Well 'genius', the reason there are signs saying 'no drinking or eating' for safety reasons is because people like you and I eat and drink from open containers etc, and there is a very high possibility that we could spill food and drink on the floor.

As breasts are not open containers and the chances of there being a safety problem from spillage are negligible, then your point is rather moot.

Dear Joe,

I understand your concern, but imagine how hard it would be for you to suck a very thick warm smoothie, through a straw off a moving, wobbling object with a large blanket over your head in the middle of a QLD Summer, when you can hear everyone having fun around you and you are really tired!

Babies don't like blankets, cloths or towels over their heads.
Breasts are wobbly and round and the only way to anchor an object to them is to throw a giant cloth over your shoulder and that isn't discreet either!

Breastfeeding can be hot, hard work, (especially in public with a cranky baby) and you actually need to watch what the baby is doing until they are latched on and in the right position.

Being a Mum with larger breasts, it was really difficult to be discreet, but it was never my intension to attract attention. Try as I might, sometimes the best of intentions came unstuck.

Maybe instead of focusing on anatomy, we should all be focussing on the needs of the child and the mother who is just trying to do the best she can for her child and save the publics eardrums from the cries of a very cranky baby.

Thanks for the considered comment mike. I don't object to breastfeeding, as should be plain from my post. I object to the concept of 'I can legally do this therefore I will do it irrespective of the sensitivities of those around me'.
There are social circumstances where I would not like to sit next to a breast feeding woman with an exposed breast. Most women understand that there are cultural sensitivities around breast exposure and modestly feed with this in mind. That's all I ask.

Would you object if a patron in a cafe changed their colostomy bag in front of you? Perfectly legal, mike. Most people with colostomy bags understand the sensitivities involved and choose to do it in the bathroom. Why should they? A colostomy bag is not disgusting. Any notion of disgust is in the mind of the beholder.
An atheist can go to a church and loudly deride the concept of a deity. Perfectly legal.

Whilst these are hyperbolic analogies, I think the sensitivities of our culture should be recognised. As for breastfeeding, as beautiful and nurturing as it is, I don't want to see it: I can look away, leave or the lady can feed discreetly. Personally, I'd like to be given the option of looking where I want or staying. Most women seem to realise that, even if some overwrought individuals don't.

Hardly insensitive, I demand nothing. You have put words in my mouth. Please read my post again and see where I have stated that I would demand that a woman not breastfeed or lobby for a change in the legislation. You will not find such a statement. I have not stated that I object to public breast feeding either, you have read this into my post. You may retract your objectionable comments.

And furthermore, Why should my personal feelings about cultural norms have less weight than yours or a breastfeeding woman's? It is not insensitive to articulate my wants in what I perceive as to what is polite in the social setting. Your strident and querulous objections to what you perceive as a slight against maternity has no more weight than my requests for modesty in social settings.

In fact, I find your sanctimonious attitude to be typical of the bandwagon type argument.

mmm.... problem with comprehension I see:
' I don't want it happening next to me in a cafe without some appropriate modesty ' is not the same as ' I don't want it happening next to me in a cafe'. The difference is the clause: 'without some modesty', which is the entire thrust of my post, by the way. It is hardly my fault if you cannot see the distinction.

I reiterate that i have not stated an objection to women breastfeeding in public.
Your comments are both intemperate and inaccurate. You betray an intolerant stance, with your inability to view my comments except through the lens of what you want to read and what you have decided I have meant.

Ahh,I see now Joe, thanks for clarifying.

It's not that you object to breastfeeding in public - it's that you want it done your way. And what is 'modesty' anyway? I can tell you with certainty that it means different things to different people, and that other's 'modesty' may seem 'immodest' to you.

So here's something that you may not be aware of Joe. The world does not revolve around you, and people do not have to adjust their behaviour to take into account your unreasonable sensitivities. If you don't like it, do what you suggested yourself - don't look.

You say my stance is intolerant. But it isn't me suggesting that a woman put a cloth over her child's head while she is feeding it. Intolerant? Yes - I have always been intolerant of attitudes like that.

WHY is breastfeeding seen to be immodest? is it because people associate breasts more with being sexual than a source of nutrition for babies? if this is the case, then I don't see why it is the mother's problem. It is about other people's perception of what breasts are for. We don't breastfeed to flaunt our sexuality. We do it to feed our children.
And a cafe is for eating isn't it? That's what breastfeeding is!!

Well, this is really a discussion on what is propriety and what is culturally acceptable in the public space. The prevailing opinion of these posts is 'all things are permissable when it comes to breastfeeding and no-one should be offended.'
All things are permissable legally when it comes to breastfeeding, but my contention is that not all things should be culturally permissable just because they are legally permissable. My thought experiment postulates the cafe as the context.
if you state that all things are permissable when it comes to breastfeeding, how would you react if a woman walked into a cafe, sat down and removed her shirt and bra - ordered a coffee started breatfeeding a baby on one breast and a 5 year old child in a school uniform on the other breast. Let me tell you how you would react... well, as you've painted yourself into a corner with 'all things are permisable when it comes to breastfeeding' you would say and do nothing and look in wonder at the beautiful thing that breastfeeding is. Let me tell you how the vast majority of the female patrons of childbearing age would be likely to react - they would subject the woman in question tohostile glances for breaking the social contract as to what is permissable for a modern woman to display in public.
I use this feasible, but obviously hyperbolic, example to illustrate a point. Public behaviours around breatfeeding are highly regulated (not by me or kochie, but be the the sorority), public behaviours are also subject to parameters, not leagl, but by social contract in negotiation.
So my question is what are the socially acceptable parameters around breatsfeeding? you say none, I say that the circumstance of a totally naked from the waist up female breastfeeding in a cafe would be seen as an egregious slight against propriety by men and women. Somewhere in between, i suspect, is the answer. All I have done is give my version as to what i deem is socially acceptable, perhaps I have been too conservative, but to then argue that 'all things are culturally permissable when it comes to breastfeeding' is, at least, naive, at worst, disingenuous.