Since I can’t stay away
In a completely unrelated thread on the message board, a mother used the phrase “breastfeeding natzi’s.” It certainly wasn’t the first time someone on the board used the phrase to describe lactivists, but after the “crazies” post I couldn’t let it slide. I didn’t respond in the thread, instead I started a new thread. Here’s what I wrote.
If you are going to refer to breastfeeding advocates as “natzi’s” as least have the courtesy to spell it correctly and omit the unnecessary apostrophe.
Please remember that the so-called breastfeeding “natzi’s” you speak of are trying to educate women about feeding their babies. The American Medical Association, the American Association of Pediatrics, and the World Health Organization all agree that breastfeeding is the best possible nutrition for a child. You can feed your child formula and your child will grow up healthy, but breastmilk is far superior in every possible way.
Because the majority of our mothers and their mothers and in some cases even their mothers formula fed, formula is still considered the norm. How many of you have seen baby bottle decor at a baby shower? How many of you have seen new baby cards with bottle on the front? How many of you have seen a baby drinking from a bottle on TV? Now compare it to the images of breastfeeding available.
Back to the Nazis. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Nazi party of Germany is best known for the genocide of six million people, including Jews, homosexuals, Catholics and just about anyone who disagreed with their belief in the superiority of the Aryan race. The Nazis under Hitler’s regime euthanised the disabled, involuntarily sterilized anyone with hereditary or mental illness and coined the phrase “the Final Solution”- the systematic genocide of Jews in Europe. The Nazi party either shot or rounded up Jews from their homes and sent them to labor camps. They built ovens to gas large groups of people then forced other Jews to bury their friends and relatives in mass graves.
Sorry for the history reminder, but I think the word “nazi” to describe a breastfeeding advocate is totally off base. Maybe it’s because I’m Jewish, maybe it’s because I’m a breastfeeding advocate myself. I also hate the term feminazi to describe a woman who stands up for herself and other women and I don’t particularly care for the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld for the same reason.
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November 13th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Excellent post!
November 14th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Yes - excellent post!
It pisses me off that just because I want to support and advocate for breastfeeding moms, that instantly would put me in such a despicable category.
January 11th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Hallo.! Gutes Neues Jahr 2008.!