Anyone else think feeding protests are freakshows??

[booomy]

I was at my local breastfeeding group last week, when this was bought up in discussion:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2168820/Gang-lactivists-cafe-protest-waitress-told-breastfeeding-mother-Don-t-come-t--again.html

My initial reaction was good for her, can't believe someone would say that to a mother bf her baby. (Still BF my 11mo DS). When I got home and read the article and saw the photos, I was actually angry. In my opinion, these women have made bf a freakshow. The total opposite of all the work going towards making breastfeeding as a normal thing to do.

There is no way that the cafe owner should of got away with what happened. However, when 200 people turn up with signs that say 'mother suckers', I don't think anyone that saw them/read the article went home and said to their friends "oh I saw a wonderful thing earlier, loads of women protesting against ill treatment of their bf friend". What they probably said was "ewwww 200 people with their boobs out!!!"

Surely if the woman had said to the owner/waitress, a response such as i'll finish feeding then leave since i;m legally allowed to. Then contacted the local press, all the people in the cafe would of seen the owners as being the unreasonable rude ones, while an innocent mother fed her baby. The press attention may not of been as big, however it would of been the positive publicity bf needs. The situation was resolved, the cafe owner now has a sign saying 'bf welcome here'. He gave out coffee and cake to everyone there so obviously was sorry for what happened and so I don't see what the point was!

As a 'normal' mum, I had preconceptions about people that bf before I was pregnant. I'm a young mum and none of my friends breastfed. I try to encourage others to bf by just acting as though it's no big deal - which it isn't. I'm not going to go to a mass protest, or reply to everyone on twitter (like other mums and my bf group do). Sorry for the rant, but I want to just be normal and by drawing uncessary attention like this is making it seem as though bf is an issue, it's not!

I'd be interested in what others think of this issue!

"we don't want the BF stereotype to be thought of as something that only the hairy leg brigade do if you will excuse the expression. "

No, I won't 'excuse the expression'.

You can't even see the women's legs on the pictures and even if some of them were hairy, so bloody what?

The pictures to me show a diverse range of women (and a few men), hairstyles, clothing, all looking cheerful and engaged (someone talked about 'aggression' before, I can't see any of that). The newspaper pics are bound to include the more 'eye catching' women - I have no problem with that. It's a good idea to wear red, as you stand out.

Why should women who support breastfeeding women have to all model themselves on someone else's idea of 'normal' to take a stand? It's normal to have dreadlocks, it's normal to have hairy legs, it's normal to have tidy hair in a pony tail, it's normal to shave your legs....showing all different sorts of women having a good time and being confident - that's a great message to get out.

I honestly don't care if some people look at a woman with dreadlocks and say 'oooh, look at her.....I could never breastfeed because I don't like her hair' (WTF???) because the wider message is the one that is louder, happier, bitterness-free and ultimately, more convincing.

i thought Reshape said red bananas.

i thought "red bananas are lovely"

the woman with the dreads (that some people are completely fixated on) isn't even the woman who was told to leave the cafe.

Kelly Schaecher is the one wearing the purple and black t-shirt and jeans. is she too a secret member of the "hairy-legged brigade"?

as tiktok said there's a broad range of people in the pictures who took part. I think it's misdirection to start claiming that the appearance of one or two people is enough to put people off bf...

BTW, i think that Emily Sinclair, the lady with the dreads looks great in that photo and it's a brilliant image to promote bf... a happy mum feeding in public with her baby.