Bangers

So I like breastfeeding. It's good for me, it's best for babe, but I'm not going to preach; your body, your choice. So imagine how gutted I was this week when I went to buy a new nursing bra and the HUGE department store I went to (Debenhams for anyone interested) didn't even have a maternity bra section!
A whole wall of bras with gel in to give you bigger bangers. An entire section of bras for children and pre-teens (28AA anyone?) Even a large selection of mastectomy bras for prosthetic jubblies. But not a maternity bra in sight!
Thinking I must have overlooked the correct department, I asked the lady behind the counter where the nursing bra section was. "oh we haven't got one at the moment love," she said, "it's just these few here in the sale that's left," and she pointed to about 5 bras shoved behind a sale rail of odds and sods.
How did this happen? When did it become more common to put children in bras than to use your boobs to feed your children? It's not the shop's fault; if the demand was there I'm sure they'd have a maternity range. But clearly the demand just isn't there. Breastfeeding mums aren't just becoming the minority, in many areas they're becoming the exception.
I for one want to use my boobs for the job they were designed for. I'm sure they'd look lovely squished and squashed into something lacy, wired and frilly, but what I need right now is supportive, practical and drop cup!
So who is to blame? Debenhams, for failing to meet the demands of a decreasing minority? Hardly. Society, for marginalising breastfeeding and labelling it "hippy" and "alternative"? Partly. The formula companies for aggressively marketing their products? Partly. The fashion and porn industry, for promoting the female body as a sexual object rather than a beautiful biological wonder? I think this could be closer to the source of the problem. Girls are taught at a young age that tits are for titillation, and encouraged to wear push-up, padded, sexy little numbers COMPLETELY inappropriate for their age. Who is telling these girls that motherhood can be sexy too? Where are the billboards of Eva Herzigova breastfeeding male twins with the tag line HELLO BOYS? Why is it that completely normal bodily functions are pushed to one side to promote the sexy alternative? Children are conditioned from a tiny age that they need to use their appearance to influence others, and none more-so than girls and their bangers. So we have a generation who are more at home flaunting acres of cleavage spilling over the top of an ill-fitting push-up, than showing a little flesh in public whilst breastfeeding. "Get your tits out for the lads" goes the oft-used cry; I might try to start a new one: "Get your bangers out for babies!" I'm not convinced it'll catch on, but it's either that or take the next step along the feminist path and burn all my bloody bras!