Ahhhhhh yes. The hot debate of 2013 – to feed, or not to feed in public. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone has a right to one. It’s not my personal preference to just “whip a boob out”, but it is America, and nursing mothers have that right in 45 out of the 50 states.
I just came across the article where yet again, we have a lovely business saying NO THANKS! – this time it was Hollister, you know, that surfer store that sells surfer wear, in malls that are never remotely near a beach – and only in sizes that fit your barbie dolls? Yeah I used to fit into them when I was in high school , too!
Read the Full Article here – Hollister Nurse-In – BreastFeeding Advocates Feud with Shopping Mall Following Protest
Summary: apparently this time a Hollister manager came out and shooed away a nursing mother sitting outside the store saying she wasn’t allowed to do that on Hollister property.
Call in the “lactivists!” (I can’t take credit for that word, it actually exists and it’s hilarious). Now, not just saying this because I am a mom, but let’s be honest – if there is ONE demographic you do NOT want to blacklist from your store, it’s moms. Where do you think all those little 13 year olds are getting the money to buy your clothes? Who do you think spreads your attack on their kind faster than wildfire? And social media savvy moms? FORGET it – you might as well expect to only have hate crimes against your Yelp account for the next 3-5 years. And you wonder why there is now a mob of infants with mouthfuls of double D’s filling up your aisles, and your sales are tanking.
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As a nursing mom I have two options:
1. I take Maximo with me and must feed him where and when he is hungry or
2. I take the pump – which is a WHOLE OTHER STORY. Let me just TELL you how much I love to pump my boobs in a public restroom.
But that’s it – those two options, and if you don’t agree with either, you are saying that because I have to feed my child, I should just stay put in my home for at least 6 months to a year? Well then, let me tell you how much your sales are gonna tank when you don’t have moms shopping in your stores – EVER.
I’m just irritated because more and more you see the lack of value for family in this country. We’re literally the worst country in the world for family – from benefits, to maternity leave, to child care, to food, to breast feeding. I am not saying we should all just go and whip out our boobs in Hollister, but a private area where moms could feed in private would be nice. Either in a mall, in a restaurant, in the workplace. (No, making a mom pull a curtain around her cubicle is NOT private, it’s embarrassing). I wouldn’t offend you, and I wouldn’t feel ashamed or rushed or stressed out just to go and try and find myself a new shirt that fits my newly enlarged chest before Maximo started to cry for food again. I could catch up with other moms doing the same, and we could chat about how great it was to have a clean, private place to do so. Or pump! Now I don’t have to stand in the public restroom stall making that whomp whomp sound I KNOW you and make fun of once you leave to all your non-mom friends.
Or let me tell you how much I LOVE to approach the HUGE bouncer at the football stadium who makes me open my larger-than-allowed-inside bag only to see some sort of contraption and I get to respond, “yes, it’s a breast pump. I will be pulling my boob out – would you like to come watch?”
But it’s okay – I was you once – and now look at me – standing here, with my boob out in a stall. So one day you will be in my shoes, pumping your boobs in public, and when that day comes, I hope you forget your “shawl” at home and your child makes you “whip it out” in the middle of Hollister, too. And then he spits it up on you, and the pile of clothes your sitting on.
Oh and if you’re a male and you think you don’t ever have to worry about it? That’s why you still live in YOUR MOMS basement eating Hungry Man tv dinners every night while you play Halo. Yes, you are 35, working at Hollister and if ANYONE is still attached to the boob – it’s you.
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Moms – 1,409,890,890 Hollister – 0
The End.
LOL! I love it, and unfortunately so true! And most mothers really don’t want strangers staring at their boobs and try to cover as much as they can. I’m sure you see more skin on a billboard, cable tv, magazine covers, Facebook profile pictures….even walking down the street anymore! I say if you don’t like it, look away, because nursing mothers don’t enjoy you staring at them like they’re in some creepy peep show in Vegas! It’s so sad and horrible that “family” ranks so low in America, and we wonder why our prisons are overflowing! I just recently learned of Canada’s maternity leave LAWS, actual laws! And I was shocked!! Hmm I wonder if their low crime rate might have just “a little” to do with mothers AND fathers actually being able to be a parent without going broke from choosing to work or spend time raising a newborn???