Barbara Walters deserves to be bitch-slapped.

Today, whilst waiting in a local coffee shop for my lb. of french roast to be ground, I flipped through a copy of Glamour magazine. (Feminists can still read Glamour magazine ... we just do it with irony). What do my eyes alight upon but an article addressing the hot debate taking place south of the border on the topic of public breastfeeding, sparked by a comment made by Ms. Walters. On her show "The View", Walters stated that while she and her hairdresser were on a flight, the woman seated next to them breastfed her baby on board. She then claimed that this made her and her hairdresser “uncomfortable”.

Oh dear, Ms. Walters. Fine, you have a right to voice your opinion. You even have a right to be uncomfortable. However, we nursing mothers are not about to skulk back into the smelly shadows of some public washroom as if we were performing some perverse act. My baby needs to eat. Breasts provide his nourishment. That's what they're for, incidentally, Ms. Walters. They're not merely ornamental.

By now, half of the population of The Beaches (where I live in Toronto) has caught glimpses of my breasts as I nurse my baby in public. So what? I'm discreet ... or, at least, I'm as discreet as I can be with my generous bosom.

Anyway, here's more on the debate:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art32659.asp