Artist: Dave Ron of Vancouver

I've been reluctant to write a blog on the G20, because I do not consider it an area of my own expertise.  I am not always clear on the reasons for the protest; some of it looked like a protest against China, some of it against the Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid, some of it appeared to protest the fact that commerce, not elected government, seems to be in charge of many of the world's decisions.  Admittedly I haven't spent enough time learning about the protest, and the G20 it'self.  However this is what I saw this weekend, and this is why I needed to write something.

Granted there was property damage on Saturday by a certain small faction separate from the rest of the protest, but what I saw Sunday morning was brutal force being used against peaceful protesters.  Last I remembered Canadians had the consitutionally protected right to peaceful protest!  What does this look like to you?  It looks like a police state!  Where was the media in all of this?  Attempting to get coverage, while police tried to prevent filming, and even arrested some photographers of one newspaper.  Was it a small independant publication?  No, it was the National Post!

Part of the reason all this has caused me concern and anxiety is that I know someone who is involved in the protest.  Last night she uploaded the following message on Facebook:
"Police coralling people at queen and spadina for the past three hours. won't let people go. won't arrest them either."
As far as I know it is illegal to detain people without proper arrest, and this whole fiasco was an obstruction of our civil liberties.  I am greatly dismayed.

At a "Big Splash" water park in Tulsa Oaklahoma Tina Russel was told to remove herself to a washroom, or else cover her child when breastfeeding.  "We were there to have fun have family time. Relax," she said.  "Ethan got fussy so I started to feed him." 
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0610/746273.html

Reading this I thought back to the many many times I've been busy watching my toddler, and needed to attend to my infant at the same time.  Breastfeeding is the perfect solution for keeping one's infant happy while attending to one's older child with ease.  It's a beautiful solution; always available, always fresh and no need to pre -heat!

I also thought of the many times when my children have been disruptive, crying and upset, and I was able to comfort and satisfy them easily.  I thought particularly of the hours I've spent on a plane which could quite simply have been a nightmare of crying if not for the ability to nurse.  I often nursed out of CONSIDERATION for others, not with the intention of causing discomfort!   

Tina Russel was located on one of the "islands" in the middle of the activity pool when her younger son began to get fussy.  Like many good mothers, she wanted to keep an eye on her older son, and still attend the needs of the younger child.  For this she was reprimanded by the lifeguards, asked to move or cover up, and later told that she should have thought twice about having two kids so close together.  The park manager apparently said: "it's not my choice that you had two children.  It's not my choice that you had two children this close together."

In my opinion this is a clear example of the kind of scorn shown towards mothers in our modern society.  I think back to some of the times I had to haul a screaming toddler out of a store, while balancing a baby on my hip and NO ONE bothered to help me with the door.  Maybe they just didn't think of it, I don't know, but I wonder sometimes if there isn't a mentallity of "you got yourself in this mess, you clean it up."  Women in the United States are given apallingly short maternity leaves, with the apparent mindset being "it's your choice to have kids, you suck up the consequences." 


Some of the comments on the News Channel 8 Talk Back News were as follows:
"This woman sounds like an attention-seeker and an exhibitionist."

"What a skanky, lazy, irresponsible and very inconsiderate woman!"

"Probably more like, this is the first time the complaints got past her narcissisim."
 

In my opinion breastfeeding is one of the very least selfish things one can do for another human being, (besides sharing one's body with someone else for nine months, maybe.) It amazes me how many times I've heard breastfeeding being equated with selfishness.  For many women it can be quite a struggle at first- painful sometimes, messy and not always very easy.  I personally have never had any difficulty with it, but I've known women who have struggled with painful latch, thrush, sleepless nights, and perservered for the sake of their children.  This is to me the essence of motherhood.  Not that bottle feeding mothers lack this quality in the least, but the image of a woman breastfeeding seems to symbolize this selfLESSness perfectly.

Yesterday afternoon I received an interesting tweet from @KimKardashian "EWW Im at lunch,the woman at the table next 2 me is breast feeding her baby w no coverup then puts baby on the table and changes her diaper"

Apparently later she did a follow up tweet saying: "My sister breastfeeds! It's a natural beautiful thing, there's nothing wrong w it, but she covers herself, not w her boobs exposed."  Thank you for the lesson in modesty, dear Kim.  I will be sure to cover myself whenever nursing in public from now on. 

First of all the irony of the statement is obvious- she posed for Playboy!  How could she be so prudish about a little bit of boob exposed in the act of nursing!  It was funny.  And also very very sad.

I find it disturbing how vicious women can be to one another.  When I had an article published in the Toronto Star on the subject of the censorship of my art from Facebook http://www.thestar.com/living/article/794323--are-these-obscene?bn=1  some of the nastiest attacks in the reader comments were from other women; the worst being the following statement: "As a mother of 2, trust me, others are not interested in seeing your bloated breasts from pregnancy. And another newsflash, they ain't gonna last!"

 It's unfortunate for Kim that she made a statement like she did, because she is the classic Glass House that shouldn't throw stones.  It would be so easy to attack her, point out her hypocricy, insult her figure... that is partly why I feel sad about her comments.  Let's instead take a step back and see her as a product of her society. This is precisely what is wrong with society's view of breasts today.  Women are taught to see themselves as sexual objects first, with breastfeeding being a secondary function.  There is a de-humanizing quality to this, as women are detached from their own biology, their relationships to others, their needs and desires, and put in a realm of pure asthetics.  Women are not judged for the content of their character, but merely for the quality of their skin.

It's also unfortunate for the many many young women who follow her tweets.  The breastfeeding statistics for young women are depressing already- something like 20% -30% of young women choose to breastfeed.  Imagine how many more might be affected by this post: "EWWW! ...breastfeeding!" and choose not to give their babies the best start to life.  The diservice this statement has made to the breastfeeding advocacy movement is staggering.