(no subject)

Both The Radical Housewife and my husband posted the same link, which appeared on my FB newsfeed within seconds of each other despite occurring hours apart.

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/military-moms-breastfeeding-uniform-stir-controversey-214500503.html

TRH's comment: "I fail to see what's wrong with nursing in uniform. Is the outrage from hawks who are disgusted by the uniform engaged in an act of love and connection?"

Tom's comment: "LOC them. Seriously. Not for breastfeeding in uniform, that's just common sense, but for being stupid enough to volunteer to be photographed doing it in uniform and broadast all over the world. If the AF isn't cool with you being photographed working on a 120+ degree flightline with your jacket off, what makes you think for one second that they would be okay with this?"

(LOC refers to a letter of counseling, which means you get spoken to by a senior NOC or an officer in your chain of command. It's a step below an LOR, letter of reprimand, which shows up in your military records.)

He's entirely right that, given such draconian policies about being out of uniform and on camera even in adverse weather conditions, the women in these photos should have known this would not fly well.

But I think the flightline policy is nonsense, and I think this policy, if it is indeed policy and not just internet outrage over the photos, is nonsense too.

It is not disgracing the uniform to wear your tan undershirt, ABU pants, socks, and boots, without the extremely heavy ABU overshirt, to avoid heatstroke.

It is not disgracing the uniform to have your ABU overshirt unbuttoned and your undershirt lifted in order to breastfeed your child. (Probably should have had their hats on, as these are outdoor photos, and military regs on keeping your head covered are both gender-neutral and REALLY fierce.)

Maybe I'm just an ignorant civilian. ::shrug:: I'm somwhat immersed in the culture as a military spouse, but I've never served myself, so I'm not 100% immersed.

Getting plenty of comments from my husband (reasonable), my sil (also reasonable), and one of husband's friends (somewhat less so), mainly concerning the issues of being anything less than 100% buttoned, pressed, and in uniform, and in a photo, diminishes the image of the AF as a whole; they're only doing this to make a statement; and more questionably from the friend, that it's a safety hazard to breastfeed in uniform. I still don't get it.

:;forehead twitch::

Yay hooray.

Husband's friend claimed that breastfeeding in uniform while in a workplace where others can see would leave the airwomen in question open to sexual harassment lawsuits from the men present.

I questioned this.

He responded that showing your breasts to breastfeed is the same as a man "whipping it out".

I responded that breastfeeding is not a sexual act. Whipping out your johnson and telling people to look at it (a statement which generally accompanies whipping it out) IS a sexual act.

I suspect this will not go over well.

Tom, on the other hand, pointed out that right now women are trying very hard to get into frontline combat roles, on the same terms as men, and are thus trying to make everyone think there's no substantive differences between men and women; these photos show there ARE substantive differences, and remind people that when and if women in combat roles choose to exercise their reproductive rights, they will be off the front line for months, which does not hold true for men. "It's not about disgracing the uniform. It's about using the uniform's image when that image doesn't belong to you." The most sensible comment I've seen thus far.

Ay yi yi

Now the guy is trying to claim you can sue a woman for sexual harassment because she breastfeeds in front of him if he's a religious person who disapproves of female nudity. We're currently debating the ramifications of "reasonable person" as described here: "This definition emphasizes that harassment need not result in tangible psychological harm to the victim, but rather need only be so severe or pervasive that a reasonable person would perceive, and the victim does perceive, the work environment as hostile or offensive". From http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/airforce/a/afeot.htm

Tom disagrees that the photos from the original article are sexual harassment, but points out that the definition of reasonable is ill-defined and generally amounts to whatever the wing commander in charge thinks will make him look good or bad to the press.

I think I am going to step back from the conversation and take the boys out to play.

Edit: NOW he's admitting he's stretching the issue a bit with the sexual harassment comment, he realizes it's unlikely anyone would in fact see a woman breastfeed and expose her breasts to the world and cry "Harassment!".

I assured him, as a woman who's breastfed,, there's not a whole lot of exposing your breasts to the world going on. Lift your shirt enough to get at the breast, unhook the special bra, give the kiddo enough room to latch on and breathe, and that's about it.

I doubt this will impinge on his mindset, but the effort's got to be made. I'm disengaging now.