I've just read this on the BBC website from yesterday:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-34974989
It's about the case of the woman who lied about being asked to leave a Primark shop because she was breastfeeding her baby, and how it may be damaging for the 'pro-breastfeeding in public' debate.
Obviously what that woman did was awful in that it was lying, wasting police time, potentially very damaging for the business and individual employee she accused etc. But I find the idea of a breastfeeding 'movement', that may or may not be damaged by what she did, really unhelpful in terms of actually getting more women to feed in public.
Is it not the case that the vast majority of women just get on with breastfeeding, discreetly and without fuss, wherever they need to? And women are discreet not because it's offensive, but because they don't want to have their entire breast on display. Even the photo on this article is misrepresentative (I feel), as the woman in the photo seems to have most of her breast exposed while feeding, something I never needed to do, nor seen anyone else do, outside of a post-natal ward. And the survey quoted that 49% of people think it's unacceptable to breastfeed on public transport. Who are the people being surveyed? I doubt the majority of people would even be aware of someone breastfeeding on a bus or a train, and why would they care if they did realise? I genuinely do not understand how anyone could have a problem with it.
Obviously there are cases where women are discriminated against for breastfeeding in public and that is unacceptable, but aibu to suggest that these cases are extremely rare and that they always seem to occur when someone is breastfeeding in what seems to me like a bit of a weird place, like the middle of a sports shop or at a swimming pool.
I don't claim to be representative of all breastfeeding mothers of course, but I breastfed my first child in all sorts of places and am currently feeding my second. I have never encountered any negative comments when breastfeeding or been aware of people finding me unacceptable etc. I would definitely give someone a piece of my mind if they did criticise me and I hope that if someone not sure about breastfeeding in public saw me feeding then they might realise it's not a big deal.
Terms like the 'breastapo' and the implication that you need to be some kind of Earth mother (whatever that is) to breastfeed in public are just ridiculous and offensive. Surely the overwhelming majority of breastfeeding women and just getting on with their lives and feeding their child, rather than being part of a 'movement'?
It's just the fact that this article is on the BBC website, as news. So, if you've read all this, AIBU for thinking this 'breastfeeding movement' and articles like this are misrepresentative of actual life and are likely to reduce the number of women who breastfeed, rather than make women feel more comfortable?
Please or to access all these features
Please
or
to access all these features
AIBU?
To think that the media massively hypes up the 'breastfeeding in public' debate and that so much discussion over breastfeeding in public is actually a bad thing?
56 replies
missmillimentscardigan · 04/12/2015 17:31
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