NASCAR, Kasey Kahne, Women and Breastfeeding

As was reported in the NY Times back in 2007, the NASCAR Harlequins have some specific rules by which they must abide: no sex, no crashes, no drugs, no alcohol use in the content of the story.

Back in 2007, Mark Dyer, VP of licensing for NASCAR, said in the article, 

“Look at our stats. Forty percent of our fans are women, and among younger fans it’s trending toward 50-50.” He added that according to Nascar surveys 72 percent of female fans enjoy reading and are more likely than nonfans to purchase books.

 

This is particularly interesting (and somewhat laughable) in light of Kasey Kahne's Tweetstream yesterday, in which he called a woman breast feeding “nasty”:

And in case you missed that last part, he then told @knittingrad, who told him he was being a douchebag, “Your a dumb bitch.”

All of these screen caps are courtesy of @scatx, who later called out Farmers Insurance, one of Kahne's sponsors, asking if they condoned his behavior.

Ok, first, I cannot let this opportunity pass:

Your: something that belongs to you.
You're: You are.

Let's try that in context!

You're being horribly sexist, Kasey Kahne, and your misogyny is really unattractive considering the number of female NASCAR fans.

If NASCAR is a family sport, one must assume some of those family members were breastfed.

And while I'm hanging out here, let me just take a paragraph and screech: Why is breastfeeding in public still a problem for so many people? What the hell? Do people stare at other diners in a restaurant, unable to look away as they eat? It's a breast. Get over it. You need to see some? Go look at a romance novel cover from the 80s. And some of the ones online.

And as someone who was unable to breastfeed, I hate the shaming and pressure I received to breastfeed (even though I couldn't), and I hate the pressure that those who choose to do so receive from people who can't mind their own damn business. The issue of breastfeeding is such a contentious battlefield. You'd think Mr. Kahne would have the smarts to not voice his rather dimwitted opinion on Twitter – which then fed directly to his Facebook page, where more people supported his comments than argued with him.

But back to Mr. Kahne.

Kahne's response was to delete the tweets and go back to talking about Christmas (I wonder if Santa was breastfed?) but screen caps and angry fans lit a stream of crank ass on KnittingRad and Scatx.

KnittingRad is taking it all in stride: 

Kahne tweeted later that he was “Glad everyone had a good Christmas! Thanks for all the feedback. I gained some new perspectives today.”

Wow, that's miles short of an apology, isn't it? I was waiting for the completely flaccid, “I'm sorry if anyone was offended” apology from Kahne. I'm almost disappointed. 

Makes me wonder about NASCAR and romance, though. Harlequin NASCARs have the no crashing, no drugs and alcohol, no sex rules. Does that also apply to breastfeeding? Good lord, maybe there's no breasts in NASCAR romance.

No, that can't be right. I've watched NASCAR. There's definitely breasts, both in the stands belonging to women fans, many of whom are mothers, and in the restricted areas, belonging to women hired to promote various products.

It's rather stunning to see misogyny and sexist comments about breastfeeding from a NASCAR driver, especially considering the percentage of female fans of the sport, and NASCAR's effort to reach them with branded products like Harlequin novels. Perhaps the solution is more breastfeeding in NASCAR novels, lots and lots of breastfeeding. 

Then we make Kasey Kahne read them all.

ETA: 9:38pmET. Via simba's comment below, Kasey Kahne has apologized for his Tweets via his Facebook page, saying “I understand that my comments regarding breastfeeding posted on Twitter were offensive to some people. For that, I apologize. It was in no way my intention to offend any mother who chooses to breastfeed her child, or, for that matter, anyone who supports breast feeding children.

In all honestly, I was surprised by what I saw in a grocery store…. I respect the mother's right to feed her child whenever and wherever she pleases.”

Categorized:

Ranty McRant

Comments are Closed

  1. I never thought of breastmilk as a “bodily fluid” – when I’m grocery shopping I don’t want to think about urine or snot, either, and would happily call nasty on someone not covering their mouth while sneezing in the produce aisle. But breastmilk isn’t something bodies eliminate as waste – it’s food. It’s sanitary and deliberately nutritious and beneficial, which I’d foolishly hope most things in the supermarket are, as well.

    You’re right that it’s entirely his right to THINK whatever he wants about breastfeeding. As it is with all of us. But as a highly sponsored public figure, it behooves him to also THINK before he writes such controversial claptrap about it.

  2. Rei says:

    Um. If I saw somebody eating their lunch in the supermarket I would think it a bit odd, but not disgusting. I mean yeah, sure, you don’t normally see people eating their lunch in a supermarket, but it’s not disgusting if they do. Supermarkets sell food; where did you think people were going to put it, the mantlepiece? So why’s breastfeeding any different? You wouldn’t expect it to happen in a supermarket, sure, but it’s no different there than it would be in a cafe or on a park bench.

    And while, yes, perhaps calling the guy a “douchebag” was stooping to his level a bit, I’d say the reaction was completely justified. He was calling a random woman nasty and disgusting for the crime of not doing something the way he’d have expected it to be done. That’s douchebag behaviour, and KnittingRad is not a “dumb bitch” for noticing.

  3. JB Hunt says:

    Must we perpetuate the trope of the backward South?

    I work at the oldest public university in America, and it happens to be in the Deep South, where we have just as many enlightened AND backward individuals as the rest of the country.

    Narrow-minded thinking occurs both above and below the Mason-Dixon line, unfortunately. Has anyone else been watching the Republican debates? I shudder.

    Misogyny and bigotry are all too prevalent everywhere, but it’s easy to pretend they are just a southern thang.

  4. Karel Blechta says:

    Are you all really that surprised? Sports like NASCAR, Baseball, basketball etc… tend to attract men that aren’t particularily smart/tactful. As long as these “celebrities” have fans that will pander and cater to their needs, we will ALWAYS have people like this guy. Unfortunately, this problem will always exsist in sports.

  5. I don’t know which I find more cloying and predictable: intolerant frat boys with medieval opinions about women, or the “lactivists” who are absolutely giddy with glee every time some douchebag guy says something like this. The canned and predigested outrage is a bit much sometimes. Both camps need to give it a rest. We get it already.

  6. snarkhunter says:

    Wow. Bigoted much? Thanks for making those of us from the north, the west, and the so-called “blue states” look like jerks. There’s plenty of backwards nastiness in the blue states, too.

  7. snarkhunter says:

    I sincerely hope they weren’t, though I’ve known a few people who did have that professional training who could be pretty judgmental about it, too. Sadly, professionals can be just as wretched as the lay people, though hopefully in lesser numbers. (I do know of one friend who sought out La Leche for counseling when her oldest son was struggling to latch on correctly, and she said she never felt more judged or more like a bad mother. With her second child and a different La Leche group, she had a wonderful experience.)

  8. snarkhunter says:

    I don’t know about “giddy with glee,” but considering that women still get harassed by *law enforcement* in some places in the US (and it wasn’t more than 10 years ago that they still go arrested) for breastfeeding in public, I think it’s important to vocally counteract this attitudes.

    If you don’t like reading about it…don’t read about it.

  9. My first daughter is adopted, so I couldn’t breast feed her. There were often times that other moms I interacted would ask me if I was breastfeeding. When I said no, I get the whole lecture on the benefits. Then I’d have to admit that my daughter is adopted just so they’d shut up. Asking about a woman’s choice to breastfeed seems so personal yet, like all aspects of a woman’s body, it is open to public scrutiny.

  10. SB Sarah says:

    While it is impossible for me to gauge reaction of other countries and cultures to breastfeeding, the comments here and on Twitter about various places in the US vs different countries (i.e. Japan) have made me wonder if there is a loose correlation between length of standard maternity leave and cultural acceptance of breastfeeding in public.

    The reason I pondered this correlation is that I know that US maternity leave is VERY short compared to other countries of the same economic development level, and perhaps the reason there is such a viscerally negative reaction to seeing women breastfeeding is because we simply do not as often see women breastfeeding. Maternity leave being 8-12 weeks leaves just enough time for physical recovery from childbirth and establishment of a feeding/sleeping routine (if you’re lucky), and then many women go back to work.

    Maybe if we saw women breastfeeding in public more often, maybe it wouldn’t be such a big deal here in the US.

    For example: US maternity leave is 8 or 12 weeks, depending on type of birth (C-section: 12 wks).

    Sweden: 16 MONTHS.
    This blog on breastfeeding in Sweden was fascinating:
    http://survivinglifeinsweden.b…

    So, while it’s nearly impossible to quantify, I wonder if the negativity is in part based on the fact that we simply do not see breastfeeding in public because our maternity leave is so short.

  11. was that (the breastfeeding a boy makes him gay) a normal reaction?  I would think it would reinforce being straight (going by this logic that implies that there is a choice involved).

  12. Alberta Rose says:

    Got that right about the attitudes about people where you live.  I had a 22 year old Louisana man call me out online and say that if he ever met me, he’d beat me up.  You see in addition to believing in God, the Maple Leaf and NASCAR, I’m also a strong breastfeeding/home birth advocate.

  13. VirginiaLlorca says:

    If he wasn’t being a douchebag about breast feeding, he would be a douche bag about polar bears or Chevy Volts or how many rat feces are allowed in a shipment of black pepper.  He’s just a plain old douchebag.  And who is he? A Nascar person?  I’m not into Nascar.  Let me go in a corner and think up some douchey things to say about Nascar.

  14. I completely agree with you.  There is nothing cute about ignorance, especially when that ignorance is based on the idea that change is stupid and wrong.  That is the same reason given for homophobia and why gay people can only get married in 6 states.  (I HATE HATE HATE the argument that God made Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve, especially since evolution pretty much discredits the whole Adam and Eve story.  We come from chimps not clay from the Earth and women most definitely do not come from Adam’s rib.)  But I am getting away from my point.  Women should not be told that they cannot do something as simple as breastfeeding because this country has trouble with the idea that women’s bodies are not just for the arousal of men (or other women).  I already stated that I am uncomfortable with public breastfeeding, but the reason is personal and has nothing to do with sexuality.  To me, breastfeeding is an intimate moment between the mother and the baby, and if I see it I feel like I’m intruding.

  15. Anoymous says:

    I live and have lived my entire life in the north.
    I personally think that breast feeding should be done as privately as possible with a certain level of discrestion.  Yes sometimes there are inconviences but then so is having a baby. The mothers I have seen have always managed to obtain all matter of supplies like diapers, diaper bags, carseats, strollers etc.  There are different cloth apparatices that allow woman to breast feed with more discretion including button-up shirts. There are also ways to find privacy particularly in shopping malls.  This does seem to be a class issue. I find hard to believe that women who have no choice but to find work to feed their families are participating in events like this. I would have more sympathy for women who are forced to bring their babies to work finding discrimination for breastfeeding in the workplace.
    I do find many forms of PDA disgusting and over the top and I would be embarrassed to witness it. I don’t think the comparison is inept.  I consider physical intimacy to beautiful and natural between two people but that does not mean there aren’t limits to how to behave in public.
    I am tired of being told “I hate women” when I disagree with this blog. I am a woman, and a feminist.  I just don’t believe that men are my enemy. When we treat all men like they are the same person, then it is overgeneralizing and stereotyping and that is never pretty. It would impossible to know but not all men look at porn. Men can be prudes just like women can be crass. (I have known many men who are prudes trust me.)While these adjectives can maybe be generally applied to large groups of women and men, applying them to all individuals is insulting. As a culture we need to find ways to respect our differences as individuals. Consider that some of my relatives consider romance novels porn.
    I am unsure as to why this issue is presented by this blog. Yes there are Nascar races in romances, but there are also romances about a lot fo things that could lead to political discussions. In general I would like to see more awareness about domestic violence and rape related issues on this blog if it continues in a more political vein. In general this blog remains very a-political and takes sides on very issues. I don’t why I need to defend myself as a feminist against a blog called Smart Bitches or that glorifies some books featuring rape and violence against women. I need a break. If you need me, I am not availble to respond to this post.

  16. DreadPirateRachel says:

    Hello, fellow Eugenian!

  17. yahoo user says:

    If the woman had touched a shopping cart and then touched her breast she exposed the child to a lot of germs.          If she got any bodily fluid on her hand during or after the breastfeeding and then touched a product you picked up most of you would be grossed out.    If you think she did not get any body fluid on her hand during this think about a man urinating and then walking through the grocery store, he may not have gotten any body fluid on his hand either but wouldn’t you want him to wash his hands before touching anything you might pick up?  Would you want your waitress to be breastfeeding while serving you food at a restaurant?  I have no problem with breastfeeding but I don’t think it is appropriate around food, I don’t want someone’s body fluid on my food no matter if it is breast milk or urine.

  18. Yes, this. My friend found out later that her baby was basically starving because she was never producing enough milk. She knew something was wrong, but NO everyone insisted she keep at it.

  19. KBS says:

    When did food service come into play?  The analogy wasn’t “false” nor was it ignorant, just of an opinion that is different (vastly it appears) than yours.

  20. I work in a college library, and not that long ago we had a mom pretty much beg to use our workroom bathroom to breastfeed her baby, because all of the other bathrooms are one stall, uncomfortable places that you’d barely want to use for bladder relief. The shame brought on by stares and whispers from her fellow patrons was enough to make her not want to do it in public, and that just sucks. No pun intended. People need to grow up and get over themselves.

  21. KSB says:

    I like you, Liztalley, you are a class act.  (At least your comments are, who knows what you’re like when the sun goes down ;D)

  22. Tania Kennedy says:

    You don’t eat from a body part that some people find offensive to see, either.

    While again, I have no problem with it, a lot of people do. And having a baby does not make you entitled to offend people. Nor entitled to be offended when someone else is offended.

  23. Zara K says:

    1. In some way or another, a person has a baby: pushed, pulled, c-sectioned, adopted, found in a basket on a riverbank.

    2. Babies eat.

    3. Breast milk is food.

    4. Formula is food.

    5. People feed babies.

    6. Twitter seems to be the fastest way to start a war.

    7. People like and dislike everything, and like to share their likes and dislikes.

    8. Lactivists have considerable energy.
        a. They can be judgmental.
        b. They can be helpful.
        c. Imagine if they focused all that energy on something really important.
        d. Something really important = education, civil rights, hunger in America.

    9. Kasey Kahne may be a redneck.

    10. Kasey Kahne probably likes boobies, but he doesn’t like breast feeding boobies.

    11. Kasey Kahne (redneck?) + Tweets + not liking breast feeding boobies = War.

    Does that about sum it up?

  24. Nadia says:

    LOL, if you are that worried about other people’s fluids and germs on your food, you should probably avoid grocery stores and restaurants altogether.  For every publicly nursing mom who just happened to get milk all over her hands (not at all common IME), I’m sure there are easily a 100 people shopping, dining, or working there who did not wash their hands after they visited the restroom, or just picked their nose, or scratched their genitals, or pet the dog, or sneezed into their hands.  I’d personally be more concerned about whether or not she washed her hands after changing Junior’s diaper (because I can tell you right now, I had more babyshit on my hands than breastmilk in my lifetime), but we don’t make moms of the un-potty-trained stay home with the kiddos until they achieve diaper independence.  Yet. 😉

  25. snarkhunter says:

    No one is entitled not to be offended. Period. Kasey Kahne is entitled to his opinion. But when he chooses to express it in a public medium in a fundamentally immature manner, then he gets to deal with the fall-out. He offended people by expressing his opinion, just as the woman who breastfed her child offended him.

    Some people find it offensive to see women’s hair or faces. Or find it offensive that some women choose to cover their hair or faces. Our culture finds both options acceptable, and quite frankly we need to accept that breasts serve a dual function. You (the general you, not you personally) can be offended, and you can look away. I’m offended by people spitting on the sidewalk in front of me, but somehow I survive.

  26. Angela James says:

    Wandering off topic slightly, but it is SO GROSS when people spit in public. Now THAT is an unnecessary sharing of bodily fluids with no positive purpose. Ew.

  27. snarkhunter says:

    Why do you feel compelled to defend your feminism? What in this post attacks your feminist beliefs? And if you think this is the first time politics has come up here, you haven’t been around long enough. You also seem to think that this site loves rapey romance novels. To which I can only say lol. n00b.

    I love your assumption that if we talk about feminist issue A (breastfeeding), then clearly there’s not enough room to talk about issues B-Z (rape, domestic violence, etc.).

  28. snarkhunter says:

    Oh, God, I know. It makes me want to gag. And I went to a high school (in a ritzy, chi-chi part of Washington State, for the geographical record) where chewing tobacco was really in…people would leave wads of tobacco stuck to the walls or in the drinking fountains. It was foul.

  29. Nadia says:

    Oh, yes, it’s always a pleasure to clean up after a party or event and find some dude’s spit cup from dip.  Gag.

  30. Beggar1015 says:

    This reminds me of the old scandal of Janet Jackson at the Superbowl. I thought to myself, if the situation had been reversed and it was Justin Timberlake whipping off his top and showing his nipples, nothing would have been said. But because it was a woman showing the exact same body part a man has, it was the end of civilization as we know it.

  31. Yesimadr says:

    Let’s face it, despite the fact that it is morally acceptable to breastfeed in public, it can still be a pretty nasty event.  I’m a young father, my wife had to breastfeed is public sometimes – but we certainly didn’t go out of our way to do it, nor did she do it with every thing out in the open.  Please have the decency to cover up.  This mother in question obviously didn’t.  These days it seems some moms go out of their way looking for confrontation.  Also, if the mom was hot, then it’s not as nasty.  You all hate to admit it but it’s true!!!

  32. Allison says:

    Dear yesimadr, my money is on you being a troll and not a dr.  That’s what my hope is.  Sorry you think that your wife feeding your kid is nasty.  Sucks for you.

  33. Copa says:

    If you tell me your husband is the man who rides around on his bike with a parrot on his shoulder I’ll love you forever.

  34. you’re absolutely right.  this society is extremely puritanical when it comes to women’s bodies.  Why is it that a man can walk around in his boxers all day long but if a woman walks around in a bra and panties it is wrong?  Also, why can a man walk around shirtless (even if he has manboobs) but a woman can’t (even if she is flat chested and looks like a boy)?

  35. Yesimadr, I am with Allison.  You just back up everything that has been said here.  This issue isn’t about it being a gross thing or even an inappropriate thing; it is about breasts being used for something other than your titillation.  You need to grow up.

  36. MaddBookish says:

    gnoltstudio does have a valid point about it being double standard, but I think, given that he is a celebrity, the smart thing would have been to ignore the insult instead of sinking to that level on a social media site.

  37. DreadPirateRachel says:

    Hahaha! Alas, no. My husband, though, is nearly as recognizable. If you ever see a black-clad, tattooed and pierced Viking wandering around, that’s my man. 🙂

  38. JL says:

    Wow, I had no idea there even was a Nascar Harlequin line. I’m baffled that they are so chaste, when Nascar makes me think of fast cars, sex, and, well, excessive contributions to climate change. It sounds more like what I’d expect from Christian or other religious-based romances (not having read either, I apologize in advance if my comment is inadvertently offensive).

    Sarah – thanks for sharing your story, I know it can’t be easy. I’m barely 4 months along with my first and already people comment condescendingly about breastfeeding. I can’t get over how much pressure there is, as if it were anyone’s business but mine and my baby’s daddy (FYI, I’m Canadian). It’s bizarre – unlike all the awful health problems some babies suffer, to breastfeed or not is (or at least should be) a relatively simple and ‘deal-able’ issues. Wanna breastfed? Great. Can’t or choose not to? Great, formula is readily available. Yet, it’s one of the things I and many expectant mothers stress out the most about.

    Personally, I’d love to see more parents of infants and newborns and, heck, even breastfeeding in a romance novel. If a man can be cool around a boob that is not exposed for his benefit, then he’s a good guy in my book. I had a friend who would whip off her shirt in front of my husband, with ample time in between the nudity and actually breastfeeding (I think she wasn’t used to having big boobs just liked not having a bra on as much as possible). Hubby never gawked or made a comment. That’s hero quality. Calling a woman a dumb b*tch? Not so much.

  39. Is it ok to post a 16-second clip from youtube?

    <iframe allowfullscreen=”” frameborder=“0” height=“315” src=“http://www.youtube.com/embed/0la5DBtOVNI&#8221; width=“420”></iframe>

  40. Jody Wallace says:

    O.o—you may think I’m goggling, but that’s what “things” were like after I had a baby prefer one breast over the other. Le sigh.

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