13 June 2007

Nanny State UK on breasts

According to the BBC soon in England it could be legal to breastfeed in public. Fine, no problem with that in public spaces like parks or on the street. However, it is also proposed that it be allowed on public transport, in shops and in cafes!! So Gordon Ramsay will have to put up with breast feeding in Claridges perhaps?
Why?
This is because some mothers fear being stopped, so they don't do it and this is a "public health" problem. Well I'm sorry, it is not a reason to pass a law that takes away property rights from shopowners, cafe owners and public transport operators?
Why doesn't a cafe owner have the right to stop a lactating mother from feeding her child? Whose bloody business is it in the first place?
^
What's next? Should it be that if I feel like a wank I can whip it out, get some relief (presumably ensuring I don't make a mess) and put it back in again? After all, it is only natural (and please religious conservatives, don't tell me it isn't, because if I don't have a sexual partner by body will do most of this on its own anyway).
^
What sort of peculiar law makes it compulsory to allow someone to carry out bodily functions on private property? Ask the Labour government, and ask the Tories why they wont stand up against this nonsense.
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It's simple, because for too many in Britain the answer to a problem is make it compulsory or ban it - kind of like the Green Party in NZ.
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Of course to be complete, I should point out I don't care if women breast feed in front of me or not, it doesn't bother me. It bothers me that if I own a shop, I couldn't set rules that say you can't do it.

4 comments:

Will said...

All they need is some signs saying "Only food purchased from this cafe may be consumed on the premises."

Anonymous said...

As long as the babies head doesn't obscure my view of the hooters I'm open to it....;-)

Seamonkey Madness said...

BITTY!!

Anonymous said...

Eeep. As a lactavist I'm quite shocked that you would be so anti breastfeeding. Sure, a cafe owner has the right say whatever, but when it infringes on someone else's rights (the baby perhaps?) it's not at all acceptable. A baby isn't an adult, or a toddler even that can be told "No, you can't eat now." Perhaps one day when you have children of your own you will understand that babies just do not work like that. It SHOULD be illegal to stop a woman from breastfeeding.

In the US as far as I know it is legal to breastfeed anywhere that a baby and a woman are allowed to be in.. because it's a basic right that a child should be fed when needed. When a woman is first breastfeeding, she must feed on demand or else her milk supply will dwindle. Now, breastfeeding is touted as being the best of nutritional value, would you really want women to stop giving their child what is best just because some ignorant shop owner finds it unacceptable to see the round of a breast in their store??

As a whole, banning women from breastfeeding anywhere doesn't just hurt that child, it hurts the mother's self esteem. It also can have a huge affect on the breastfeeding community as a whole, as well as those mother's who turn things in their head around to think that it's unacceptable to breastfeed in the first place (they are embarrassed because so and so cafe owner told them they couldn't breastfeed, so they stop breastfeeding all together.) If women aren't allowed to breastfeed anywhere it also takes breastfeeding out of everyday life which only hurts the babies that could have been breastfed. If mother's don't see other mother's breastfeeding it can damage the entire idea of breastfeeding.