Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Professor sparks debate after breast-feeding baby in class
Standard Examiner ^ | September 12, 2012 | Nick Anderson

Posted on 09/13/2012 8:51:55 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper

One day late last month at American University, Adrienne Pine was in a jam. The assistant anthropology professor was scheduled to begin her course "Sex, Gender & Culture." But her baby daughter woke up with a fever, and the single mother worried that she had no good child-care options.

So Pine brought her sick baby to class.

The baby, in a blue onesie, crawled on the floor when she wasn't strapped onto Pine's back. The mother extracted a paper clip from the girl's mouth at one point and shooed her away from an electrical outlet. When the baby grew restless during the 75-minute afternoon session with 40 students, according to the professor's account, Pine breast-fed her while continuing to lecture and review the syllabus. A teaching assistant also held and rocked the child.

At the conclusion of her lecture, Pine figured that was the end of it. But word of the unusual opening-day class was spreading via Twitter and Facebook.

When a reporter for the student newspaper asked her about what happened, Pine grew incensed. She decided to get in the first word with an online essay titled "The Dialectics of Breastfeeding on Campus: Exposiing my Breasts on the Internet." In it, Pine wrote that she was "shocked and annoyed that this would be considered newsworthy."

(Excerpt) Read more at m.standard.net ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: children; college; privacy
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last
If the lady had a sick baby, she should have stayed home. Breast feeding in front of the class was inappropriate.
1 posted on 09/13/2012 8:52:02 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

Yes, as there was a teaching assistant there (to rock and hold the baby) she should have let him cover the class.


2 posted on 09/13/2012 8:54:52 AM PDT by scottjewell
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper
"s’cuse me while I whip this out ..."
3 posted on 09/13/2012 8:55:59 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (Taranto: "The whole point of the metaphor is that if you can hear the whistle, you're the dog.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

Why didnt she just take a sick day and have the TA go over the syllabus? It’s the first day, usually little of note is talked about anyway.

Not that this class was anything but a joke to start with.

Seriously unprofessional.


4 posted on 09/13/2012 8:58:52 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

The assistant anthropology professor was scheduled to begin her course “Sex, Gender & Culture.”

I could have guessed. Another worthless class in a worthless curriculum paid for by tax payers. Get a real job.


5 posted on 09/13/2012 8:59:23 AM PDT by Mudtiger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


6 posted on 09/13/2012 9:00:41 AM PDT by Rio (Tempis fugit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

Careful. If you criticize any breastfeeding woman you are fully enlisted in the War on Women.


7 posted on 09/13/2012 9:01:13 AM PDT by BlueStateRightist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

Remember this is an educated woman.

She exposed her sick child to whatever illness’s student’s may have had and she exposed the students to whatever the child may have had.

That is the really dumb part

Her pulling out her teat and feeding the baby was just part of the show, although I doubt the students paid much attention to the lecture with this woman standing there with her teat out.

To me this woman doesn’t sound like she has enough common sense to be teaching.

Remember this is just the beginning of her class, it will get better, before class is over in the spring she may even give classes on breeding another one.


8 posted on 09/13/2012 9:03:16 AM PDT by Venturer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

Those students paid good money to purchase the services provided by this kook.

I guess the students thought their student loan wasn’t real money so it didn’t matter, LOL.


9 posted on 09/13/2012 9:04:21 AM PDT by donna (...gay couples raising kids. That's the American way... -Mitt Romney)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

IMHO, the professor set up a situation to prove a point. Notice: her baby girl was dressed in a blue onesie (blue is usually reserved for boys). Secondly, she deliberately and openly started to breast feed the child in front of the class. I just find her course description and the professors actions as a deliberate confrontational issue.


10 posted on 09/13/2012 9:05:23 AM PDT by momtothree
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rio

Looks like the baby went hungry.


11 posted on 09/13/2012 9:05:23 AM PDT by Malsua
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

When I was in school you couldn’t have a treat unless you brought enough for everyone. ;-)


12 posted on 09/13/2012 9:08:59 AM PDT by Kartographer ("We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

I thougth she did good. It was suppose to be an introduction into the class, and this was a REAL intoduction into what you can REALLY expect from the class. Just sayin’.


13 posted on 09/13/2012 9:09:33 AM PDT by NurdlyPeon (It's down to 'anybody but Obama'. And may God forgive me for what I must do in November.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

The course title says it all.

Worthless, waste of money, taught by another meaningless degree holder.

(I do not begrudge her taking care of her child...but back in the days when we had a culture with structure, she would have quite properly cancelled the class. And cancelling that class would have actually raised the country’s IQ by a small, but measurable amount.)


14 posted on 09/13/2012 9:10:51 AM PDT by Da Coyote
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

Based on the title and subject of the course, I suspect the breastfeeding stunt was intentional—the “sick child” is a lame excuse.


15 posted on 09/13/2012 9:13:03 AM PDT by ROLF of the HILL COUNTRY
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

It’s a wonder she didn’t show them a video of her giving birth.
The baby shouldn’t have been there, much less on the floor.
I strongly suspect the baby didn’t have a fever at all. The woman did this on purpose.
I breast fed four babies. I never needed to do it in public.
The woman could have turned her back to the class and covered herself with a blanket while the baby latched on then nursed.
Of course the aid could have handled the class.


16 posted on 09/13/2012 9:13:11 AM PDT by Wiser now (Socialism does not eliminate poverty, it guarantees it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Venturer

“Her pulling out her teat and feeding the baby was just part of the show”

That is the thing I do not understand about these exhibitionists.

I know a woman, a very dignified professional who used to breast feed her daughter in my shop. She wore what looked like a loose, cowl neck shawl which was actually a poncho type of garment. When the infant got fretty, she would disappear the child under the poncho, take care of business and no one even noticed. I never would have except for the infant’s feet kicking around just under the shawl one time.

There is no need to make a big display about it. Those who do so do it because they wish to.


17 posted on 09/13/2012 9:25:16 AM PDT by Psalm 144 (Where would Christianity be if the early believers put their hopes and trust in the Roman empire?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

I don’t find it offensive that a working mother would want to fill two major responsibilities at one time. And feeding is a primary function of the breast...

It would be inappropriate in grade school or high school, but college age kids pretend that they are adults; let them deal with it like adults.


18 posted on 09/13/2012 9:26:47 AM PDT by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed &water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS, NOW & FOREVER!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

Pardon my skepticism, but it seems like she staged this whole thing to gin up a controversy, and hence, publicity, for herself.

Evidence:

#1 - She teaches a “Sex, Gender, and Culture” course, so the ensuing controversy just happens to coincidentally intersect with her field of “expertise”.
#2 - She teaches at a university, and yet has “no good child-care options”?!?! Give me a freakin’ break.
#3 - As soon as someone asks her a question about the unusual behavior, instead of explaining the situation, she feigns indignation and magically has an academic essay ready to go that addresses the seemingly unforeseeable controversy.

Diagnosis: Liberal attention whore.


19 posted on 09/13/2012 9:27:42 AM PDT by Boogieman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

These are the worthless classes that students are paying big borrowed bucks for because these throw-aways are the only ones they can pass.

Of course, reality will hit them in the face when they try to get a real job later.


20 posted on 09/13/2012 9:29:55 AM PDT by txrefugee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson