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Pop quiz: of the various professions, which do you think would be most supportive of breastfeeding?

You might've thought "doctors," or "medical folks"--mais non, apparently. At least, the National Board of Medical Examiners is refusing to give a breastfeeding Harvard PhD who wants to sit the exam for her MD the accommodation she needs--an extra 20-minute break--to pump while taking the nine-hour exam.

My first thought was "fuck 'em; haul out the breast pump in the exam room and pump away," but apparently that's not allowed either:

Privacy, my ass. This is the kind of attitude we need towards this nonsense about "discretion" for breastfeeding moms. Feeding a baby isn't a disability--the ostensible reason the NBME won't allow Dr. Currier the extra twenty minutes she needs to take the exam--and the sooner we get to the realization that actually *using* the boobs our society's so obsessed with is something women are entitled to do, thankyouverymuch, the better.

Bitch_PhD breastfed her son in public all the time, and god help anyone who tried to give her a hard time about it. (Actually most people were really warm and congratulatory, so she doesn't know what the NBME's fucking problem is.)

Yeah. Seriously. I don't see how it should be that big of a deal.

OMFG. This is bullshit. I understand not letting her do it in the room, but why not just give her, and everyone else, to be fair, the extra 20 minutes? Maybe she should just bring the babe to the test and feed it there. *growls*

A nine hour exam? Nine hours?!

A board of medical examiners made this decision?

yeah. people rasing a stink about breast-feeding i understand. even in that situation.

what's freaking me out is 9 hours of exams.

Well, duh. Everyone knows breasts were made for men's sexual pleasure, and as such, they shouldn't be seen in public. Since they belong to her husband, not her.
...
Wait, since when do they allow women in universities?

Don't they even get food/pee breaks for a NINE HOUR test?

I've had someone try to tell me that breast feeding a baby is somehow sexual.
I know watching a baby sucking it's mom's tit totally makes me hott.

Oh forget it, I hate when the image tag won't work.

best. answer. ever. i lol'ed

I still don't understand why people don't understand breastfeeding. It's not like she's whipping it out and letting every get a hit off the tap, she's doing something for the health of her child.....

isnt the idea of feminism "equality"??? everyone gets the SAME treatment in that room.. and its not their fault that this chick has a kid.. she can wait till she is done breastfeeding and take her test... abide by the rules just as everyone else taking the test is doing.... if i had a kid and needed to take a 15 minute break during the test to do something for that kid, they wouldnt allow it... welcome to an EQUAL society..

Probably the nine hour exam (no doubt without food & toilet breaks) is just another way of making sure that junior doctors can work for 60+ hours straight without breaking

I'm pretty sure trying to force somebody to sit in a room doing nothing but taking a test for 9 hours without letting them out of the room, even to go to the bathroom, would be highly illegal and there's no way in hell they're doing that. It's an official medical organization, not a fucking frat house.

On closer inspection, they get 45 minutes worth of breaks over the test, so why can't she just pump a little milk out during those breaks? According to the article, she has to pump her breasts every 2 or 3 hours... What the hell does she do when she sleeps? Set the alarm every 3 hours?

Breasts have no place in medicine studies and the people taking the exam need to be protected from the unnatural sight that is a mother feeding a child, because as everyone knows, the primary function for mammary glands is to provide entertainment.

zomg, they won't change the rules...chauvinist pigs!

Ask any breastfeeding mother if they can sit comfortably for 9 hours without breastfeeding or pumping.
This is ludicrous.

lol

I might be wrong, but I am pretty sure that there is nothing illegal about it at all. they put out the rules, it's up to you if you want to take the test or not.

I also am pretty sure that the whole reason they don't let her or anyone else leave the room for 20 mins is due to the whole "monitored while you take the test" thing. In theory you could have someone waiting outside with some way to smuggle answers to you (or something).

I'm not a pro on the topic of breast feeding, so what happens if she doesn't pump, and couldn't she pump before the test and then right after? or is that not an option at all?

Things begin to leak, and carrying too much milk can cause pain.

I've suffered from unfortunate timing during exam season myself, but this takes the cake. Why is it so fracking impossible to make the appropriate allowances? Bureaucratic bollocks.

20 minutes seems like a lunch break.........they don't get to eat?