Warning: If you cannot read this as humor, tongue in cheek, don’t read further. I thought the commonality was funny. But if you are already offended, read no more! Of course these groups are worlds apart. The weapons people seem, a little, hmm, overzealous? Breastfeeding in public is not dangerous at all. The most that will happen is perhaps a little squirt of milk in the eye and that is only if you are TOO close. On the other hand, the breastmilk would be healthy for your eye! If you see humor in weird juxtapositions, read on!
Last night at a dinner party I learned a new term, “Ammosexual”, coined by comedian Bill Maher.
Now, Bill and I do not always see eye to eye. I was a fan of his wit and found his show entertaining in the past. However, a couple of year ago he talked about “lactate intolerance” and this got my back up, because according to Bill himself he very much enjoys breasts, just not with babies attached. He feels women should not be nursing in public. “He doesn’t want women showing their tits in public unless they are appropriately packaged for heterosexual male consumption.” Wow. I have been snubbing him ever since. He hasn’t seemed to notice.
So back to what an ammosexual is. My girlfriend told me that they are people who want the right to carry their weapons in public. Right out into the open. They are also apparently very much in love with their guns. Bill did a segment on them during his program.
I never thought I would have much in common with gun toting fellows BUT aren’t there a lot of parallels with with breastfeeding moms? Our mothers want the right to nurse in public, peacefully, no interference, and they love their babies very much!
Apparently, people who want to carry their weapons openly feel that if they do it enough the general population will get used to it and it will not be considered abnormal. Another parallel! I do believe the more we see mothers nursing in public we will get used to it.
Ironically, I don’t think that many of the “open carry” group would be supportive of a mother nursing in public!
Not surprisingly, for people who want to carry their weapons out in the open, it appears as if there actions have brought negative attention to their cause. From Bill Maher: “Now the silver lining in all this is these heavily armed flash mobs that have been alarming people in restaurants lately have managed to do what thousands of progressive legislators could not. They got guns banned. (audience cheering and applause) Yeah, one by one, all these restaurants said nope, sorry, you can no longer take a gun into Chipotle, or Chili’s, or Applebee’s, or Wendy’s, or Jack in the Box. From now on, if you want to die in one of these places, you’re going to have to do it the old-fashioned way, by eating their food! (audience laughter and applause)”
There is a huge difference (one of many!) between carrying a weapon in public and breastfeeding in public. Breastfeeding in public will not hurt or scare anyone. It might make you angry or embarrassed, but it cannot cause damage to an onlooker.
It is my hope that as more and more women are willing to be brave, face possible repercussions (angry looks, being harassed, being asked to leave and nurse elsewhere), and nurse in public, we will not be banned, but instead embraced as a part of normal human mammal culture. I think the “more exposure” concept has merit. The more you see something out in normal, everyday life, the more it will become “normal”.