HOWZAT

Walking down the high street one sees lots of bottoms - from those displaying their thongs and low-cut jeans to the "builder's bum". Breasts thrust out from every newsagent's shelf. Breast-feeding involves very little exposure because the baby's head covers the breast (and far more effectively than many low-cut tops) for the vast majority of the time. So the exposure of breasts when feeding a baby seems fairly minimal compared to the vast amount of other naked flesh on view in the high street. Andrea Gleeson, Cranbrook, Kent

Breast-feeding is the best and most natural way for a mother to feed her baby, and it is an absolute disgrace that mothers are made to feel bad about doing it in public. If people are embarrassed by it then that is their problem and they will have to learn to get over it. It is a relatively new squeamishness, however. When it was the only way to feed a baby, before formula appeared, society didn't give it a second thought. In the past year my wife has been asked to go to public toilets to feed our child - as if any of us would happily eat in the loo! And this is a society which doesn’t give Page 3 a second glance! Paul Keeling, Welling

What about the slight embarrassment the mother must have for exposing her breast in public? Do the police think that women want to give the public an eyeful? Give them a little credit, please. They're only feeding their children, not bloody pole-dancing. Katie Paddock, Walsall

Indecent exposure can only be committed by men (though the definition will include a woman) intending to insult any female. Not the case here. At common law it is an offence of outraging public decency to expose the person or to engage in or to simulate a sexual act. The officer was clearly misguided in thinking that public decency had been outraged, merely on the complaint that it was so. There was and is no sexual nature in the act of breast-feeding. The police should politely inform the officer concerned to seek out this mother and apologise to her for being a fool, and to seek out the complainant and tell that person to get a life. Michael Reilly, Stafford

I don't think many people are actually offended by the sight of a breast-feeding woman. The point is more the inconsistency of the law. As an extreme example, were my girlfriend and I to start making love in the high street, I'd imagine an awful lot of complaints would ensue. But this is just as natural an act as breast feeding, and you can always look away, so what's the problem? The fact is, it does make people uncomfortable. Perhaps these mothers should think that just because something is natural, it doesn't necessarily mean it should be done in all places and at all times. Francis Williams, Guildford

Urinating is probably twice as natural as breast-feeding as both genders need to do it. Is it therefore OK for me to urinate openly in the street or should I wait to urinate in private? We are not talking about seeing women as sex objects, we are just talking about common politeness. And to Katie Paddock of Walsall, you can see dozens of pairs of exposed breasts (God help us) in any city centre on a Saturday night before the exposers are drunk - so yes, quite a few women do want to give the public an eyeful. Derek Sinclair, Dundee

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