Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Never, but never, piss off a bare-breasted woman

Stories like this just make me shake my head. When will these little chain managers learn that they're courting disaster by challenging women who breast-feed in public? Most states have right-to-breastfeed laws, and no matter what your opinion is of the current political climate in this country, we don't live in a Puritanical nation.
More than two dozen mothers staged a breastfeeding “nurse-in” at a Starbucks Corp. store in Maryland over the weekend in an effort to get the world’s largest coffee shop chain to adopt a policy allowing breastfeeding in all its U.S. stores.

Lorig Charkoudian, who organized the event, said on Tuesday that she began her quest a month ago when she was nursing her 15-month-old daughter at the store in Silver Spring, Md., and was asked by a Starbucks employee to cover up with a blanket or breastfeed in the bathroom.

During the ongoing stink, of course, Starbucks refused to acknowledge that Maryland has a law that allows mothers to breastfeed in public. Isn't this kind of nonsense what corporations pay their lawyers for? To avoid these kinds of embarrassing public hijinks?

Just the other week my wife's circle of friends was discussing a woman who'd been invited to a playgroup. Said woman began complaining about women who breastfeed--formula's "good enough" and in general making disparaging comments towards breastfeeding in general. One took her aside and confided, "You realize this is a La Leche League playgroup, right?" Blank stare. "La Leche is an international breastfeeding advocacy group." I wish I could've been there to see that penny drop!

So take this as a lesson kids, whether you grow up to manage a Burger King, McDonald's, Texaco or Wal-Mart, don't cross a woman who's breastfeeding. You'll regret it.

Blames goes to Jaquandor for putting me onto this one...

Now Playing: Christopher Franke Babylon 5

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