Nurturing is not offensive

Monday, Nov. 27, 2006 | 7:17 a.m.

A flight attendant tossed a mother, father and child off a commuter flight in Vermont last month because she apparently was bothered that the mother had the nerve to sit in a window seat near the back of the plane and nurse her 22-month-old daughter.

The mother, Emily Gillette of New Mexico, says she was told by the flight attendant to put a blanket over the child to cover up. Gillette says she wasn't exposing anything, but she says the flight attendant told her she was "offended."

Offended? The last time we checked a calendar it was still 2006, and people are still offended by breast-feeding?

This has become a national story because it deals with the way Americans view the human body. Judging from the stories and comments, the belief that breast-feeding is offensive is still out there, and that's tragic because it reinforces a fear many mothers of newborns have: embarrassment.

Several studies have shown that some of the key reasons women don't breast-feed include embarrassment and a sense of social isolation. That's a shame because it's common knowledge that the benefits of breast-feeding in an infant's development are huge.

Mothers of infants gathered last week at airports across the country to hold what might be the first nationwide nurse-in.

Protesters across the country carried signs with slogans such as "best in-flight meal ever." The protest, including a small group at McCarran International Airport, will hopefully be an awakening for some people.

Freedom Airlines, which contracts with Delta Air Lines, and Delta have both apologized and affirmed a mother's right to breast-feed on their planes. Freedom said the flight attendant had been disciplined.

Hopefully the lesson learned is that breast-feeding shouldn't be embarrassing for or offensive to anyone.