M.I.A. is more than a little badass
February 9, 2009 § 11 Comments
If you didn’t catch the Grammys last night, watch this clip of M.I.A. singing what might be the catchiest tune of my entire life (save, of course, this one)…
(If you’re having trouble viewing the video, click here for another clip.)
She’s nine months pregnant! In fact, her due date was yesterday. Not only is performing while pregnant an incredible physical feat, it’s also socially gutsy. In a culture that finds pregnant women (and breastfeeding mothers) repulsive unless they’re barefoot and cooking up some pie, it’s delightful to see M.I.A. ignoring the sexist bullshit and taking the stage with her usual force.
Women's Glib 
I also think it’s great that she sang her trademark song, which includes gang violence and substances. It shows that she doesn’t want to buy into some typical mommy image of goodness and sweetness and that she will probably be straight up with her kid. I love MIA!
I LOVE THAT LADY.
word, my mom told me about that facebook lactivism.
Am I the only feminist who finds public breastfeeding annoying? I’m sorry, but I don’t like to receive flashes of other people’s nudity unless I’m in a place where that is expected (ie, you expect to see some skin at the beach). I don’t think it’s sexist; I feel the same way about the naked cowboy that hangs around Times Square.
To me the difference is that the naked cowboy is trying to entertain people, to make money, while a nursing mother is feeding her child. It might be aesthetically icky to some, but what it comes down to is basic nutritional fact.
Peeing is also a natural, necessary part of life. I don’t want a front row seat to that, either. Obviously, kids need to eat; they just don’t need to do it in front of me.
For instance, I expect when I walk into a bathroom at a bookstore that I will see a mother changing a baby’s diaper. I expect poopy diapers and general ickiness. I don’t appreciate poopy diapers when I’m browsing through the history section of said bookstore. There are things that are necessary, and there are also places that accomodate such necessities.
@Artemis, what if the baby is cranky and won’t stop crying unless breastfed? It seems a little unreasonable to expect the mother to cloister herself in the bathroom to breastfeed the baby when it’s perfectly possible to cover up with a little blanket and do so perfectly modestly and it really causes little inconvenience to others. Also, it’s more than a little silly to compare a mother breastfeeding a kid in a restaurant with encountering poopy diapers in a bookstore. Not equivalent.
@ Anu:
Yes, babies are cranky, and I am in no way implying that breastfeeding should be officially banned or something. Blankets are also highly appreciated, btw. What I’m complaining about is when I go to dinner or something, and the person right across from me whips out her boob and starts feeding the kid. Quite frankly, it puts me off my food. However, if it has to be done, then it has to be done. That doesn’t mean that I’m any happier about it.
I also don’t think it’s silly to compare the breastfeeding to poopy diapers or a man peeing. Here’s why: since this is a feminist blog, I’m assuming that the overall view of Lactivism on this blog is that people complaining about breastfeeding are sexist. I placed my observation that I don’t think it is. All three: breastfeeding, poopy diapers and peeing- are biological imperatives (one could argue that the last two are actually much more urgent and imperative than the first). The fact that I don’t like seeing women breastfeed doesn’t make me a sexist, since I hold the same view towards men who perform any similar function in front of me. I would assume it’s the same for a lot of people who complain about breastfeeding. My point in posting here was not to put mothers on the spot, but to note that an aversion to breastfeeding is not necessarily sexist in nature.
“Obviously, kids need to eat; they just don’t need to do it in front of me.” – Artemis, I can only assume you’re being facetious with this comment. If not, perhaps no one has told you about these amazing places called restaurants, where people eat in front of each other. You might want to stay away from them if you’re so averse to watching people eat.
On a serious note though, there are always people who believe their discomfort (ew! breasts!) trumps the needs of an infant to be fed. Those people are wrong, and it’s blogs like this that help open their eyes. Congrats on a fabulous new blog, girls!
Off the topic of breat feeding-which I am more than okay with anywhere-back to M.I.A. I was so glad to see that she was wearing sneakers!This may seem kind of unimportant, but i remember when Angelina Jolie was pregnant she was defintly NOT in supa fly kicks. I think that heels arent what make you beautiful (or womanly) and when youre 9 MONTHS PREGNANT its cool to wear more comfy shoes.
I just think it’s sad that anyone considers breast feeding an act of ickiness. I wish we lived in a country that respected breasts and their function.
If public urination left no mark on the surroundings in question, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. But public urination/defecation would leave waste behind, unlike breastfeeding. If people urinated in public all the time, out streets would be full of piss. It would be smelly and a health concern. Breastfeeding may be just as ‘revealing’ as public pissing, but it doesn’t impact the environment in which it’s done. That fact, in my opinion, makes the two incomparable.