All the talk about the Babytalk cover has made me think more about a subject that has always puzzled me. How exactly are women's fashions determined? I'm guessing that there is an influential group of designers who sit down and talk about it and then take the lead. Maybe someone can tell me what really happens. Can't you just see a group of men at a conference table saying, "Let's see if we can get women to wear underwear as outfits. I wonder if they'll fall for it. You know, dresses that look like slips, shirts that look like lingerie, pants with a rise so low that they must be careful when they sit for fear they'll reveal something to the person behind them. Let's make shirts that look like a breast could fall out at any minute. And let's make them so short that there is always lower abdominal skin revealed, almost like the pants are about to fall off. Let's make mainstream what used to be worn only by prostitutes. Let's see if women will fall for it." And women fell for it.
I know that conversation didn't take place. But I do wonder if the demons didn't have some conversations like that.
But, hey, a baby suckling at its mother's breast.... let's keep that private. The normal and natural has become taboo and the taboo has become normal. What an upside down world.
4 comments:
There is a bright spot on the horizon - I was on vacation with the extended family last week and was very impressed with the variety and quality of the various modest swim outfits the female cousins were wearing. I am so thankful that swim skirts, shorts, and swim tanks have all developed sticking power in the market. It just goes to show that if woman are given an attractive and modest alternative, they'll snap it up!
I have noticed the same thing in the LLBean catalog in their swimsuit section. There really were a lot of nice choices. I think you're right about what women want. Why don't they give us what we want?
I had a family experience about breastfeeding years ago. My sister had breast fed her children when I was younger, so I didn't think much about it when I started nursing my children. But through the grapevine I heard that she was embarrassed by my choosing to nurse in public. I was mostly covered, mind you, but she was uncomfortable about it. Then I realized that I had never really seen her nurse a baby. She had gone into a bedroom to do it, out of public. She also did not nurse very long...maybe three months. I can understand why. It would be very isolating to always have to nurse in a "closet".
The other experience that I had once was at a special occasion where my mother-in-law was being honored for her service to an organization. The ladies there were kind and showed me to an office where I could nurse in private. I decided not to make them uncomfortable by my public nursing. But it was so quiet and lonely in there, and besides, there was nothing for me to read. I almost went crazy! I hadn't realized that I was so addicted to reading while I nursed, especially if my other kids weren't around, keeping me well entertained. It was an experience that I didn't want to repeat many times.
So true, Patti, the ease of nursing is exactly that you can do it anywhere the baby happens to get hungry. No bottles, no mixing, no leaving what you're doing! If you had to leave the room whenever the baby was hungry bottle feeding would be easier... but not what's best for baby,or for mom for that matter.
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