Moms Gone Wild: Why Bill Maher is Wrong about Breastfeeding
On Friday's episode of Real Time, Bill Maher introduced one of his "new rules," "Lactate Intolerant," in which he argues against breastfeeding in public. As he explained, he doesn't want women showing their tits in public unless they are appropriately packaged for heterosexual male consumption. (Revealing what he thinks is appropriate, he made a snide reference to Britney Spears' body in one of the other new rules, drawing a good laugh. My goal here is not to defend her, but only to point out that Bill Maher's idea of an acceptable female body, along with many members of his audience, is incredibly narrow.)
For someone who claims to believe in science, Bill's queasiness around breastfeeding seems more than a little bit irrational. A huge body of evidence suggests that breastfeeding provides incredible health benefits to both infants and mothers. (For the FDA statement on this, click here.) It not only provides babies with antibodies that help them avoid illness, it also may protect mothers against breast and ovarian cancers later in life. There is evidence that breastfeeding provides psychological benefits to infants and that breastfed infants develop higher IQs. There's even evidence that breast-fed babies are less prone to obesity later in life -- and obesity is something that Bill Maher is clearly against. Breastfeeding saves on healthcare costs, and it is clear that advocating in favor of breastfeeding is in the interest of public health. And yet the vast majority of mothers do not breastfeed for the full 12 months recommended by Health and Human Services. In fact, less than 30 percent of mothers are breastfeeding when their babies reach six months of age.
Given that it's so good for their babies and themselves, why don't more mothers breastfeed? One reason is that there is inadequate maternity leave for most women, making it hard for women who want or need to work outside the home to establish breastfeeding. Another reason is that many employed women don't have enough privacy at work to pump milk. But we shouldn't underestimate the impact of people like Bill Maher who are squeamish about the fact that humans are mammals. Coworkers who don't want women leaving icky breast milk in the office refrigerator because it grosses them out. Those who can't handle the idea that babies should also get to eat when the family is at Applebees, even if they are having something healthier than what's on the menu. So Bill Maher says that breastfeeding mother's are too lazy to plan ahead, presumably because they can arrange it so that their babies don't need to eat while they're out. Obviously he has never had to manage life within small windows of opportunity between feedings or he would know that timing a baby's hunger is just not possible. Perhaps he would prefer that breastfeeding mothers never leave the house -- another recipe for reducing breastfeeding rates. Sometimes people, especially those without children, seem to forget that mothers are people too -- we need to have friends, social lives, and activities beyond the confinement of our living rooms.
Bill Maher obviously doesn't understand the benefits of breastfeeding to public health, since he claims that breastfeeding is not worthy of activism. He says that it's "petty and parochial." Apparently he also doesn't understand that supporting breastfeeding is not only good for public health, it's also part of reproductive justice -- along with the availability of contraception, the legality of abortion, the right to informed consent or refusal of medical procedures when giving birth -- all rights that many women currently do not have. When he claims that women's reproductive activities are yucky and should go underground, he is colluding with the people who want to control reproduction and sexuality -- not normally the folks he counts among his friends (with the possible exception of Ann Coulter). He may be in favor of the kind of sex he wants to have with the kind of bodies he wants to have it with, but his attitudes toward women are stuck in the Dark Ages.
Of course, so are his attitudes about babies, which he says are not special because creating a baby is "something a dog could do." First, Bill, dogs don't make human babies. But all babies, including puppies, are adorable -- they have to be so that we want to protect them. It's a survival thing. Beyond that, we can all respect that Bill Maher doesn't want to have children and perhaps we're all better off for that. But Bill needs to respect the fact that other people's children are the ones who will be paying into Social Security when he reaches retirement age. If anyone is going to make the scientific discoveries that help to resolve the problems that Bill cares about, like global warming, it will be other people's children. Parents, and especially mothers, are providing a public good by taking care of their children's health and development. So instead of criticizing them for making you queasy, maybe you should cheer them on.
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I find it funny that Bill is a fanatic about avoiding meat and processed foods, blaming many of the country's ills on the poor American diet; but when someone tries to eat what must be the most perfect diet in the world Bill wants them to hide it and eat with a towel over their head!
I'm with you on most things Bill, but you really pooched this one.
There's always a kind of Nazi type breast-fee
LOL, SusieQ..ha
So why are you making it a big deal. If you didn't breastfeeding would be no deal at all.
Bill is an entertainer. A very, very good one, but still an entertainer, and a comedian. Sometimes for the sake of getting noticed, he says things that are not quite on the mark. As has been said, for someone who (rightfully) criticises our national eating habits, it seems a bit incongruous to criticise a woman who wishes to expose herself during dinner.
Bottom line, a mother's milk really is the perfect food, but is it necessary to force other people into accepting one baring a breast in public? Some good people can accept it, but some good people will be made uncomfortable by it.
Some good people wanted to smoke in the office. Some good people want to do lots of things. When I think og Bush I want to do lots of things but I know I am wrong to think that way.
If more good people breastfed in public, maybe our society would become accustomed to it and noone would care anymore!
Actually, if you listen to the show...he suggesting that women should "cover up" a little. I agree. The basis for his commentary was at an Applebee's restaurant. A woman exposing her breast to feed a baby while others are eating is a little inconsiderate. We are all animals as well as human beings and we respond to various stimuli, in various ways. A basis of civility is to moderate our necessary behaviors which cause undesirable, or uncontrollable responses in others. His point about masturbation in public was excessive but fair. How would that mother respond to someone picking their nose while she was trying to eat. Use a handerchief, and cover up a little.
To compare breastfeeding with masturbating in public or picking your nose is absurd! You know back in the 70s and 80s when most European beaches went topless, the general initial reaction was for men to stare and giggle. But that subsided and everyone got used to it. GROW UP!
Lordy. Picking your nose is unhygienic. Breastfeeding is recommended by all doctors. Why should a woman have to hide her mammary glands.
Sounds like prudery masquerading as humor to me.
Sounds like misogyny masquerading as humor to me.
Bill Maher is an neoconservative idiot. Whenever you see a pile of crap, what do you do? That's right, ignore him and he'll go away.
I breastfed two babies. I went out to my car to feed them when they were hungry. I used a cloth diaper to cover myself while feeding them. I loved breastfeeding; it was so convenient and good for me and the baby.
Breastfeeding can be done discreetly. I am a very modest person and would no more flash my boob than I would flash my ass!!
BTW, both my babies turned out very well indeed. Both are intelligent college grads with good jobs!!
Hope they will not feel as restricted as their mother. Hopefully they went to good colleges and learned the difference between a sexual organ and a mammary gland that is a fetish for many men.
Saying this over and over doesn't constitute an argument. I consider my breasts very sexual, thank you, and the fact that a man finds breasts sexy doesn't mean he has a breast fetish. It means he's normal. Just use a damn blanket.
I thank the few above who did see Bill's rant about what it truly was-- someone suing because they were asked cover up a bit while breastfeeding in a restaurant. The mother wasn't asked to leave, or to stop. Bill wasn't ranting for the end of breastfeeding and isn't schilling for the formula lobby. Learn to parse an argument and how to distinguish hyperbole for comedic value from a declaration of fact or belief.
The woman was asked to put a blanket over her exposed, suckled tit... and she sued. That's rant worthy.
She was insulted in public. Should she have to put up with an insult from the restaurant. Probably another customer complained and they tried to ameliorate the situation by telling the woman to cover up rather than telling the complainer it was a natural act and if he didn't like it he could have a doggie bag and leave.
Funny, I agree with Maher on most every issue but EVEN I was offended by his comments. I didn't know if I was watching Bill Maher or Bill Falafel O'Reilly. Of course, this is the country that nearly went berserk over a breast with a metal nipple being revealed on the Superbowl for a fraction of a nanosecond. Obviously, there is a huge group of prudish idiots on the loose who equate a child receiving sustenance with masturbating in public and Bill Maher is afraid he will lose control and end up using the "she asked for it because she was breastfeeding defense." Yeah....ho
Actually, I have never seen a woman breastfeeding at a restaurant because I don't frequent Chucky Cheese, McDonald's and Applebee's as Bill Maher apparently does. That being said, I would rather have the brat with a boob in his piehole than listen to him scream. I think the simple solution is just to ban kids from public places. I hate them anyway. They are extremely noisy and self-absorbed. So Bill, circulate the petition to ban children in public and I'll sign it.
Looks like somebody checked their sense of humor at the door. It was a joke...so get over it.
This silly debate of public breastfeeding is symptomatic of a larger issue. Our society is missing out on the concept of a raising a family. We are not a nation of citizens without mothers and fathers. This is not a discussion of natural vs. unnatural. Recognizing that a new mother can spend up to 10 hours a day breastfeeding her newborn, I don't see why it's a big deal if she tries to give herself a break by getting a meal out.
i felt he was stating that if you got to breast feed put a blanket over the boob.
never been a boob guy so it doesnt matter to me.
if there is industrialized country more hung up on a nude female body than america I have not found it.
all the trouble started when we put clothes on read the bible. sorry just kidding.
what I dont like mothers that breast feed give you that look if you just happen to look at them like you are a pervert. the mind does not automatically register breastfeeding in progress.
if you want to see breasts every night on tv tons of them all shapes and styles but then again I am not a boob guy.
You're right about breastfeeding mothers giving a look if someone notices. I'm guessing the woman who sued Applebee's would have complained to the same manager if teen age boys in the booth next to her had turned and stared and discussed what they were seeing. Don't we have a right to look wherever we want while in public? Does the law require everyone in a restaurant to avert their eyes if someone is breastfeeding?
I think public breast-feeding is fine. I think Americans are too hung up about nudity and yucky sex parts. But I wonder, how do the public breast-feeding proponents feel about Hooters restaurant?
I love their wings!
Thank you so much for this post. Bill Maher was so off the mark on this issue and it has been bothering me for days. He obviously has no problem with female nudity when it is sexualized, as he frequents parties at the Playboy Mansion and often makes reference to "titty bars" yet he is offended by breastfeeding? That's typically the sort of hypocrisy that is his favorite fodder.
And while his bigger beef seemed to be with breastfeeding "activism" rather than the act of feeding itself, he misses the point entirely. It is a really sad statement about our society that breastfeeding activism is needed, but clearly it is when women are being harassed for feeding their babies (gasp) in public. It is an absurdity, indeed a form of puritanical repression, that I would expect him to comment on negatively, rather than take part in.
What makes Bill Maher uncomfortable with breastfeeding is that is a non-sexual act with a body part he considers as strictly sexual.
To Bill and the rest of the hypocrites who are offended by breastfeeding: Grow up. This is an important health issue and a women's rights issue. Breasts exist for other reasons besides your own arousal.
Good point, Maureen. I bet he is not disturbed by full frontal nudity in films or on the state one bit.
If you had watched the show you would have heard him say that he wasn't against breast feeding at all, he simply thought it would be a good thing if the mother cover her breast while breast feeding in public.
I knew the minute he started the piece that he'd be misrepesented on it. Boy howdy - you guys didn't disappoint me there.
Guess he hit a nerve. Breastfeeding - good for babies but bad for adults to see. By that I assume he thinks it a bit disgusting. Sort of like spitting on the floor. Or flashing.
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