Letters to the Editor
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@fetboy
You agree with everything I say
Have. You. Read. A. Single. Thing. I've. Written. In. This. Entire. Friggin'. Thread?!
Either you're incapable of understanding what I wrote previously, or you're just being a dick, by ignoring my statements, pretending that we agree on everything, and then professing surprise and hurt that I continue to "attack" you for no reason when we agree on everything!
Hmm...let's see:
A) Imbecile
B) Dick
Tough one, but based on the limited evidence of brainwave activity I detected in your previous posts, I'll have to go with option B.
Finally, how dare you call me a filthy pig in reference to my comment that in some RARE cases it is not harassment to ask a nursing mother to be more discreet or move if she's truly being disruptive. What I had in mind was precisely the type of situation that the dude from New Mexico outlined many pages ago (you know, the museum example that I SPECIFICALLY referred to before when discussing this very point). Either you chose to ignore that to score a cheap point (not surprising, you've done that before) or the point didn't sink in (also a possibility, as logical arguments seem to go over your head). Or perhaps you think that a mother's rights are absolute and unlimited and trump those of everyone else in all circumstances? Sorry, no dice. Nursing mothers should be given wide latitude in public, but they can't just do whatever they please, whenever they please, wherever they please, everyone else be damned.
That's it, I'm through with you. You're a waste of my time and energy. Talk about being irrelevant to the discussion! You have nothing important or intelligent to contribute, merely sloppy thinking, idle speculation, lazy generalizations, and supercilious digs at men. Oh, and smug self-righteousness.
Do others at this site actually consider you a strong thinker with important things to say? What. A. Joke. You give male feminists a bad name.
But I think I get it now...your ideas that men harass breastfeeding mothers to cover for their own feelings of inadequacy (at not being capable of childbirth and nursing) and envy (at wanting to suck on the breast in question in place of the infant) are derived from YOUR OWN FEELINGS WHEN YOU SEE BREASTFEEDING MOTHERS! Of course! It's so simple and sensible, how could I have missed it before?! YOU'RE the real pervert, who gets a hard-on whenever you see a breastfeeding mother as you fantasize about working on that breast yourself, while feeling bitterness that YOUR belly didn't swell with new life in it! To cover your own inappropriate and discomforting feelings, you go over the top in playing the sensitive considerate male feminist hero, while projecting your own shortcomings onto other men as a category. Classic projection! Of course!
Sorry to expose your M.O. as the transparent, pathetic fraud that it is, but it needed to be said. FETBOY IS EXPOSED!!! FETBOY GETS HOT UNDER THE COLLAR FOR NURSING MOTHERS!! Spread the word, everyone!
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Well I am only about 25% Libertarian,
but I am still not going to interfere between a breastfeeding mother and her baby. That seems like such a no-brainer.
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To clarify...
I don't have a problem with most women doing this anywhere. I only have a problem with somebody who's just trying to get attention, and the way that behavior is part of the baby/mother-obsessed parts of our society.
In other news, why does our species have to continue to exist?
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@Badreligion
" I only have a problem with somebody who's just trying to get attention,"
Well, yeah, I get annoyed by anyone who needs the spotlight. How can you tell which nursing mom is "legit" and which isn't?
"and the way that behavior is part of the baby/mother-obsessed parts of our society."
I also get annoyed at the Cult of Motherhood that seems a direct repeat of Victorian ideals, with SUVs, soccer practice, and manicures.
But one needn't be a Member of the Cult to breastfeed, in public or elsewhere. Sometimes a boob is just a boob, not a Symbol of Cultdom. Can we give the non-cult moms a break?
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"Lactavists" annoy me (and I'm a woman)
We get it, you need to nurse. Discreetly nursing in public is fine. But I frankly agree with Bill, many of these lactavists want us to beam and their purity and strength and beauty: there is a degree of narcissism about how this is expressed in America. It is not like life in the bush in Africa. The context is different there. And women in cultures who live au nauturel are different. I don't see those women making a big spectacle of themselves. More often they are doing two things at once, i.e. nursing and cooking, nursing and working. It's blase, not "lactation pride." No one is saying banish them.
They push things too far all the time. They hector and badger and pressure women who don't breast feed or only breast feed for a short time...because non-breast feeding women are evil! They aren't passing on their immunities! Their children will get sick and die! It's insane. Millions, no, billions of strong, healthy children weren't breast-fed. They thrive. So do kids who are breast-fed. Let's just get over this can't we?
And can't we stop scrutinizing comics more than politicians? Don Imus, then Kathy Griffin, now Bill. It's a shame.
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Domini, that's not entirely accurate
Southwest did not "ask" the young lady to change clothes. They stated that that she would have to de-board the plane due to her "unnaceptable" appearance and would have to try and arrange a later flight. I saw her in the outfit she had worn on the plane and it certainly wasn't the tramp costume you implied it to be. As someone who has had to do a fair amount of air travel on a carrier with a stated dress code, I've seen way, way worse. I've also had to fly on Southwest and after having to put up with the odor of some of it's frequent customers, I'd suggest they might want to put a sock in it when it comes to judging the difference between what is and isn't appropriate because clearly they don't have a clue. Any and every frequent flyer will tell you that a baby crying constantly from departure to landing is a million times more of a pain in the ass than some co-ed in a skirt could ever be.
Defending the Applebee's manager does not make those here who choose to do so "anti-mother" or "anti-breastfeeding" or any other label some here keep obsessively trying to tag others who's views they don't like. A restaurant might be a public place, but that doesn't make it the exact same thing as the library, museum, city hall, or the local park with the swings and monkey bars. The manager has a business to think about and if enough customers get turned off enough by something they don't want to see they may start going elsewhere. It's no secret to anybody who's set foot into an Applebee's that it's themes don't exactly revolve around a family type setting. The patrons are usually the working business crowd at lunch and the younger single crowd into evenings. These are the groups that places like Applebee's, Buffalo Wild Wings and many other chains are competing the hardest for and it's obvious they want the atmosphere geared towards what those groups prefer. When it comes to risking the patronage of the core customer base, managers are naturally going to take steps to steer things in a direction to minimize alienating that base. The manager may not only be worried about other customers complaining. He/she has to convey to customers that some action will be taken or face the possibility that customers will walk out and worse, not come back again.
Breastfeeding moms, welcome to the world of being in a put-down minority group. There's plenty of folks out there with just as or more righteous of causes as yours that have thier rights trampled in a consumer-driven culture that more than a fair share of you helped to create as much as others who's views you disdain. Sorry, but on the list of 1000 of the greatest injustices done to the common good of society this ranks way below things like blacks being cheated out of voting in Ohio, setting up torture chambers in Guantanamo, or a president claiming he has the right to lock someone up without charges brought and no right to an attorney. You don't like the way Applebee's treated one of your group, then you can always take your business elsewhere. It's not the only restaurant in town by any means. You have others places to eat to choose from. There's plenty of people out there with no choices whatsoever who endure way more suffering than what your dealing with. I'd say they come first.