Honestly I'm more troubled by the pressure put on women to bf than I am with bf in public. If a woman isn't comfortable with bf but feels compelled by society to do so she has the choice to either stay holed up for (approximately) a year or pump. I would never feel comfortable doing it, even with cover. I would cringe every time a male walked close to me because I'm an assault survivor. I would feel violated just doing it at all, but people treat women like trash if they don't do the teat method. Then if they do, where the heck can they go??

I'm a believer in modesty. Meaning, I don't flash my boobs when sunbathing and I expect you not to flash yours when breastfeeding. I'm not sunbathing to turn anyone on, you're not bf to turn anyone on. The problem is the double-standard. Either boobs are sexual or their not. BF mothers that buy special push-up bras to turn their husbands on or let their husbands nurse for sexual gratification only contradict themselves when they bf in an obnoxious manner in public and insist their breasts aren't sexual.

Men are pervs. Yes. Yes. YES. THEY ARE. Just like rape victims are held accountable for the length of a skirt, BF women are going to be held accountable for what would be indecent exposure for any non-lactating nipple. The difference is that bf mothers have more support than rape survivors.

i have a problem with letting men off the hook for everything because "all men are pigs". NOT ALL MEN ARE PIGS. and the ones that are shouldn't be so why do we always make excuses for them? if i were a man i would be insulted by the whole "boys will be boys" saying that lets men get away with everything. if they are so much more capable and smarter than women that we have lived in this patriachal society for thousands of years, then we should hold them up to that standard. MY man is mature enough to respect a woman who is nursing. he has enough brain power to distinguish between a push up bra and a hungry baby. mature people do have the power to compartmentalise and see differences in context.

darkmoon hit the nail on the head...its all about modesty

I agree with you about not all men being pigs, Killbill. My problem is you don't know which ones are and which ones aren't and I would have it constantly on my mind that any one of the males within proximity (or several for all I know) would be getting off on what I was doing. If all men were like my husband and yours there wouldn't be a problem, but that simply isn't the case. Maybe it would be different if one were raised in a culture that didn't teach breasts as a "private part" but for most women in the Western civilization, it's always going to be a gamble.

I have to say I admire the guts of women that bf in public. If I were a mother I really don't think I could do it and I'd either end up using formula or being the ones exiled at home until the baby could eat solids. From what I hear, breast pumps aren't as easy to use as we think, too.

They're not easy to use effectively. Pumps never really worked for me at all - I'd spend half an hour and maybe get an ounce of milk out. My breasts wouldn't respond to the pump and my milk wouldn't let down.

I'm gearing up to start breastfeeding again in December when our new daughter is born