Is a small aspect of it consumerism and capitalism? Some smart manufacturers created/amplified a need that satisfied the very real modesty that exists in our culture and perhaps slightly created some modesty where prior it didn't exist? Sort of "Hey look at this. I could use one of these." Make em all cute and sell them to the same folks who like lululemon?

Hi Brian, No doubt -- I fear this item is now considered a "must have" for the baby registry...It does seem like baby gear offerings have ballooned in recent years. But - I distinctly remember the baby wipe warmer (not a necessity if you ask me) on the market 10 years ago. What happened in the past 10 years that presented the Hooter Hider with a market?

But Brian -- Lululemon's version would be see-through.

Is this what journalism has degraded to ? Shifting our focus from what deserves attention to what does not ?

Why is PA Online publishing such rubbish ? And why am I even reading this ?

Hi another mother - I'm not a journalist, rather a mommy blogger. Feel free to check out some of my other posts about parenting if the debate about the booby burqa isn't up your alley.

Women have been covering up for as long as blankets have been around, and there are more reasons than modesty. I loved using my Hooter Hider with my first. When we were in public, he would get distracted by all the people and noises and sights and using the Hooter Hider was great because it let him focus on the task at hand. It works better than a blanket because it has the neck strap, so I never had to worry about it falling out of place or covering his airflow too much. Once he got a little older and more efficient at nursing, we stopped using the cover in public.

P.S. You say you aren\'t judgmental, but you kind of are.

Hi MV Mom - my babes are at that age where they are very curious about the world around them, which makes nursing in public a little tricky. I understand your point. I've also heard another good use for having breastfeeding covers is being able to pump in the car during the commute to and from work - who knows, I may need to purchase one for that purpose myself!

Living in/around Palo Alto can result in losing perspective on issues. Meaning a mommy blogger in E.Palo Alto or Oakland would be blogging about something else.

Hopefully, you will grow out of this "boorqa" phase soon, I wish you well.

And I do wish PA Online would use more discretion when they publish something.

As a father here in Oakland, I can tell you that the booby burqas do make appearances -- but I'd say more often than not, moms (including my wife) are perfectly comfortable feeding in public without them.

With no deliberate effort on my part, I have run into nursing mothers on four continents and I must say that this really sounds like a first-world, privileged white person "controversy" that is highly tied to genteel upper-middle class America.

Concerning Jessica T's efforts to discreetly nurse in public, I wholeheartedly support her, since that's basically what the MAJORITY OF THE REST OF THE WORLD DOES.

Jessica T is a blogger, not an MV Voice staff writer.

To people complaining about journalism, etc., *TRUE* journalism died in the mid-Nineties. Basically when the NY Times focused more on Hillary Clinton's hairstyle than her politics, it was *OVER*.

If you want to gripe about mass media writing quality in 2013, you are two decades too late. That sort of stuff died with William F. Buckley, Jr., George Plimpton, Herb Caen, and others of that generation.

Even George F. Will hasn't written a decent paragraph (other than about baseball) for twenty years.

Sorry about that.

I agree with another mother. Enough is enough. This topic is exhausted. And being a "mommy" blogger? Please Jessica you are a google manager. Talk about something besides breastfeeding I beg you. There are homeless mothers with children in Palo Alto. There are working mothers who are desperate for solutions at work and home . There are stay home mothers who have an epidemic of depression. There a single mothers and their problems are not how to nurse without showing nipple. I really tried to support this and I do support nursing but please stop. If you want to write about sexism please there is so much more territory to cover . Sexual harassment in the workplace, sexual assault on college campuses , sex trafficking. Porn on the Internet. Philippine typhoon aid. Please please I beg you move on. And please don't say just not to read your blog. That is not a serious answer. What are you writing a blog intended only to be read by those who never tire of hearing about nursing covers ? The " I never bore of the nursing cover story" demographic which is by the way turning creepy with the transparent thing. Please merciful Jesus find another obsession.

@Change the channel

You left me speechless, thank you!

This blog has become a train wreck. Much as I hate to give it more page views, I can't help but take a look, probably because there are some worthwhile and insightful comments.

This isn't the worst-written feature being promoted by the news syndicate, but it is the most insipid in-your-face one. It fails on so many levels, and it's starting to feel like booby porn, thus inducing nausea in readers who might otherwise be sympathetic to the writer's objectives.

Enough with the judgmental trivia. The writer should get over herself and address something that really matters or get off this website. Too many electrons have perished in vain.

Dear Readers,

You tell me you have tired of breastfeeding as a topic. Alas - it is a passion of mine, but I hear you, and I will give this topic a rest (for a few weeks). Though I am a manager at Google, Inc., these are my personal views (not those of my employer) - please see the note in my blog description.

I really like the suggestions on human rights pieces, but I am blogging about a variety of topics as they relate to my interests and experiences as a working mom. There are unfortunately a lot of topics I won't be able to address due to my own limitations as a writer and for the purposes of privacy - for that I do apologize. But I encourage you to stay with me - this blog will be a journey for all of us.

Nursing is important but I think you have exhausted the potential of the hooter hider.

Please re-read my post more carefully. I suggested the following: "There are homeless mothers with children in Palo Alto. There are working mothers who are desperate for solutions at work and home . There are stay home mothers who have an epidemic of depression. There a single mothers and their problems are not how to nurse without showing nipple. I really tried to support this and I do support nursing but please stop. If you want to write about sexism please there is so much more territory to cover . Sexual harassment in the workplace, sexual assault on college campuses , sex trafficking. Porn on the Internet. Philippine typhoon aid."

The only one of these that is international is the typhoon and that was thrown in for humor. However, you could certainly write a nice post about how to talk to your 10 year old about suffering in the world and the loss of life and how you can donate to unicef to help others. it's the holidays so that's not ridiculous. So there is no list of international human rights topics. Just one, about charitable giving.

Really, the list is supposed to be consonant with your interests: sexism, motherhood, working moms, etc. You said you are a mommy blogger. I think that is a ridiculous way to describe yourself since you are a tech manager at the number 1 US corporation. But since you want to be a "mommy" blogger -- ok, write about something about being a mommy in some way other than about using or not using a nursing cover. Write about the homeless families of palo alto and how it is hard to remember what it must be like for them in the midst of all this money. Write about single moms. Write about single mothers. Write about anything about being a mother other than the hooter hider.

You are also interested in feminism which is your professed basis for regaling us with the hooter hider story 3 times. How about anything else about sexism? There's more to it, believe me, and I don't think the hooter hider is necessarily the correct lens through which to view sexism in modern America, at least not three times.

I think the message from the stands is that we want to support you but please find another topic.

Have been reading most of these posts with amusement.

The American idea to hide breastfeeding mothers from view has always amused non-American breastfeeding mothers. Even the phrase "nursing" is peculiar to North America as in the rest of the world nursing tends to be what happens by nurses in hospital or by someone looking after the sick. A nursing mother in most other countries just means a mother who has a young infant regardless of whether the said infant is breast fed or bottle fed.

Anyway, my real purpose for commenting is rally that this is just a marketing ploy by some individual who sat at a sewing machine one day and invented a piece of fabric for the purpose. Back in my day (doesn't feel that long ago) most mothers wishing to be discreet as they breastfed just quietly moved into a corner to do it and if necessary used a baby blanket draped around the baby's face and mother's exposed flesh - if indeed there is any exposed flesh. The fact that a purpose designed piece of fabric is now on anybody's must have list is rather OTT.

Personally, I find it offensive that someone is busy body enough to think its appropriate to have any thought or opinion, and certainly to express to others that they have an opinion, about what other mothers do or do not do with breast feeding their children. What they wear or do not wear? Come On. Really? Its absolutely none of your business whether, how, when, or why a person is (or is not) breastfeeding. I find it amazing that you'd have the nerve to write a post expressing that you are so judgmental that you sit around not only musing over this type of thing, but have the nerve to go question a group of women on the topic. Again, just falls in the category of just SO none of your business. I can tell you if you or your husband ever approached me to ask me questions I'd probably slap you across the face, or read you the riot act so emphatically that you'd come away with a rash as IF I has slapped you across the face. Because its as insulting as if as if you had grabbed my boob.

Hmm, I think I might delete that one. It's violent.

Try decaf, Mom of 3.

Not only is this subject covered superficially, but that the author uses terms like boobies and hooters rather than breasts indicates her disrespect for women's bodies and her buy-in to the cheap male popular culture. Breasts as playthings, not a serious part of our bodies.
Not surprising that so many men have posted here.
Also, she identifies a woman by her hair color, as a "brunette."
I think it's time to learn to identify with your own gender and not look at women through the male gaze.

Gentle readers,

I don't condone violence of any kind nor the degradation of women's bodies. To be fair, I use the word "hooter" for womens' breasts only because Hooter Hider is a common term for a breastfeeding cover. And I agree, it's a pretty tasteless moniker. I did coin the term "booby burqa" (as far as I know), and it's meant to be tongue and cheek.

I couldn't be more delighted to have male readers as well as women readers. I think their comments add a unique perspective and some appreciable levity to the discussion. My take? There is plenty of room for all of us under the big tent of feminism.

Score one for team Anti-Burqa: Web Link

JJ Wednesday - I think the photo of Gisele grants me leave to post just one more time about the Booby Burqa, don't you?