you belong! Only one hand now? No wonder they call us God-cursed immoralists!
So . . . the people trying to “protect” us from nipples are the same people who strive to “protect our marriages” from gay people. It’s the same people who try so hard to foist that sex obsessed [2] book on the rest of us. You know, the Bible.
Here’s a little self-help therapy for those of you who just can’t get over the fear and shame of nipples. Go into your bathroom and lock the door. Stand in front of a mirror and take off your shirt. Now, carefully take a look at your nipples. There . . . that’s what nipples look like. Ask yourself whether your head exploded. Probably not. Did a demon emerge from the floor and stab you with a pitchfork? Probably not.
I’m also going to suggest some reading for you fundamentalists. There are articles that discuss nipples [3] and areolas [4]. I know reading these article is going to be difficult, because what really bothers you guys is that you don’t want to be reminded [5] that you are animals. Yes, humans are animals. We are cousins with the other animals [6] (and plants). We poop [7]. We breathe, we sleep, we cough, we have emotions, we eat, we guard territories. Just like other animals [8].
Yes, and we lactate [9]. Take a deep breath and listen up: seeing a nipple won’t make you turn to stone. If you get sexually bothered seeing a woman’s nipple, it’s YOUR problem, not hers. Really, you need to get over it.
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