Oh Lordy, It’s A Nipple!
Politically Correct?, Bad Parenting Award, Laws Gone Too Far
Let’s talk about one of my favorite subjects - breasts. The breast is one of God’s greatest creations, at least from two points of view: a man’s and a baby’s. But BentSense isn’t an R-rated blog, so you probably guessed already that this is going to be a story about breast-feeding. Well, actually, it’s going to be a story about a woman’s right to breast-feed her infant in public, and the public’s right to ask for some measure of propriety during the event.
Our tale of suckling begins inside an Applebee’s restaurant in Kentucky. It was there, just after the family placed their order for adult food, that Brooke Ryan’s 7-month old son, Michael, decided he would like an appetizer. Brooke did what has come naturally to women since, well, since there’s been women; she connected the hungry tyke to her lactating mammary. And, according to Mrs. Ryan and her lawyer, she did so very discreetly.
Now, whether she was discreet or not, two things here bother me. One, that her lawyer is involved, and two, that she did not come prepared with a ready-made bottle for her son, as any infant’s mother who was going out to a restaurant would.
Sounds to me like Brooke Ryan had an agenda. And Applebee’s fell right into her trap.
A few moments after she started to breast-feed her infant, a waitress approached Mrs. Ryan and asked her to cover herself and the baby with a blanket. Mrs. Ryan refused, stating it was her right to breast-feed, and even going so far as to whip out a pamphlet citing the relevant Kentucky law. The restaurant manager got involved, citing that they did not intend to deny her her right to breast-feed, but that a customer had complained about the woman’s exposed breast, and it certainly would be courteous if she showed a little modesty.
Ryan, said she did not have a blanket with her. I guess maybe she didn’t have a burp cloth either and the restaurant must have been out of cloth napkins. Either way, Ryan huffed out and her lawyer wrote a stern letter to Applebee’s. Two stern letters. Applebee’s replied by stating they would look into supplying their locations with blankets so breast-feeding customers could cover up a bit, you know, just in case another patron doesn’t want to explain to his or her own child over lunch why that woman over there is showing her breast.
And then, it gets absurd…
Mrs. Ryan compares herself to civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks:
“That’s like telling Rosa Parks she still had to sit in the back of the bus, but we’ll give her a blanket to make her more comfortable.”
Oh no she didn’t?!?!?!
Oh yes she did!
Now, I am not against breast-feeding. In fact, I am advocate of it as the best way to provide nutrients and sustenance to an infant. And I certainly do think a woman should have the right to breast-feed her child wherever they are. There are certainly times when the little one will get hungry and you find yourself without a pre-made bottle - even though simple breast pumps are not that expensive and millions of moms have shown that it’s possible to be prepared for any event.
But I also support the public’s right not to have to watch your business. Shaving is natural, but you don’t see me doing it at IHOP while I’m waiting for my biscuits and gravy. You don’t want to see it, and I don’t want you to see it.
Granted, other people could just avert their eyes, though I suppose that would be extremely difficult if somebody was doing their stuff directly in your natural line of sight. The complainer in this instance could have been a nosey prude, or it may have been somebody who couldn’t lift their head from their plate of food without seeing little Michael sucking on his mother nipple.
No, in this instance, Mrs. Brooke Ryan had a plan. She planned to become the poster woman for breast-feeding rights. Well, I hope instead that she becomes the poster lady for patron’s rights, and for what happens when you go looking for a fight with your baby and your lawyer in tow. It’s time people stopped looking to get rich and famous by exploiting the letter or the loopholes of the law.
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TheWriteJerry @ August 30, 2007
Okay just to play breast advocate, “you find yourself without a pre-made bottle - even though simple breast pumps are not that expensive and millions of moms have shown that it’s possible to be prepared for any event” ignores the fact that many mothers don’t want to use even pumped breast milk in a bottle as it can cause “nipple confusion”. I don’t have a problem with mom’s breast feeding in public. I think we’ve over-sexualized the breast in America. If a child sees a breast under these circumstances it shouldn’t scar them and the parent should have to say nothing more that “They’re feeding their baby.” If seeing a mother breast feeding causes you stress then you have issues.
Having said that, the mom comparing herself to Rosa is more than a little OTT. No doubt she had an agenda. I don’t think it would have been too much to ask her to carry a coverup. My wife did and in a pinch she would even feed under her shirt.
How interesting that we exploit the breast thousands of times a day in advertisements, but are offended at the sight of a woman nursing
her infant. How gallant of society to grant that child the “right” to nourishment, how ridiculously immature that we still find the act of feeding that child so offense (damned Puritans!) that our children need an explanation should they (oh, no!) glimpse the “act”.
And please, let’s leave Rosa out of this.
I love breasts. Mommies, do what you must. That is all.
You know, I normally would hear about this sort of thing, and wonder why people go crazy just because someone is breast-feeding. I’ve known a number of women who refuse to feed their baby from a bottle, even their own pumped milk. Fine. And if they’re going to breast-feed, I’m mostly opposed to making them cover up just for someone else’s delicate sensibilities. But anyone who pulls out “I don’t have a blanket” when there’s likely other options than a literal blanket - who then pulls out a pamphlet, and a lawyer, and a comparison to Rosa Parks - really needs to shut the hell up, ’cause by that point it’s pretty obvious that there was a goal in mind here when she lifted her shirt.
“even though simple breast pumps are not that expensive and millions of moms have shown that it’s possible to be prepared for any event.”
You’ve obviously never used one of those “simple” breast pumps, eh? Besides the reasons already mentioned by others… those damn things hurt! The don’t always work… some women just don’t produce enough extra milk.
I completely agree with the comment above about how we exploit breasts every single day on tv, in movies, etc. You don’t hear people in an uproar over that… but God forbid a woman feed her child what is good for him/her, rather than what is convenient for someone who (gasp) doesn’t wanna see that child eat!
No one here is looking to deny a woman the right to breast feed her child where and when it is necessary. But a little discretion and decorum is not too much to ask. Brooke Ryan had an agenda; it really seems given the planning that went into her attack on Applebee’s - and her self-righteous comparison of herself to Rosa Parks - that she cared little for her child’s needs and a whole lot about her own ego.