This article on "Bovine" breastfeeding moms popped up in the trusty old Google Reader today. It makes sense to me in a way, I guess, but I am just not all that shook up about it. I chose the name for myself, and I am One Happy Cow, after all! I use that as an email address as well, which some of my family felt was "horrible." Again, I chose this for myself! I don't feel degraded, insulted, put down, or minimized by this analogy. I just think it is funny (did you see my cute profile pic?!?) It most certainly has NOT affected my self-esteem or, more importantly, my breastfeeding relationship.
Any readers of mine out there care to comment? Is there some bigger picture I am missing? (btw, I am NOT changing the name and theme of the blog - I thought it was clever! guess I was wrong ;) )
Here is a funny article I just found regarding nursing in public, but the stuff at the bottom about human milk vs cow milk cracked me up! But makes sense, huh?
On a side note, ONE MONTH DOWN!!! Woo hoo!
3 comments:
Here's what I wrote in a comment on the lactivistleaning site:
I guess I have mixed feelings on this. Mostly, I view the act of nursing one we do as mammals. Since the mammals known best for their milk production are cows, it seems natural that the comparison is made--especially since pumping is so similar to cow's being pumped for their milk. Afterall, what other animal comes to mind when you think of a machine pumping milk out of a mammal? But in our culture, unlike other cultures, we do have negative connotations with cows, as you pointed out.
So my mixed feelings really are: Should we embrace the term to show the naturalness of the act or should we try to get away from the term in order to avoid negative connotations? I just don't have a good answer.
In the breastfeeding class at the hospital I took many years ago, the woman leading the class told women to them of themselves as tigers who nurse their young. I think she was trying to give us a better image than that of the "dumb" cow who is just used for her milk.
Now, as for your blog and name, I think if you like it, the rest shouldn't matter. I think the theme you've got works well together. One Happy Cow's blog is Udderly Mom! That always cracked me up.
Post a Comment