Aibu to want this presenter fired...

[Princess28]

I'm all for freedom of speech but I think as a radio presenter on BBC you do need to have some standards. He describes (from minutes 9-12) how breastfeeding is 'unnatural' and 'guys' don't want to see it in public. He describes a situation on a bus with a larger lady breastfeeding. He's not a rent a gob guest- he's the presenter. So aibu to want him off the airwaves?

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02y4dz4

I can see a valid comparison between pooing and the free bleeding marathon runner ( who is a bit of an idiot in my opinion) but I don't see any comparison whatsoever dr between either of those two and breast feeding.

The first two ar clearly matters of personal hygiene. BFing is not. It's quite simple, you'd have to be very dim to not understand the difference.

What an utter fanny. Shows how ignorant he is about breastfeeding. He's needing to get educated on what it's all about. I have BF DC1 and DC2 and soon going to be BFing DC3...most natural thing in the world.

I have done it in loads of public places because my baby is hungry, not to flash my bits at passing strangers.

I was talking to my DH about it this morning and relating to him some of the comments that were said and his response was, "but surely breast feeding is the most natural thing in the world?"

I'm still BF'ing my 16 month old and a few weeks ago at work I was asked by a colleague what my husband felt about me doing it. I asked what she meant and she said, "well surely he wants you to stop?". I was very confused. I told her my DH was very supportive, thought it was brilliant that I was still doing it and would never, ever dare suggest that I stop.

I don't know where this presenter has got the idea that men hate it because I have never come across such an attitude.

Well the twat has been suspended now. What a dickhead.

Hoorah for the suspension.

He is on the front page of the Daily Paper today (www.dailyecho.co.uk)
bet he loves the attention
It states there will be an enquiry and he is suspended until then.

a few weeks ago at work I was asked by a colleague what my husband felt about me doing it. I asked what she meant and she said, "well surely he wants you to stop?". I was very confused.

Do these conversations really happen? And if so, how do they come about?

I'd regard it as completely normal to breastfeed a 16 month old infant or an older one. If I was at work I'd find expressing challenging but not insurmountable.

I'd also regard it as normal to stop breastfeeding much earlier or never to start it at all.

Do people really comment on this, beyond the practicalities, because I've never come across it.

limited I work on a paediatric ward for babies/infants aged 0-2 and we have a lot of babies admitted for breast feeding difficulties and so talking about breast feeding is an everyday occurrence for me and my colleagues.

We were discussing it particular relation to myself as my other colleague is also breast feeding her DD (14 months) and we were talking about frequency of feeds and that's when another nurse joined in and made the comments about our husbands.

I've also had one colleague look at me quite disgusted when she realised I was still BF'ing and after saying "oh God no" with a scornful expression and tone she went on to do "Bitty" impersonations.

The attitudes of some people towards BF'ing are quite odd.

These attitudes and conversations do exist. I never had any issues or comments really until recently when my sister was surprised and very judgemental and disapproving when i said i had BF my newborn (13 yrs ago) in front of my FIL and even at the table during meals. But she does have a few issues about what's decent an all. Not the first or even second time she's tried to shame me for "flaunting" myself.

I've only read the OP so apologies if this discussion has moved on.

YANBU to think this idiot presenter is BU.

YABU to want him fired. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. You dont have to agree with it, but they are entitled. This includes radio personalities, tv presenters, actors, etc. You dont agree with his opinion. Thats no reason for him to be fired.

You need to RTFT Allis this is far more than just an opinion.

Sigh.
Well I would call him a cunt but he lacks both the depth and warmth of one.

Yes, you're right and I was wrong. It was bambambini's 'flaunting' statement that made me realise.

I do know of negative comments from women and men but from slightly different angles.

There are some women who feel very aggrieved about public breastfeeding and it doesn't matter what age they are. I don't understand it. I think some of them think it's some kind of feminist statement and they are protecting their menfolk from embarrassment.

IME some men are uncomfortable and embarrassed at viewing strange women's breasts and don't know where to look. But they wouldn't say anything unless pressed and then they'd say they'd prefer not to see it because it embarrasses them.

Few men would express the kind of comments Alex Dyke has done. They might think it but they don't say it - again only IME - and I maintain he's doing it for attention and is best ignored. If his employers want to offload him then that's up to them, but just because he works for the BBC doesn't mean to say we pay his wages and can demand his dismissal.

It's difficult. DH has trained himself to ignore women's breasts whether they are on the beach or feeding a baby. Many men do the same. They are just tits and it's just being polite.

But he has a shop and from time to time women with small babies come in with their husbands and from time to time the baby gets hungry.

He usually directs them to a comfortable chair downstairs where it is quiet. Sometimes women want to sit in a changing room for their own privacy. Never the toilet though.

He would have some difficulty with them breastfeeding in the main ground floor area because (a) it's a menswear shop and with the best will in the world, some men are uncomfortable with it and his need to make money overrides his feminist ideals and (b) there's more room downstairs to accommodate a large comfortable chair.

YABU. He's allowed his opinion.

YABU. He's allowed his opinion.

Sure. He's not guaranteed a publicly (or even privately) funded platform to air views that are at odds with his employers' values (or common sense, or legal protection, or basic decency) though.

I'm sure all the suspensions in the world won't affect his opinion if it's genuinely held. But lucky for him, no one's saying he shouldn't be allowed his opinion. Just that, if he decides to air it in a public way, he might be criticised for it and his employers might decide it reflects badly on them.

He should air his opinions in his own personal time, that's fine. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not when you're being paid to broadcast a show on radio. Leave that to the folk who phone in!

You don't really get the idea of radio phone-ins.

You don't really get the idea of radio phone-ins.

I'm Australian. Trust me, I get radio phone ins.

And it's perfectly possible to have an interesting, entertaining phone in without shock jock tactics. (Often you get a better one). I'd actually be happier if those were his actual, misguided and offensive opinions than if he was just making them up in a ratings-chasing attempt. Grim.

Just like any service or product of which I'm a consumer, I'll complain if I think that a line has been crossed by a representative of that service provider.

You are free to do so jassy.

It interests me that you are Australian.

I found the prank call by two Australian radio hosts which led to the death of a nurse working at a hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated puerile.

But I don't think it should have necessarily resulted in their sacking and definitely don't think it should have resulted in hysterical death threats against them.

That's as a British person who's Republican but reasonably well-disposed towards individual members of the Royal Family. I found some statements towards the Monarchy and Britain by some Australians to be crass and shocking.

But I realise they weren't representative of the Australian nation as a whole.

Today Willliam and Kate have put out a statement warning off paparazzi photographing their children George and Charlotte.

They have made it clear that British newspapers never use them but point out there is a hunger for images in foreign markets - chiefly in Australia, New Zealand, France and the US.

I think they were right to say that. I work in the industry and yes, that's the market.

Where I think they are completely fucking bonkers is adding the veiled threat that a paparazzo might be mistaken for a terrorist and taken down by a Royal Protection Officer .

I think William has watched too many episodes of 24. Sorry. No matter what you think about your mum, we don't live in Jack Bauer land.

I found the prank call by two Australian radio hosts which led to the death of a nurse working at a hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated puerile.

Indeed. You're not alone.

Getting a quarter of a century of the difference between good talk radio and the sort of idiocy you mention makes me appreciate the former all the more, and recognise that talk radio doesn't need shock jock tactics to be successful or interesting.

Unless you thought all Australian talk radio was the same?

Why is it interesting that I'm Australian, by the way?

Limited it is the Metropolitan Police making the statement re photographers being mistaken for terrorists not Prince William or Kensington Palace, perhaps you should get your facts right before criticising.

Why is it interesting that I'm Australian, by the way?

Because I thought you might be able to tell me something about that story from the perspective of an Australian.

I'm aware you don't speak for all Australians.

Some of the reporting in the UK was that Australians felt that we as a nation were overly proud of our monarchy and ought to try to get over a bit of teasing.

If that's truly how Australians thought of it, then they got it completely wrong.

But maybe the interpretation was wrong.

That's why I asked.

it is the Metropolitan Police making the statement re photographers being mistaken for terrorists not Prince William or Kensington Palace, perhaps you should get your facts right before criticising.

Is it emotionsecho?

I thought that statement came from William's office.

If it came from Scotland Yard then I think it's even more shocking.

Scotland Yard presided over the shooting dead of the innocent Jean Charles De Menezes 10 years ago.

They should be the last people to be boasting about getting trigger happy around innocent people they believe to be terrorists

'don't get the idea of a phone-in'? Maybe not, - I thought the idea of a phone-in is to spark debate, interest, thought. Not to sit behind a microphone, spouting misogynist views that basically state his right to be surrounded at all times by sweet-smelling, goodlooking people who exist to please him. And state to his callers that if they don't agree, it's because they are the lowest of the low, hairy, fat, mustacheoed, chavvy feminist librarians.

Anyone can sit and insult huge swathes of people who are not to his liking. Luckily it is actually against the law to do so.

He should be taken off the air, and a proper presenter, with intelligence, wit and sensitivity given the job. You don't need to be a knob to be a dj.

And I was jsut as appalled at the Australian DJs as anyone else.