I bet you think this song is about you, don't you, don't you, don't you

[primroseburrows]

Apparently Starbucks employees in Maryland are asking breastfeeding women to cover up or go in the restroom. And the women are fighting back!!

Here's emmagrant01's take on things: What she said.

I hate Starbucks so much.


Oh, and wtf? Why are my hands all dried out even when I've been using gloves to clean all day? Hmph.

Comments

[patchfire.livejournal.com]

Obviously you've never had a child who refuses to nurse if something is too close to his or her head.

Equally obviously, you've never faced the checkbook at the beginning of the month - when payday just came - with dread, because let me tell you? Good nursing clothes are certainly not cheap.

Not to mention - a breast was intended for feeding an infant. Not for titillating people. I'm nursing my child, not 'flashing my tit.'

[dejaspirit.livejournal.com]

You know what, I didn't post what I did to be rude to primroseburrows. I was simply giving her another perpective.

And while a breast was intended for feeding a baby, you have to admit it ain't all it's intended for - thank goodness, because I dig my tits as sexual objects as well, thankssomuch.

And if you're too poor to afford a light sheet to cover up with, then you're probably too poor to be in Starbucks in the first place. Seriously. It's one thing to fight for having breastfeeding mothers be supported - I'm BFAR so I go through GREAT LENGTHS to breastfeed - but it's another thing to get upset about not having the right to be barebreasted whereever you want just because you're breastfeeding. As far as I know, Starbucks is a private company and caters to a customer base - likely most of whom don't really want to see a bare tit staring back at them at 6am before their latte even if there is a kid attached to it. I don't. It wouldn't bother me enough to say anything about it, but, yeah, I'll fess up, it doesn't exactly make me want to order that x-tra whip cream, if you know what I mean.

[alfirin-kirinki.livejournal.com]

You know what? I hate seeing women breastfeed. Hate it. I don't care if it's natural, I don't care if you can't see anything - it just makes me cringe.

It's just a squick I have. And yes - I am a prude, I'm a Virgo rising. Can't help it.

I know that having a young baby is difficult and that when they want a feed, they want a feed, but I couldn't sit and eat - or drink - with a woman nursing a baby sitting next to me any more than I can breathe sitting next to a smoker.

I'm with you, pretty much. It would just put me off and for a cafe that's not going to be good for business.

.a.

[ceilidh]

Then I suggest YOU go eat in the bathroom.

[patchfire.livejournal.com]

Sing it, sister! ;)

[ceilidh]

I'm sick and fucking tired of people being 'grossed out' by breastfeeding and asking moms to feed their babies in a BATHROOM where they wouldn't sit and eat themselves. Hell, I bet these people wouldn't feed their PETS in a bathroom.

You may remember this story, but I was out at the mall once with my parents when Claire was about a month old - I hadn't come back from maternity leave yet - and I was sitting on a bench nursing her. I had a nursing top on - the kind that has the overlay with the slits underneath - and she was being very still/quiet/calm. No skin was showing that I was aware of, and if it was, it couldn't have been but an inch of non-nipple skin and you would have had to be looking really closely. This guy walked by and made gagging sounds and said I ought to go in the bathroom to feed my kid or 'give her a bottle like God intended'. =; My dad went OFF on the man. (I love my daddy.)

I'm glad I nursed her, because I'm positive that's the reason that even though I work in a very germy environment (school) and she goes to a daycare, she gets a cold maybe... once a year, and it's very minor. She gets sick less than I do!

[alfirin-kirinki.livejournal.com]

There's no need to be rude or petty. I'm giving my opinion, just as everyone else is. And I am a girl, too. I have a pair of (brit) 38Es to prove it.

I couldn't feed a baby in public. I wouldn't feel comfortable. It wouldn't feel right and I'd feel too self conscious.

It isn't as if I'm going to get up and complain to the mother - or the staff - if someone did, but I wouldn't feel comfortable. It obviously bothered enough of Starbucks' customers that they raised the issue. I'm obviously not alone.

.a.

[ceilidh]

I'm not being any ruder than you are when you say you're squicked by a mom feeding her child even if she isn't showing anything. I've been asked to go elsewhere when I take great pains to be discreet, and I find it very offensive.

[dejaspirit.livejournal.com]

Calli, seriously, they told her she could cover up as an option too. I'm thinking that isn't such a bad thing.

[ceilidh]

Okay, I admit I was a little rude. But... (and this is without knowing exactly what was going on with this woman in Starbucks)... I've personally been told to 'cover up' when I wasn't even showing anything. I always made sure I wore nursing shirts when I went out, I sat so that my back was usually to the main part of wherever we were (restaurant, etc), and always arranged my shirt very carefully so that I was covered up. After taking all those pains, I'm not throwing a blanket over me too especially down here in the summertime. If anyone were to actually see anything besides my baby's cheek, then they were just looking way too hard. They deserve to see a bit of boob then, IMO. ;)

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

But squicks are just that, squicks. If it squicks me to see someone eat meat, for example, nobody's going be thrown out of the baseball game for eating a hot dog. Just because it bothers you or me doesn't mean it bothers everyone.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

P.S. I'm also a Virgo rising. Coincidence, or ironic plot twist? ;)

[alfirin-kirinki.livejournal.com]

I'm Sagittarius with Virgo Rising - it's such a clash of personality types that I ended up with the Virgo on top. Straight-edge, homely, prudish, impatient...

But I get bored easily.

You end up with a Sagittarian need to travel and explore - but only as far as the rest of the country!

.a.

[alfirin-kirinki.livejournal.com]

It has obviously bothered enough people for Starbucks to view it as a problem.

.a.

[dejaspirit.livejournal.com]

Well, I wouldn't go that far. I personally don't mind seeing her brestfeed, I just don't want fully exposed breast staring me in the face. I just think common courtesy would be to cover up a little, you know?

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

And if you're too poor to afford a light sheet to cover up with, then you're probably too poor to be in Starbucks in the first place.

Yeah, but it's not just about Starbucks. Women probably aren't allowed to breastfeed in Wal-Mart, or at the post office or grocery store or DMV, either, and there are plenty of poor women who go to all those places. Breastfeeding is feeding--providing nourishment--and when my babies were hungry, I fed them. Most women who breastfeed in public don't flash their breast anyway; even non-nursing clothing can be used discreetly. If someone takes her shirt off to breastfeed, yeah, sure, tell her to stop being stupid and put it back on. But for the average woman, you have to be looking pretty close to even see a nipple when she's nursing her baby. It's not like she has to expose her entire torso, or even an entire breast. Starbucks patrons can enjoy their lattes in peace (although, bleh, their coffee SUCKS).


This is a civil liberties issue, IMO. And a feminist one.

[dejaspirit.livejournal.com]

Most women who breastfeed in public don't flash their breast anyway; even non-nursing clothing can be used discreetly. If someone takes her shirt off to breastfeed, yeah, sure, tell her to stop being stupid and put it back on. But for the average woman, you have to be looking pretty close to even see a nipple when she's nursing her baby.

I agree completely, so I must be confused. Did Starbucks ban breastfeeding in their shops - beacuse that's stupid - or ban women from exposing their breasts while doing it...two different things? I have preggo brain tpday.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

A woman was asked to cover up or go in the bathroom to breastfeed. She complained and it took weeks for a (weak, IMO) response. Here's what the original post said:

A mother was asked to breastfeed in the bathroom or cover her child with a blanket at a Maryland Starbucks store in violation of Maryland law which protects the rights of mothers to breastfeed in public. In response to a letter and the threat of public action, Starbucks has agreed to advise all Maryland store employees that Maryland law prohibits any person from limiting or restricting a mothers' right to breastfeed in public. Compliance with state law is a wonderful first step.

Unfortunately, Starbucks does not have a national policy which prevents staff from asking nursing mothers to leave, cover, move, or hide in response to a customer complaint. Instead, Starbucks' policy is that in response to a complaint about any behavior, the staff will ask the person who is being complained about to change their behavior.

[patchfire.livejournal.com]

You missed the first part of my comment if you're suggesting I want to throw a *sheet* over myself and my baby. The thing is, unless you're talking about nursing clothes, most ways of 'covering up' are going to irritate some babies... even if their mothers feel obligated to. And it's not about Starbucks. It's about the fact that sometimes babies have to eat wherever you are. Are you going to tell some woman that she's too poor to be at the Vital Records Office to file for her baby's birth certificate? Or maybe since she's poor, she just shouldn't be allowed out with that baby in public, period! Obviously, if her baby doesn't want to have a sheet over him/her, then they shouldn't be out at the library, or wherever, until they can afford something better!

And while a breast was intended for feeding a baby, you have to admit it ain't all it's intended for - thank goodness, because I dig my tits as sexual objects as well, thankssomuch.

Actually, no, I don't. I don't think that they were intended as sexual objects, because breast-as-sexual-object is a cultural construct, not a biological one.

[dejaspirit.livejournal.com]

Well, cultural or biological, tits bring sexual thoughts to lots and lots of people and all I'm saying is that I can totally see where it would make some people uncomfortable.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Breast-as-sexual-object is mostly unique to Western culture, as well.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

I was hoping you'd show up with that icon.

I've been cleaning, mom. Although it doesn't look it.

[patchfire.livejournal.com]

Tee. In between posting on LJ, right? ;)

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

I scrubbed (scrubbed, mind you) half the living room floor, rearranged some furniture, went to the bank, the pharmacy, the grocery store, and the Place What Sells Vacuum Bags. mr_t00by is helping on Sat, and tomorrow I'm doing some more cleaning before I go to NH to get him. We should be done by the time Linda gets here on Sunday.

[patchfire.livejournal.com]

How did you decide which half? ;)

My internet is being wonky. Wargh.