Out and About -- In the World at Large

[pelmut]

...She certainly looked comfortable feeding the baby and there was no reaction from others either. It was late in the day and there were few customers about.

Mothers have breast-fed their babies openly at folk festivals for many decades, and continued to join in the conversations or songs while they were doing it. Although the surroundings are far from quiet, they are obviously places where the mother feels comfortable.

[Remembers seeing a tiny baby being breast-fed by a friend - that baby is now a computer graduate with several years of a good career already behind her. I feel old!]

[skirtyscot]

Yesterday, a trip to Dundee to take Sontwo back to university. (H had indulgently agreed to collect him before Christmas and take him back again, so that he could bring his desktop computer home. I'd have told him to just bring the laptop and get the train, but I wasn't asked!)

I was skirted at breakfast, of course, and he confounded my expectations by not objecting to me going to his flat without getting changed. I had chosen a knee-length denim one to minimise the chance of him complaining, but I still expected him to do it. So off we went, to his flat (no flatmates apparently at home), a supermarket and a pub for lunch. Not a cheep from him about the skirt, so the trousers which I had brought along (without telling him) stayed in the car.

In the supermarket car park he bumped into an acquaintance from his course. While they were exchanging pleasantries he said he was there with me, and although I had gone a short distance away before noticing that he had stopped to say hello, he was clearly indicating me, as there was no one else around. He could easily not have done that, if he was bothered about my skirt. It was just a brief exchange in passing, and I didn't go up to them to join in. Maybe I should have.

Maybe I am imagining a problem which isn't there any more.

[crfriend]

Maybe I am imagining a problem which isn't there any more.

It rather sounds that way. Objections frequently have a way of passing quite quietly.

[Caultron]

...Maybe I am imagining a problem which isn't there any more.

So it would seem.

Nothing's permanent if you give it enough time.

Similarly, if you ask the same question in a different way on a different day, you may get a different answer.

[Sinned]

Alastair, I don't know where their information came from but AFAIK there are no satsuma trees in York and certainly not ( High ) Petergate which doesn't have any trees. There are trees along Lord Mayor's Walk but AFAIK they are just ordinary trees, elm trees I think. I think that someone was having you with the fairies.

[geron]

There are satsuma trees in the Bishy Road, surely?

[skirtyscot]

What, none at all, Dennis? You should come up here, they're all over the place. Must be our mild West Coast weather.

[Kirbstone]

Alastair,
Truth to tell, I only heard about O'Leary's taxi move when it was mentioned at a dinner party. Apparently guys like that tend to have a driver, who no doubt is under instructions not to take passengers when the owner isn't around.

We rowers acquired a pal some years back, one Tom Foley, US Ambassador here during the Bush Junior presidency. He is a rower as was David Reddaway, UK Ambassador here and their terms of office coincided. Many weekends we had both aboard for a row.

I mention this because at Foley's farewell party he quipped that when he sat into the back of his car and nothing happened, it was brought home to him that he wasn't Ambassador anymore!

As an aside I would mention that two of Foley's security henchmen were serious fitness specimens. When he would climb into our boat the two of them would take off on the run and keep pace with the boat all 16Km. to the docks (Alexandra Basin) and back. Their brief was not to let Foley out of their sight. That was years before drones, of course.

Tom

[Daryl]

And I'm not saying you are one, but why do prudes dislike public breastfeeding? The nipple is usually visible for two seconds or less. The average bikini or low cut top displays a lot more but nobody minds.

I've never understood that either. The first week on my last real job one of my colleagues openly fed her baby in our team meetings. Didn't faze anyone.

I actually find it peculiar that men's nipples are somehow okay to display but women's are not. I don't mean legally because here all nipples are legal to expose, but it's still a social taboo for women. Women's nipples are not much more sexual than men's are plus they have a practical function in the case of babies. You'd think that would make them more acceptable to expose than men's nipples, not less, but social mores are often illogical (as we all well know).

[renesm1]

And I'm not saying you are one, but why do prudes dislike public breastfeeding? The nipple is usually visible for two seconds or less. The average bikini or low cut top displays a lot more but nobody minds.

I've never understood that either. The first week on my last real job one of my colleagues openly fed her baby in our team meetings. Didn't faze anyone.

I actually find it peculiar that men's nipples are somehow okay to display but women's are not. I don't mean legally because here all nipples are legal to expose, but it's still a social taboo for women. Women's nipples are not much more sexual than men's are plus they have a practical function in the case of babies. You'd think that would make them more acceptable to expose than men's nipples, not less, but social mores are often illogical (as we all well know).

Exactly!

If anything, men's nipples are purely decoration (have no practical function). One could argue that if it is decorative, then it must be sexual, thus men should cover their chest, not women.

[Sinned]

The Americans seem particularly prudish about exposing the nipples in TV programmes. Over here we have programmes such as Silent Witness ( a coroner murder mystery type, sort of the equivalent to CSI but different ) in which female "dead" bodies are exposed, breasts, nipples and all. But I think that the female nipples have been sexualised even though they shouldn't have been. And yes I think that it's strange that the display of the female nipple seems so taboo. I think that it's the nearest female equivalent to men wearing skirts. There are some women who are trying to overturn the taboo and appear in public topless and they are the pioneers just as we are.

Actually renesme men's nipples may appear as purely decorative but they do have a fully functional milk producing system below the surface. In dire need or due to hormone imbalance men can lactate and have done so. For some reason mine did very slightly at a couple of times I think in sympathy with MOH breast feeding. So I know it is possible.

[renesm1]

The Americans seem particularly prudish about exposing the nipples in TV programmes. Over here we have programmes such as Silent Witness ( a coroner murder mystery type, sort of the equivalent to CSI but different ) in which female "dead" bodies are exposed, breasts, nipples and all. But I think that the female nipples have been sexualised even though they shouldn't have been. And yes I think that it's strange that the display of the female nipple seems so taboo. I think that it's the nearest female equivalent to men wearing skirts. There are some women who are trying to overturn the taboo and appear in public topless and they are the pioneers just as we are.

Actually renesme men's nipples may appear as purely decorative but they do have a fully functional milk producing system below the surface. In dire need or due to hormone imbalance men can lactate and have done so. For some reason mine did very slightly at a couple of times I think in sympathy with MOH breast feeding. So I know it is possible.

Yes I'm aware that men can lactate, but most men don't (I certainly haven't!!!) - perhaps we should all cover our chests from now on!!! (Oddly, when swimming I've noticed a few men wearing rash shirts in the pool of late.)

[Caultron]

The Americans seem particularly prudish about exposing the nipples in TV programmes...

This is true. The federal code of conduct set by the Federal Communicstion Commission prohibits the showing of breasts, genitalia, and butts on over-the-air television. Cable television has no such limitations, but generally follows them anyway, especially for programs children could see without parental permission.

Premium channels like HBO and Showtime sometimes do show a few boob flashes and sex scenes during a season run, but I know people who refuse to subscribe because of that.

You can watch porn over cable but it's pay-per-view and you have to enter a PIN number to watch.

As to breastfeeding, I see no problem doing it anywhere. It is, of course, perfectly natural and the font of all human life. But some apparently see it as no different from a porn magazine.

Oh, and, hmm, just to stay on topic, I don't think men shouldn't try to breastfeed even if they're wearing a skirt.

[Daryl]

Oh, and, hmm, just to stay on topic, I don't think men shouldn't try to breastfeed even if they're wearing a skirt.

At least not without the consent of the owner of the breasts...

[Daryl]

If anything, men's nipples are purely decoration (have no practical function). One could argue that if it is decorative, then it must be sexual, thus men should cover their chest, not women.

Indeed. One could also argue that it is sexual because the nerves go to the same parts of the brain that the genital nerves go to, with similar effects.

So being decidedly sexual with no practical function men should definitely cover them up and only women who are breast feeding should be allowed to expose them, and only for as long as necessary for docking to the mothership and refuelling to take place.