# Breastfeeding versus urinating: Surely this is a false analogy. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 4, 2016, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487 "2016-06-04T13:37:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/1 "2016-06-04T13:37:12Z")
The arguments in favor of public breastfeeding, which I support, are that it’s perfectly natural, the kids need to eat when they’re hungry, it’s good for baby and mom and a host of others. If you’re offended, look away. They’re just breasts. It’s no big deal. How do these same arguments not apply to public urination? It is illegal is most places. The only difference that comes to mind is one of sanitation but I hardly believe that that’s the primary reason that public urination is illegal. In Oklahoma, the crime is called “Outraging the public decency”, as if decent people don’t have to pee. I’m confident that this has to be a false analogy but I’m struggling to see it. Also, I really don’t want to see more people peeing in public. But it is perfectly natural. It’s good for you. It’s just genitalia. Etc. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/2 "2016-06-04T13:46:21Z")
We can start with “breasts aren’t genitalia”. They’re secondary sexual characteristics, to be sure, but then so is a beard. And would you mind covering up that Adam’s Apple? So gross. Wear a turtleneck, for gods’ sakes. Have some self respect. 😉 But that’s just pushing the question back a bit to, “why can’t we show our genitalia in public when performing bodily functions?” and the answer to that is a rousingly unsatisfying, “because.” Taboos are taboos, and there’s little to no logic to them. I fight that, because I want logic and precision, but at the end of the day we’re chimps with keyboards. I will say that the biggest argument I have against public urination has nothing to do with seeing genitalia; it’s the _smell_. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/3 "2016-06-04T13:58:16Z")
Urine is a waste byproduct. Milk, tears, sweat, etc. aren’t. There aren’t really comparable. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/4 "2016-06-04T14:15:39Z")
If I peed in a bottle and dumped that on the sidewalk, would that run afoul of public urination laws? Or is it the exposed genitals that are the problem? I’m under the impression that just having one’s dick out would fall under a different rule than dick out and peeing, but I don’t make a habit of either. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/5 "2016-06-04T14:18:07Z")
OP: have you ever walked into a public place, taken a deep whiff, and said, “Ugh! Someone must have been breastfeeding here!” ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/6 "2016-06-04T14:30:08Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > OP: have you ever walked into a public place, taken a deep whiff, and said, “Ugh! Someone must have been breastfeeding here!” No, I haven’t. Do you believe that the smell of urine is the reason that public urination is illegal? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/7 "2016-06-04T14:30:15Z")
Breastfeeding in public is one thing. What you’re comparing it to, would be a woman expressing her milk openly onto the sidewalk or into the bushes. I think it would be fair to say if a [lactating] woman pulled a breast out and started squeezing milk out of it and just let it drip/spray all over the place, she’d face similar charges as man that was publicly urinating. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/8 "2016-06-04T14:37:05Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Breastfeeding in public is one thing. What you’re comparing it to, would be a woman expressing her milk openly onto the sidewalk or into the bushes. > > I think it would be fair to say if a [lactating] woman pulled a breast out and started squeezing milk out of it and just let it drip/spray all over the place, she’d face similar charges as man that was publicly urinating. I feel this is the key point. Even if you equate milk and urine as two bodily fluids, there’s still the factor that the milk is being consumed while the urine is being left at the site. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/9 "2016-06-04T14:41:17Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Do you believe that the smell of urine is the reason that public urination is illegal? It’s a public health issue. People aren’t allowed to just take a shit wherever they like either. “Outrages public decency” is only one aspect of the Oklahoma law, referenced [here](http://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/disorderly-conduct-oklahoma.htm): > [@](#): > > Disturbing the public peace > > Oklahoma has a second, separate law against committing any act that “grossly disturbs the public peace or health,” or “openly outrages public decency.” Disturbing the public peace is a more serious crime than disturbing the peace and must occur in public or offend people in public. (Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 22.) Examples of disturbing the public peace include public urination and playing amplified music outdoors that disturbs residents in their homes several blocks away. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/10 "2016-06-04T14:53:36Z")
> [@](#): > > (Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 22.) That’s not about peeing, that’s about whether public monuments should be topless. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/11 "2016-06-04T14:58:36Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > That’s not about peeing, that’s about whether public monuments should be topless. I thought [John Ashcroft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_of_Justice) was from Missouri? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/12 "2016-06-04T15:02:43Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I thought [John Ashcroft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_of_Justice) was from Missouri? They have stat tits everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/13 "2016-06-04T15:03:36Z")
Nars, you can’t seriously believe that breast feeding equates with urination. Mothers are not pissing down their children’s throats. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/14 "2016-06-04T15:16:50Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Nars, you can’t seriously believe that breast feeding equates with urination. Mothers are not pissing down their children’s throats. No. I don’t believe it. That’s why I said that it must be a false analogy. I’m trying to figure out why other than “It’s just different”. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/15 "2016-06-04T15:18:53Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > It’s a public health issue. People aren’t allowed to just take a shit wherever they like either. I’m not a medical professional but I don’t believe that piss and shit are comparable either. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/16 "2016-06-04T15:23:14Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Nars, you can’t seriously believe that breast feeding equates with urination. Mothers are not pissing down their children’s throats. And as I said in the OP, I approve of public breastfeeding and disapprove of public urination although I have been known to have to pee behind a tree if no other option was available. I’d guess that about 99% of men have. This is merely a mental debate that I am having with myself. It may not classify as “Great” but I’d assumed that this was the appropriate forum for it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/17 "2016-06-04T15:26:21Z")
Another difference is that we have designated places for urination, but not for breastfeeding. In both cases, you can say “Well, I have to do it”. But with urination, the response is “Yes, but do it over in that room that’s for urination”. And no, the bathroom is not the place for breastfeeding. If any place in a building could be said to be “for breastfeeding”, it’d be the dining room. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/18 "2016-06-04T15:30:00Z")
My understanding is that it is a social custom in some parts of India that the women gather in the fields to defecate together, gives them a time and place to share the village news. So it’s basically just Western culture that finds this euwgy. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/19 "2016-06-04T16:05:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I feel this is the key point. Even if you equate milk and urine as two bodily fluids, there’s still the factor that the milk is being consumed while the urine is being left at the site. What if the urine is being consumed? Some people are into that, and they don’t leave a stench like leaving it on the ground. Also . . . I was once in line at the supermarket, and the elderly man in front of me had a very strong smell of urine. I had to stand back several feet. He didn’t seem to be wet anywhere. Was he violating any laws? > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > That’s not about peeing, that’s about whether public monuments should be topless. 😃 You owe me a new keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487/20 "2016-06-04T16:27:43Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > No, I haven’t. Do you believe that the smell of urine is the reason that public urination is illegal? It’s not the exclusive reason, but I think it’s certainly the number one reason. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breastfeeding-versus-urinating-surely-this-is-a-false-analogy/756487.md?page=2)