'Lactivists' Taking Their Cause, and Their Babies, to the Streets

[BrklynLiberal]

The calls for a "nurse-in" began on the Internet mere moments after Barbara Walters uttered a negative remark about public breast-feeding on her ABC talk show, "The View."

The protest, inspired by similar events organized by a growing group of unlikely activists nationwide in the last year, brought about 200 women to ABC's headquarters yesterday. They stood nursing their babies in the unmistakably public venue of Columbus Avenue and West 67th Street. They held signs reading, "Shame on View," and "Babies are born to be breastfed." Ms. Walters, who remarked a few weeks ago on the show that the sight of a woman breast-feeding on an airplane next to her had made her uncomfortable, said through a spokesman that "it was a particular circumstance and we are surprised that it warrants a protest."

But the rally at ABC is only the most visible example of a recent wave of "lactivism." Prodded by mothers who say they are tired of being asked to adjourn to the bathroom while nursing in a public space, six states have recently passed laws giving a woman the right to breast-feed wherever she "is otherwise authorized to be."

An Ohio bill saying a woman is "entitled to breast-feed her baby in any place of public accommodation" passed last month over the objection of one representative who wanted to exempt businesses from liability for accidents caused by "spillage."
<snip>

more ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/nyregion/07nurse.html

[Demit]

1. If I see a woman breastfeeding, my instinct would be to look away.

Because it seems like an intimate act. In any case, I don't feel like watching. So I wouldn't. I wonder would this classify as a "dirty look" to the woman in the article who says "I have the right to breast-feed my child without getting nasty looks"--?

I suppose it would be annoying to a breastfeeding woman to have bystanders making loud commentary about it--like the guy in the airplane--but I wonder how often this happens if the woman is making an effort to be discreet? Like laying a cloth over her breast? Are these women making any effort to be discreet or are they being kind of exhibitionist to make a point? Like, they should get points for being nursing mothers, and be excused from a normal consideration of other people's point of view when they're in public?

To me, it's a matter of discretion, and consideration--on everybody's part.

[China_cat]

2. Why do people ooh and aaah

over pictures of kittens and puppies nursing from their mothers but want to lynch human females for the same action?

[ozarklib]

3. People seem to forget

that the primary purpose of breasts is to feed babies, not to be a sex object. Why should any woman have to hide the fact that she is feeding her baby? If more women did it openly, there would be less squeamishness about it.

[noamnety]

4. "family values" strike again

I can't imagine being so offended by the sight of a breast that I would rather have a baby go hungry than risk being exposed to a nipple.

[Chovexani]

5. Sad that this is necessary

Even sadder that so many people seem to equate the act of a woman nourishing her child to urination and defecation (the result being nursing mothers being banished to public restrooms).

Once upon a time, the Mother was worshipped. Now she is equated with excrement, in the name of "family values". How ironic, considering many of these anti-woman prudes base their beliefs on a religion which co-opted the old Mother-and-Child statues of Isis and Horus.

What a sad commentary on our society.

[SarahB]

11. Bingo!

People are extrodinarily f*cked up over something so simple and basic. :eyes:

[Mauvtaw]

6. Thoughts

Some of the interviews made me think a lot of these moms feel the only reason people oppose public breastfeeding is out of malevolence. Personally, I'm just uncomfortable around it, plain and simple. Not sure why ... I think I'm with that other guy in that it seems like an intimate act, to me.

Also, I think that most people who ARE uncomfortable around it don't advertise it, and the ones that do are really a minority in the situation and they know as well as I do that that minority exists wherever you go.

What are they hoping to achieve by protesting outside of ABC? Seems like a bunch of bored moms overreacting for the sake of attention.

[Bunny]

7. It is astounding to me that, in this day and age, breast feeding

can still be a controversial subject.

I don't understand the resistance to women breast feeding publicly. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, big fucking deal. Get over yourself. To equate it with urination or defecation is despicable, as well as incredibly ignorant.

I also don't understand why this is a divisive topic among women. Some breast feed, some don't. Most end up with healthy babies. What's the problem? It kind of reminds me of the wars between "working mothers" and "full-time mothers".

[Mauvtaw]

8. more thoughts.

I understand where you're coming from but for me it's kind of hard to just get over it. I'm not someone who advertises my discomfort about it in the situation and I'd never support laws that made it illegal to breastfeed in public. Nonetheless, I'm still uncomfortable if I'm ever in the situation where someone is doing it around me. Honestly, though, I don't harbor any negative feelings towards the woman, I just feel awkward. No big deal there.

I think that's about as much as Barbara Walters was trying to communicate and it's unfortunate she's going to catch hell from the lactivists with too much time on their hands because she stated what really was just a harmless opinion.

[WildClarySage]

9. If you're uncomfortable around breastfeeding,

get your butt up and walk away. This is as natural an act as breathing and the only one with an issue is you. My baby's need for the best nutrition on demand far and away outweighs your squeamishness.

I sincerely want to welcome you to DU, but be warned: this is one issue that really cheeses my danish, being that I'm a pregnant mom. Every time I go to my dr's office for a checkup, I'm bombarded by advertisments from Enfamil, Nestle Good Start, and all the other formula companies. It really does feel like breastfeeding is under attack. When family members found out I am planning to bf this baby, some of them tried to talk me out of it, based, presumably, on their own squeamishness. I know a woman at work who is also pregnant and is not planning to do what's best for her child, even though her 5yr old son has several health issues that could have been prevented by being breastfed- if you think "lactivists" have too much time on their hands, think again. A baby's first foods are critical for their optimum development, and mine is not going to be cheated out of getting the best because of someone else's discomfort. If that makes me a lactivist, because I don't want anyone's baby settling for second best, then so be it.

[Mauvtaw]

10. I was implying that ...

I'm not going to hold my discomfort against the mother or her child; the awkwardness *is* my problem. It would be silly to think otherwise. Hence, I don't support the movement that would make the natural act public breastfeeding illegal. I was sharing my thoughts not to oppose you but just to make you aware that discomfort doesn't necessarily make me one of the enemy ... I guess it's a hard position to hold without seeming like I am the enemy, however, I assure you I'm not.

I wouldn't take Nestle's junk mail too personally. I get Viagra mail all the time and I'm only 19.

And what I meant by having 'too much time on their hands' in regards to the lactivists .. is that a few of these people have been standing outside ABC protesting for the past week. Don't they have to work? (save the ones on maternity leave) and secondly, what's ABC going to do to change the circumstance? If they're going to take the time to protest, they'd be better off if they spent their time lobbying a place that actually influences the law in places where breastfeeding has been forced to stay behind closed doors (which, again, is something I don't support.)

Thanks for the welcome! :3


EDIT: I just want it to be clear that I'm not the guy who says rude things or makes rude faces at the mother and child pair. I dont shift awkwardly in my chair or stop what I'm doing and leave. The urge to do those things never crosses my mind.

[fleabert]

12. a gentle fyi...

Nestle's junk mail is not innocuous, the company makes every attempt to supplant breastfeeding with an inferior product here and in every country on the planet, third world countries included. They give samples of formula to very poor women, telling them it is more 'modern' than breastfeeding, and better too. Then abandons them after their milk supply is gone (it's supply and demand, baby doesn't nurse, no milk is made), and the water supply is tainted (water is half the ingredient in formula). Babies die.

and here, they give huge incentives to nurses and hospitals to push their product. Like thousands of dollars in bonuses to the nurse who gives out the most samples, and $10,000.00 bonuses to the hospital if they solely push their formula over other brands as the 'recommended' formula. (i.e. say theirs is better than another brand and implied that it is better than breastfeeding.) It took legal action to make formula companies stop saying formula was better than or equal to breastfeeding, in other words, to stop lying.

studies have shown that women who are given samples of formula in the hospital are much more likely to stop breastfeeding earlier than ones who are not. Nurses who are incentivised to give out formula are less likely to help women who wish to solely breastfeeding, since they do not need or want the samples. It is a multi-billion dollar industry, same as viagra, but viagra is not targeted at infants.

snip-->"Nestle violates the WHO Code more often than any of its competitors, although scant regard is shown by most other companies. Nestle is not willing to end the marketing practice of providing free samples of formula to hospitals and maternities unless forced to do so by law. Free sampling is the single most effective marketing tactic of infant formula companies since it interferes with lactation, establishes brand loyalty (93 %), and attaches medical endorsement to the product."

http://www.lalecheleague.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVJanFeb92p5.html
a more recent source:
http://www.infactcanada.ca/The%20Nestle%20Boycott.pdf
http://www.infactcanada.ca/Breastfeeding%20Protection%20and%20the%20International%20Code%20(print%20format).pdf
from:http://www.infactcanada.ca/FactSheets.htm
and...on the subject of the nurse in and the women attending. If they are nursing infants, most likely they are stay at home moms, or are on maternity leave (as you mentioned), or perhaps they took a day off to stand up for something they believe is important. There are NO laws in place that restrict breastfeeding in public, there are only some laws that state implicitly that a woman and baby may nurse in public.

snip-->The purpose of legislation is to clarify that it is legal, and to change society's attitudes about breastfeeding. As a general rule of thumb, if you have a right to be somewhere with your baby, and you can feed your baby a bottle, then certainly you have the right to breastfeed.

snip-->Not all breastfeeding legislation is positive. Any legislation that restricts or takes away the right to breastfeed should not be supported, and if it has already been enacted, steps should be taken to amend the statute taking out the restriction. For instance, Georgia and Missouri enacted laws trying to support breastfeeding mothers in public, but put restrictions on it requiring the mother to be discreet. This comes from a misconception that if discretion is not required, that there will be problems with women exposing themselves. Yet, the purpose of legislation is to try to change these outdated views about breastfeeding, and encourage more women to make this healthy choice. Thus, such language has a chilling effect on mothers, and is not encouragement, and would authorize anyone who didn't think it was discreet enough to throw the mother out. This is why many of the states provided that a woman has a right to breastfeed even if there is exposure during or incidental to breastfeeding. Recognizing this, Georgia has submitted a bill that would delete this restrictive language.

http://www.lalecheleague.org/Law/Bills5.html

this is an important issue for me...and I am passionate about it. I don't want you to feel ganged up on, but thought you might appreciate some information that isn't readily available in the mainstream media.

peace.

[MountainLaurel]

13. Thanks for that info flea

I have an almost five-month-old niece, and seeing photos of her as a newborn with a bottle in her mouth upset me to no end.

[fleabert]

14. i know how you feel...

I have been in the same situation many times. Usually it is because women and families do not receive the support and information necessary to make breastfeeding successful. Although other times that is not the case and formula feeding is the best option for that family, it's hard to be on the outside looking in and not know how to support and encourage without seeming judgemental of that choice, but we (breastfeeding supporters and activists) must be aware and sensitive to the difficulties that new moms and families face. It's the only way to challenge and change the status quo without coming off as militant and off-putting.

I try to just be supportive of their choices, and help educate in as gentle a way as possible. A majority of women, if the formula companies were left out of the equation, and independent lactation consultants were affordable and accessible to all, would do just fine breastfeeding. Unfortunatly, that is not the case, and many women who would like to breastfeed find it difficult in the beginning, and don't see a way to make it work. There are many obstacles, we just have to keep jumping over them.

[SarahB]

15. Boycott Nestle (been doing it for years)!!!

Wonderful post!!!! :thumbsup:

[PA Mamma]

16. Just glad to see...

this thread - Must have missed it while I was "away".

[tigereye]

17. missed it too!

glad to see they went out! I like the idea of a feed-in, or whatever!

Have never understood why this is an issue for people in this day and age.