Sadly, I don't think this inability to see the female body in it's two roles is just a guy issue. I have some female friends who have had babies and who can't watch child birth footage - they say it's gross. One left her antental classes as soon as they showed footage of child birth and never went back. I've also seen women tutting and pulling faces at other women breastfeeding discretely in public, as if the mother is scandalous for having her breast out. There are probably also women who no matter how hard they try, cannot make the mental shift needed to see your breasts change from a cleavage to a baby's food source and back again. We all conditioned differently and like the guys, don't know how we are going to react until it happens.

I think part of is that we live in such a protected society that covers up graphic images of birth and even surgery in general. We aren't used to seeing all that blood and fluid and stuff from inside. It's a shame because I'm sure there are probably many cultures in the world where we aren't conditioned to be turned off by the normal functions of the natural body and where there wouldn't be any kind of issues like these.

Not that it is an excuse for not even trying to get over the issues with help after the birth ... particuarly when the guy in the article must surely see how it tortures his wife. You'd think he'd want to do something to change his perception otherwise, won't he feel that way towards all women? We all have pretty similar bits. ;-)