This is just a reminder to morons and prudes that women’s breasts are designed to create and dispense milk to infants. Their function in arousing your prurient (or wholesome) interest is purely secondary.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Sigh. I think we’re actually regressing in this area. I fed four kids in various public places in the 80s and 90s and never once had a problem.
On the other hand, maybe this particular woman was equipped with super stealthy, poison dart shooting nipples and that’s why they felt endangered.
They dispense milk?!!
it’s even heated, I’m told.
Maybe the kid was a sloppy eater and the milk was spilling on the floor and there was a danger that people would slip and fall. Maybe that’s the safety issue.
Or maybe they’re just asses at Target. Someone should start a campaign against target saying that in their TV commercials you can see the flesh of women’s arms and legs.
I like the last sentence, that Target was likely to be experiencing a nurse in quite shortly.
I have to admit I saw a woman nursing on the bus a few weeks back and felt strange at first. Then I decided what the hell it is part of life’s cycle and paid no more attention.
allowing the child to partake in public without stares at the exposed mammary.
Of course, only the baby’s head is usually visible under the cloth, which makes some people stare anyway and then collect themselves.
Frankly, I just wonder about folks. It’s not like they’ve never seen a breast before. Weren’t they ever in gym? Even certain women get so exercised about seeing another woman feed the baby naturally. Some people don’t have a life unless they’re telling people how sinful and disgraceful they are acting.
It’s usually up to the rest of the world to tell these people where to step off.
I’d bet the cops were called because she is Latino and the one that called is a Fox News fan.
….breast making me uncomfortable, grumble, grumble, illegal with anchor baby, grumble, grumble, fix her wagon, grumble, grumble…..
Yeah, her surname jumped out at me too.
Harper Woods – and the various Pointes on the east side of Detroit – have never been too terribly welcoming of “others” in their neck of the woods. This (and Macomb County to the north) is where the term “Reagan Democrat” was originated…
Last line in article: The manager of the Harper Woods store told the TV station that (despite evidence to the contrary) “breast-feeding is certainly not discouraged inside of her store.”
Ya’know, the manager probably made a true statement here. I bet there’s a bench or chair near the diaper changing station inside the restroom. Generally, taking your clothes off in public is discouraged in America and many places do have laws against “indecency.” I knew of a man that got arrested for being caught taking a leak while hiding behind a bush.
Don’t misunderstand me: I nursed both of my children — in public — quite frequently but I was artful about draping a blanket around the baby and over my shoulder so no one ever noticed what I was doing. Nowadays, they have these great baby slings that easily cover the baby and the exposed boob. I wonder if Mrs. Martinez was being discreet or whether she was flagrantly violating our juvenile cultural norms. Why did the security guard even notice what she was doing?
I wish that when my husband and I are out working in the garden on a hot summer day that I could take off my shirt, too. But, I know the world is not the way it should be.
A couple of thoughts: inside a bathroom is a horrible place to have your lunch. Breastfeeding is not akin to eliminating waste from your body and simply having a bench inside a bathroom does make it a breastfeeding-friendly place.
Secondly, I doubt very much she came close to taking off her shirt to feed her infant. If she was being flagrant Target’s statement would have said so. As to why the security guard noticed she was breastfeeding….he was looking for it.
Neither of us know for certain that she didn’t partially take off her shirt. I feel fairly sure that she would not have been noticed if her breast had not be visible. I’ve been in Target with my DIL while she was nursing a baby in a sling and no one gave her a second glance.
And no, at this point, Target would not make a statement that in any way blamed someone who is, no doubt, getting ready to sue them. They probably have video of the entire incident and a civil court will decide if the guard’s reaction was unprovoked.
My whole point is: I breast-fed two children in public back in the’70’s. My DIL has breast-fed two sons in recent years and is currently breast-feeding her daughter in public. Neither one of us has ever been looked at crosswise by anyone. What made this woman’s breast-feeding different from ours? I’m guessing she was walking around with her boob hanging out because I refuse to believe that discreetly breast-feeding your baby would cause an incident.
You can have fun with this debate:
As one commenter pointed out, lots of men have bigger boobs than women do and they’re not worried for the children when they parade their hairy man-boobs around at the city pool.
And hairy man-boobs are often more frightening than a minute glimpse of female flesh that doesn’t even come close to mtv…
Or a Hooters commercial. Or a pro-football cheerleader…
I breastfed 2 babies in public, and no one ever gave me a second glance. However, I always retreated to another room when around my intolerant and prudish catholic former in-laws.
We’ll see shortly if times have changed…
I feel nursing mothers aren’t obliged to make other people comfortable. It’s not like someone is forcing them to watch.
How do you know?
If God wanted the feeding of young to be without prurient interest he’d have made us do it like birds do it.
By that same logic one could argue that a man’s penis is designed to expel waste from the body, so one should feel free to whip it out at any point to perform its natural function provided, of course, that the whipper-outer has a receptacle for his excrement.
Er, well, the survival and nourishment of another human being does not hinge on a man’s penis expelling waste.
No, but his own survival does indeed hinge on his body performing that function…
WTF? You’d think this would have come up before now …