Thursday, January 21, 2010

Breastfeeding Revolution in Taiwan

It finally happened. The government of Taiwan approved a proposal today making breastfeeding in public legal everywhere, and forcing facilities of a certain size to provide breastfeeding rooms for women with children.
Protest actions happened in the past over women who wanted to breastfeed their baby on a bus, a train, a restaurant, but were told off by other members of the public or by officials. That will change now, and mothers will get complete breastfeeding freedom.
Not only that, but areas of a certain size - and I presume those include department stores, large restaurants, shopping malls, etc - will have to provide a separate breastfeeding room. The only such rooms I know of in present-day Taiwan are situated in the capital Taipei's subway system, the MRT.
The breastfeeding law is a major victory for breastfeeding mothers, and also for non-sexual nudity in this country where, in contrast to Europe, breasts are all but absent from magazines, advertising or TV, even in a non-sexual context.

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Sunday, January 03, 2010

Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2009: Hilary Swank


Academy Award-winning U.S. actress Hilary Swank is the Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2009 for her healthy attitudes about non-sexual nudity, nudity in the home and sleeping in the nude.
The Oscar-winner for "Boys Don't Cry" and Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" caused a wave of admiration in the international naturist community the past year by giving just one interview to the American version of Marie Claire.
You can read the full text at the link below, but Swank basically said it was normal for anybody to be sleeping in the nude - a practice that has won supporters worldwide without much acclaim or uproar - and that there was no problem with her partner's young child seeing her naked by accident since he was at an age children thought nothing of that.
Even though we have no evidence that Swank lives a full naturist lifestyle - enjoying sports, swimming and sunbathing in the nude and seeing non-sexual nudity as healthy - her statements to the magazine show she has the right attitude.
Hilary Swank's words earned her the right to follow in the footsteps of Eva Mendes in 2007 - for admitting she liked gardening in the nude - and Rosario Dawson in 2008 - for saying her mother took her to naturist beaches. Hilary Swank may or may not be a naturist, and because of her celebrity status might not be willing to admit it, but her comments have benefited the naturist cause, and that's enough for her to win the Asianaturist blog's Celebrity Naturist of the Year Award for 2009.
The winner for the Real Naturist of the Year Award for 2009 was the ClothesFree International team for its web site, TV news shows and forums about naturism.
You can find Hilary Swank's interview with Marie Claire at http://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity-lifestyle/celebrities/hilary-swank-interview?click=pp.

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