regarding hymens, blank said that yes, until whomever it was in the 1600s noticed the hymen, *no one* knew it existed, including midwives. every female mammal comes with a hymen and only less than 1% of women don’t have one. the only time a hymen deserves attention is if the woman has a really rare condition where the hymen is completely sealed over.

also, she said that she didn’t find proper research about it, but one researcher asked a large sample of women in her office whether they bled or not their first time and only 30% or so of them had. the hymen is so thin and naturally has so many perforations in it that it would make a bit of sense that an additional tear caused by a penis wouldn’t make someone bleed. i’m surprised that hasn’t been researched more, though.

Any leakage tends to be confined to one’s person–or possibly the baby’s person. And since babies are just one messy, leaky (and occasionally smelly) bodily effluent after another anyway, you can’t be a stickler about these things, or you’ll just make yourself crazy.

Still, I’m grateful for the reassurances and comments. It’s something that isn’t often touched upon in discussions about public nursing that I’ve read, so I was curious. Thanks everyone. ^_^

It is something I do wonder about–as yes, people should pay more attention to their health and potential-germ-spreading (period)–even though I know most won’t. Still, breast-milk IS in the same category as blood in terms of those massive-unsanitary bodily fluids.

Amanda, what we are dealing with (in Aurora) are more than just racketeers — we are dealing with terrorists — the same group of anti-choice terrorists that we have been dealing with for the past quarter-century (yes, the Schneidler thugs). These people are a real threat to democracy here in America and we need to discuss how the anti-choice terrorists are still running free as a bird after 25 years of terrorist attacks on Planned Parenthood.

Something that I always think about when I hear the debate about public-nursing, is about the sanitary issue. I’ve seen nursing mothers–and while I myself would rather most be discrete (as most of the ones I saw were), I admit that is MY issue of want, not theirs. They do have every right to breastfeed their child and not be harassed. (I do have a problem with those who do so as attention-getting–but I think Molly, NYC made the point that being a mother, and being an asshole are neither exclusive…)

What do you all do about the sanitary side though? Someone mentioned being in a restaurant, where a mother ‘whipped it out and fed ON the table”…? Hello, health-code violation? Breastmilk DOES count as one of those bodily fluids that transmits viruses. (This doesn’t mean I feel it should necessarily be relegated to the bathroom…) I do feel though, that nursing mothers should be aware of the potential for spillage and leakage. (Most I hope, are responsible and do take account of this.)

So…Um..yeah, just asking what others think, and throwing in 2 cents. Love the site, Amanda. ^_^