[blparent] Group petitions to bring breast feeding back to Sesame Street

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

While I completely agree with the sentiments this group has, Sesame
Street is for kids, not parents, so what really is accomplished by
showing breast-feeding mothers on a show geared towards toddlers and
preschoolers? Perhaps they should focus their efforts on education and
information about the benefits of breast-feeding as well as how it's
perfectly natural for women to do this instead of encouraging producers
to display breast-feeding mothers on TV. And if people were in an up
roar about singer Katie Perry and her voluptuous bosom, I'm sure
breast-feeding mothers will be a point of contention, though I disagree
since there's nothing sexual or inappropriate about breast-feeding, but
I'm sure others don't see it this way. Our Puritan roots are still to
deep in this country. Just my opinion.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 15
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:16:53 -0700
From: "Jo Elizabeth Pinto" <jopinto at msn.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [blparent] Group Petitions to Bring Breast Feeding Back to
	Sesame	Street
Message-ID: <SNT116-DS191022B4C16C5383BF1FACAC9C0 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"

I read an interesting article.  Actually, we don't watch a lot of Sesame
Street at my house, except on videos, but this is an interesting read.


Group Petitions to Bring Breastfeeding Back to Sesame Street Women rely
on both breast feeding and bottles to feed their babies, says a group
that supports nursing in public. So why does Sesame Street show
bottle-feeding exclusively? 
By Bonnie Rochman


What's not to like about lovable furry old Grover and his pals Elmo, Zoe
and Oscar the Grouch? If you're a member of the robust movement that
saucily refers to itself as NIP - "nursing in public," natch - the
answer is plenty.

Coming on the heels of a well-attended national "nurse-in" that sought
to normalize breast-feeding in Target stores, NIPers are now lowering
the boom on Sesame Street. Apparently a generation ago, the kiddie show
incorporated tasteful shots of nursing mothers who explained that "lots
of mothers feed their babies this way" and that breast milk was "warm
and natural." More recently, however, when a baby gets fed on "The
Street," it seems to be courtesy of a bottle. Not that there's anything
wrong with bottle-feeding, the NIP moms are quick to point out. But
bottle-feeding to the exclusion of breast-feeding, especially at a time
when even the U.S. Surgeon General has called for more support for
breast-feeding mothers?


That doesn't make for particularly sunny days. And it's prompted more
than 5,600 people to sign a petition to "bring breastfeeding back to
Sesame Street."

As the authors explain:



If we normalize breastfeeding in our community, especially with our
children, we can help raise a generation of breastfeeders which will
support our economy, make for healthier children and lessen the risk of
breast cancer for many nursing mamas!



Sesame Street, for its part, doesn't understand all the fuss. The
classic kids' show doesn't have an anti-breast-feeding agenda, says
Sherrie Westin, executive vice president of Sesame Workshop, which
produces Sesame Street; its only agenda is educating preschoolers.
"There has never been any edict to remove breast-feeding from the show,"
says Westin. "We have included it and absolutely would include it again
if it were a natural part of the storyline."

People have posted comments in support of the petition, including
Candice Fisk, who wrote: "No one I knew growing up breastfed their
children. The first time I ever saw breastfeeding was on Sesame Street
as a little girl. I thought it was a beautiful thing to be able to do as
a woman. It may be the reason I first thought to breastfeed my own
children."



For sure, a brand as powerful as Sesame Street has the potential to
influence young minds. Earlier this week, I wrote about Sesame Street's
ambitious effort to incorporate more math and science into its current
season as a way to inspire more children to take an early interest in
STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects.

And who knows? Giving equal footage to both feeding choices just may
help cool the conflict between moms who breast feed and moms who rely on
bottles. "My kids have only seen me breastfeeding and can't relate to
babies being bottlefed," noted Lisbeth Little upon signing the petition.
"And most bottlefed babies can't relate to breastfeeding. All kids are
naturally curious. We should show them both options."



Still, blogger Lani Michelle, who first publicized the old-school Sesame
Street videos of nursing - which feature both interested children and a
very curious Big Bird looking on - would like Sesame Street to return to
the golden era of the 1970s, when she says breast-feeding was part of
the original "You're My Baby" video. Two decades later, she says, the
boobs were scrubbed in favor of a bottle-feeding scene. "Why not have
both?" she asks on her blog. "Babies are fed both ways, aren't they?
Women breastfeeding are the images we want to show to our sons and
daughters so that they will view a woman's body [as] more then a sexual
object."

Michelle is no producer, but she's got a suggestion for Sesame Street:
what about asking a pro-nursing celebrity to do the honors? Bettina
Forbes, co-founder of Best for Babes, which seeks to break down barriers
to breast-feeding, is all for that. "Now would be a good time for a
currently nursing celebrity like Natalie Portman or Keri Russell to
volunteer to appear on Sesame Street," says Forbes. "We need Hollywood
to help beat the Booby Traps and change our culture. After all, if
George Clooney could make a Prius sexy and Michael J. Fox can raise
millions for Parkinsons, imagine what Beyonce could do for
breastfeeding!"

It's not yet clear how Beyonce is feeding her new daughter, Blue Ivy,
but since daddy Jay-Z has already recorded a song featuring her cries,
the next logical step just might be Baby Blue's television debut on "The
Street." Bonnie Rochman is a reporter at TIME.



Jo Elizabeth