Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Professor breastfeeds in class: What's the big deal?

Why do we need feminism? Aren't we, like, so over that?

Here's a story sure to make your jaw drop:

American University professor Adrienne Pine woke up to teach the first day of her feminist anthropology class. Her infant daughter had a cold and a fever, which meant she could not go to day care. This professor was a single mother with no one else available to watch her baby on short notice. She weighed her options: cancel the first day of class (which would disrupt the class schedule and could negatively affect her tenure evaluations) or bring her baby to class. She chose the second option. When her baby became fussy, the professor breastfed her baby, who promptly fell asleep.

Now this has turned into a major controversy, with several students remarking on how "unprofessional" it was to nurse a baby in front of them. One male student--who later dropped the class--commented: “I found it unprofessional. I was kind of appalled.”

How twisted is it that this is even a controversy! You'd think that students in a feminist anthropology class titled "Sex, Gender & Culture" would embrace this as a fantastic opportunity for discussion and exploration.

When I was a graduate student, one of my fellow students brought her newborn to class. All of us, including the professor, were happy to have her baby present. After all, it was a Maternal/Child Health class--hard to imagine a more appropriate setting for a breastfeeding student!  I loved watching her nurse and care for her baby while actively participating as a student. She was a great role model for me (and later became a close friend).

What I find most remarkable is the absence of discussion on the most pressing issues: The lack of options for working parents who suddenly find themselves without childcare. The inherent sexist bias that labels lactating as "unprofessional."  Nope, we can't think that far ahead. All we can focus on are...gasp...The Breasts. Sexism and gender bias continue to thrive, keeping us mired in these infantile (ha!) debates about breastfeeding.


For further reading:

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13 comments:

  1. Rixa, I don't know if this link will work for you but it's a riff on the 'Keep Calm and Carry On' meme that's been floating around.

    http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/547972_381968501876290_2118046227_n.jpg


    Sure, breasts can be sexual OR they can be utilitarian (for feeding babies), but surely to goodness adults can tell the difference. If they can't tell the difference I'm not sure we can call ourselves a 'civilized society'. I hope this professor in question fights for her rights and wins.

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  2. I definitely think it's wrong of anyone to take issue with the fact that she breastfed the baby in front of her class, but from the article, it sounded like the baby was distracting and disruptive to the learning environment. She herself said she rushed through the lecture so she could get home and put the baby to bed. Those students are paying (or someone is paying, on their behalf) a pretty steep price to learn from her. They deserve her full attention. My husband just finished his PhD and joined the faculty of a major research school, so I understand that professors have lives, and sometimes those lives intrude into the classroom, just as happens for students sometimes (I too brought my newborn to class once or twice in college). Still, for me, this crossed the line of professionalism. Not the breastfeeding- just the disruptiveness.

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    Replies
    1. If it were the professor herself who had a cold and fever, coughing and sneezing, it would have been similarly "distracting and disruptive." In such a scenario and in Prof. Pine's actual case, she would have had little choice: cancel class or buck up and slog on. Not the most optimal learning environment but it's making the best out of the given circumstances.
      As for the sophomore who objected, I think he was being, well, sophomoric. Hopefully now that he has dropped the class he can use the time slot to take a refresher Sex Ed class in junior high.

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    2. "Those students are paying (or someone is paying, on their behalf) a pretty steep price to learn from her."

      I think she was probably able to give the students more attention than if she had cancelled class instead.

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    3. Really!? It was the first day of class! It wasn't as if it was some HUGE testor final! What,if anything do you learn on the first day of class? Not much from my experience! These are supposed to be adults, not high school kids! If they can't take the breastfeeding get out! If I was her I would bring the baby every day!

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  3. My heart goes out to her. I don't work outside the home, but had 2 appointments this week (dentist for my daughter and optometrist for myself) and emailed 20+ people and could not find a babysitter so my husband had to stay home from work Monday and Tuesday mornings. Sometimes you do everything and things fall through. I would have totally been fine with a professor nursing in class. You got to do what you got to do.

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  4. I agree there is nothing wrong with breastfeeding, but I do wonder about her decision to take her daughter to class with her in the first place. A one year old is significantly different from a newborn and pretty much guaranteed to be a distraction. I'm not really sure that I believe her only options were bringing a baby to class or cancelling. It was the first day, how much actually needed to be accomplished? Couldn't the TA meet with the students and go over the syllabus?

    http://www.amber-hinds.com

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  5. In an ideal community, whether that be a work environment, a neighborhood, a church, or a town, this professor (and all of us) would have a friend, a neighbor, a someone who could be our childcare back-up or our "I'll keep an eye on your house while you're gone" back-up or "I'll feed your dog" back-up. This sad situation makes me want to be on the lookout for who around me might need a back-up. I've certainly been one who needed it at times.

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  6. I agree that she may have been unprofessional in bringing her sick child to class. HOWEVER. This would not be news if she had fed her child a bottle in class. It would have just been a minor inconvenience in the students lives and it would be over. The fact that breastfeeding made this "news" is the problem with the whole situation.

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    Replies
    1. Kate, you worded my thoughts exactly! The students were ok with the baby in the class up until that point. And i dare say that if the baby was bottlefed everyone would just be ooohing and aaahing all over the place.

      Instead of praising Professor Pine's dedication to her career and her students they're attacking her because she (breast)fed her baby.

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    2. Totally agree, Kate and Tadeja! I am glad to read everyone's thoughts on the issue, since reading the comments section on CNN.com is pretty discouraging!

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  7. My babysitter quit during the second week of classes in a PhD program and I had to attend a class the next day. I told the professor about my predicament and said that I would either have to miss class or bring the 9 month old baby with me. The professor (a woman with 2 small children) said it would be inappropriate and unprofessional to bring a child to class and that I was forbidden to do so. She said I should find "someone" to leave the baby with because the class had a policy whereby students were not allowed to miss without a medical excuse and therefore I would fail this required course if I missed. I couldn't find someone overnight and missed the class. The prof complained to the dept head and that was the end of my PhD program.

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  8. I have to disagree with you on this one. I have no problem with public breast feeding. I do it all the time. I had my first baby in law school and occasionally took him to class when necessary, too. But as an attorney, I cannot get up in front of a judge and advocate for my client while taking care of or feeding (breast or otherwise) a baby at the same time. The reality is that a 1-year-old does not belong in most professional environments. It's one thing to have a discussion about making childcare more available in situations like this; it's another to say that the decision the prof. made in this case was the right one.

    But what really speaks to me of this prof.'s unprofessionalism is not her decision to bring her baby to class, but what she did after. Her own article on the subject left me nearly speechless. She was mean and downright vindictive towards the STUDENT journalist who initially interviewed her, dismissive of breast feeding activists, and just generally arrogant and condescending. I was, to say the least, far from impressed with her or her credibility.

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