Netflix: Breastfeeding is Sexual Content?

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Ooh, my friend put me onto this, and I am hot! We should spam the heck out of netflix, this is just too much!

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Tsotsi/...mdp-parentinfo

Scroll down to the rating info, too much!

[garviegirl]

Will you cut and paste it? I'm not a Netflix subscriber, so I can't see it.

[llamalluv]

Are you talking about Tsotsi? It's rated R for language and strong violent content. At least, from what I can see as a non-subscriber.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

From the website:

17+

Common Sense Note
Parents should know the movie shows kids and young people living on the streets and in poverty in South Africa, with scenes showing harsh violence (stabbing, shooting, beating), drinking and drug use, the accidental kidnapping of a baby during a carjacking, posters warning against AIDS, and the parents' subsequent distress. The focus is on a young hoodlum, whose initial inability to cope with the infant's needs leads to terrible mistakes (the baby is covered with ants and filth, cries, needs food). He holds a gun on a young woman to force her to breastfeed the baby; he beats one friend and regrets it; he kills another in order to stop more violence.
Sexual Content
Woman nurses a child with her breast partially exposed.
Violence
A disturbingly slow and quiet assault with an ice pick; brutal beating that leaves victim's face a bloody pulp; carjacking that leaves woman driver beaten and horrified.
Language
Profanity in subtitles (f-word included).
Social Behavior
Characters are thieves and brutes by socialization; they lie, steal, and commit violence; one is redeemed when he learns to give up his needs for a baby's.
Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco
Characters drink (some drunken behavior by 18- and 19-year-olds), smoke cigarettes, and take drugs.

My Email to them:

Dear Netflix -

Imagine my surprise and shock when browsing your movie selection and coming across this listing:

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Tsotsi/...mdp-parentinfo

To have breastfeeding listed as sexual content is disturbing to say the least, and contributes to the ongoing misconception that the act of nourishing our children through breastfeeding is a sexual act and therefore "wrong" and "dirty". It is a normal function of life, and none of us would be here today if it wasn't for breastfeeding.

I would hope you take it under serious consideration to change your policy of listing breastfeeding as sexual content. It is not sexual. It is the greatest gift a mother can give her child. By sexualizing breastfeeding, your company is contributing to declining breastfeeding rates in the U.S. That is a serious problem for the health of our children.

Feel free to contact me with any questions you might have regarding this email. I am a breastfeeding mother, and I have to tell you, nothing about it is at all sexual. Your characterization of it as such is nothing short of an outrage. I hope you seriously consider that in the future when putting the label "sexual" on breastfeeding content in the future.

Thank you.

[minkajane]

Good email!!

[lanamommyphd07]

They appear to be including the stuff from Common Sense Media. I'm not aware if that's a netflix company or not. Netflix does give a link. I'm glad I don't have to be mad at Netflix, for now.

[honeybunch2k8]

Good e-mail!

[rmzbm]

Blech.

[Ruthla]

I think they need to separate "nudity" from "sexual content." The fact remains that there are some parents who would have a problem with their children viewing naked breasts, even as part of breastfeeding. I don't have a problem with that being listed as "nudity"- it's the classification as "sexual content" that bugs me. I can think of several other examples of non-sexual nudity- native African tribes where women are topless, life in a nudist colony, etc.

There can be nudity without sexual content, and there can be sexual content without nudity.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Excellent point, Ruthla. I think that's part of what makes me so mad. Not that it's about being nekked, but that it's explicitly listed as "sexual". :

[didkisa]

Originally Posted by lanamommyphd07

They appear to be including the stuff from Common Sense Media. I'm not aware if that's a netflix company or not. Netflix does give a link. I'm glad I don't have to be mad at Netflix, for now.

: The e-mail should be sent to Common Sense Media.

[wonderwahine]

I dont blame netflix here, its common sense media. And I'm sure netflix would get a million complaint e-mails if they didnt warn of it because someones kid had to see a bare breast........ even though the parents dont seem to concerned about the extreme violence portrayed

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Well, my friend searched for another movie we recently saw with bfing in it, Shoot em Up, and it wasn't listed under that movie as sexual. It wasn't mentioned. I guess it's about being consistent.

[Ruthla]

Yeah, that particular movie isn't appropriate for young kids no matter how the nudity is described. I think the issue here isn't the ratings for that particular movie, but the way that breastfeeding was defined as "sexual" because of the nudity aspect.