Interaction: Nipplegate II

Myers: Well, good evening everyone, and welcome to Warwickshire for this week's edition of Interaction, the programme that gives you the power to present ideas to those who have the power to laugh at those ideas. The ideas we're talking about this week are related to breastfeeding, an activity that has long been part of a young child's life but is now under threat by people who, in an ironic twist, have previously been babies themselves. Earlier in the week, a US magazine, Babytalk, ran a feature article about breastfeeding and received several hundred responses – not about the content of the article, but about the cover photograph illustrating the article. Are people so closed minded that they respond only to images without stopping to think about what the images represent? Is breastfeeding really a threat to world society? Or is there less to this issue than meets the eye? We'll examine these questions and more during this hour, but first we go to our Interaction IQ, the Initial Question. Today it's from Bett in Cottonline, AL, USA. She asks what people fear about public breastfeeding. We'll go first to Salem, OR, USA and a science writer whose books include Everything You Know Is Wrong, Along With a Lot of Things You Didn't Know, Mr Charlie Blanks.

Blanks: Most people's fears about public breastfeeding can be summarised in one word: Eeeeyw!

Myers: Joining us in Hong Kong is the director of the Centre for Making Public Policy Private, Mr Wayne Hsien.

Hsien: I fear one thing about public breastfeeding: the fact that it's public.

Myers: In Toronto, ON, Canada, we have the editor of Fantasy Underwater Basket Weaving Monthly and noted public breastfeeding opponent, Ms Dart'Angela Whyrmuss.

Whyrmuss: Fear is not really what's going on here, Debbie. It's just that people shouldn't have to see liquids coming out of a woman's body.

Myers: And with me here in our Warwickshire studios is the inventor of the nipple shield and noted public breastfeeding proponent, Ms Hessie Uberth.

Uberth: People who don't want to see breastfeeding in public are afraid that they will have to come to terms with the fact that other liquids, besides just milk, can come out of a woman's body.

Myers: And I'm Debbie Myers. I think people have an incredibly irrational fear that someday a superheroine named Lactigirl will appear who shoots down her enemies with high powered jets of milk. Let's discuss breastfeeding in general. Hessie, you are of course the inventor of the nipple shield, the device made famous at the halftime show of the Super Bowl in 2004. What was the original purpose of your nipple shield?

Uberth: Well, you see, Debbie, I'm a mother of four, and I breastfeeded all of them.

Myers: Breastfed.

Uberth: That's right. I breastfeeded all of them.

Myers: Breastfed.

Uberth: [puzzled] Um, yes, I did.

Myers: You said "breastfeeded".

Uberth: Right. I breastfeeded all four of my children. The number of children that I breastfeeded is four.

Myers: It's "breastfed".

Uberth: No, they all were breastfeeded. That's what I've been saying.

Myers: [sighs] Fine. You breastfeeded them.

Uberth: Right.

Myers: So, go on.

Uberth: Um... where was I going with this? I breastfeeded all four of my children, which has some relevance to something, right?

Myers: One would think so, but until we can determine what that is, it seems much easier just to go to viewer questions. Remember, you have many ways you can get in touch with us, and some of them are appearing on your screen now. You can look at them now, or later when they appear one at a time throughout our programme tonight. We're technologically savvy that way. So, we'll go first to an E-mail from Brandon in Dunfermline, Scotland. He asks where in Scotland he should go to see public breastfeeding, as he's never seen it before. Charlie, have you seen public breastfeeding?

Blanks: Yes, I have. I like it very much. The kid is always happy, as is everyone nearby. Except for the people who are real jerks about it, but they don't count as people. They're half people. Demipeople, if you will.

Hsien: I won't.

Uberth: I will.

Whyrmuss: I won't.

Hsien: Ha ha! We win!

Blanks: No you don't. I'm on the will side, so it's tied 2-2.

Whyrmuss: So who casts the deciding vote?

Myers: I do. I'm the presenter. And as the presenter, I vote that nobody cares. We continue now with our next question. Henrietta in Augusta, ME, USA, are you there?

Henrietta in Augusta: Of course I am. What, you think I'd just hang up when I'm about to get on the air?

Myers: It's happened before.

Henrietta in Augusta: But not to me. There's no way I'm hanging up now.

Myers: People have done. There's no way of telling.

Henrietta in Augusta: Yeah, well, I'm not just anybody.

Myers: [dryly] You're not.

Henrietta in Augusta: Hell no. I'm the biggest Interaction fan there is. Nobody knows more about this show than I do.

Myers: Is that so?

Henrietta in Augusta: Wait, except you, Debbie.

Myers: Well, if you know so much about our programme, you must also be familiar with the red button. Let's move on to Whitney in Baltimore, MD, USA. Whitney, are you there?

Whitney in Baltimore: Yes, hi.

Myers: Hello Whitney. What is your question?

Whitney in Baltimore: Well, I'm a pregnant teenager. I'm looking forward to the joys of motherhood, but I'm a little nervous about breastfeeding. If I breastfeed my little Mackey in the food court at the mall, in between the Wendy's and the Arkansas Fried Chicken, what kind of reaction can I expect?

Myers: All right. Well, Whitney certainly has many challenges ahead of her as a teenage mother, and she wants to know whether the public's reaction to her breastfeeding is going to be one of them. Dart'Angela, what can she expect?

Whyrmuss: Well, that really depends upon where she is.

Myers: Let's take her case as an example. She's in Baltimore, MD, USA.

Whyrmuss: Okay. Did she say between the Wendy's and the Arkansas Fried Chicken?

Myers: Yes, she did.

Whyrmuss: Okay. You see, Debbie, the big challenge is going to be from the Wendy's. The manager there is going to think that having a girl who's not even old enough to vote sitting right in front, with her kid's mouth in her nipple, the manager's going to think that's bad for business. Over at the Arkansas Fried Chicken, they're not nearly so uptight. One of the employees is going to ask the manager, but she's going to be okay with it.

Myers: Okay, well, moving away from Whitney's particular example, let's consider teenage mothers in general, and in fact any sort of disadvantaged mother. Should a mother not have a private place available to breastfeed, shouldn't she be able to do so in a place where people might be nearby? After all, those who don't want to see it can simply turn away.

Whyrmuss: You can still feel it.

Myers: I'm sorry?

Whyrmuss: You can feel breastfeeding going on, even if you can't see it.

Myers: Can you?

Whyrmuss: It's like a fog rolling in. It's like you're being watched, not by an eye or a camera, but by a nipple. It's like sitting under a fire hose, knowing that someone could open the valve at any moment, and you'd be covered in some other woman's milk.

Blanks: You can feel breastfeeding even if you can't see it?

Whyrmuss: Yes.

Blanks: Can you teach me how to do that?

Myers: Okay, that's going to have to wait, as we've got one more caller. Keira in London, England, are you there?

Keira in London: Yes. Hi Debbie.

Myers: Hello Keira. What is your question?

Keira in London: Well, I heard you mention your Lactigirl idea earlier in the show, and I was wondering if you were working on a screenplay, because I would love to play the lead.

Myers: Would you?

Keira in London: Yeah, absolutely. I'd be brilliant. I love doing action roles, and I know a superhero sort of role would be a first for me, but I know I can do it. So just, you know, have your people call my people.

Myers: Okay. Well, that will have to be it for Interaction this week. We'll thank Ms Hessie Uberth, Ms Dart'Angela Whyrmuss, Mr Wayne Hsien, and Mr Charlie Blanks for appearing this week. Coming up next week, we'll be talking about the click fraud settlement and what it means for online advertising, and our guests will be the editor of a leading online advertising publication, an online advertiser, an online advertisee, and a woman who's protesting banner ads in an interesting way. We invite you to begin sending in your questions at our website, interaction.goobnet.net. So until next week, good night.

Whyrmuss: I can feel something now. I think someone's breastfeeding in the next room.

Myers: You mean your Lacti-Sense is tingling?