I'll apologize in advance if there was alredy a thread for this. I didn't see one, but since I'm at work and posting on the fly, I'll admit that I didn't fish around for one. I'm sure the V.S. thing is old news, but it's nice to see things like this here in the Deep South, where there are so many things that are taboo. Hooray to the legislature here in good ol' Alabammy for doing something progressive (trust me, in Alabama, it IS progressive) for a change! <H1 class=red>Got breast milk? New state law celebrated </H1>Mothers nurse babies in national 'lactivists' protest Sunday, July 02, 2006 ANNA VELASCO News staff writer A handful of mothers who nursed their babies Saturday at Colonial Brookwood Village said they were celebrating a new state law that protects a woman's right to breast-feed in public. "I'm not a confrontational person, but I wanted to bring attention to the new law," said Kelly Kelley, who drove 50 miles from her home in Chilton County to participate. The law took effect Saturday, and Kelley handed out badges to the other mothers that said, "Got Breastmilk? Alabama does!" Her 8½-month-old daughter wore a shirt that said, "Breastmilk, the real comfort proteins." http://ads.al.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.ads/www.al.com/xml/story/Birmingham/n/nstate/@StoryAd?xThe group sat in leather chairs at a front entrance of the Brookwood mall, next to Victoria's Secret. They drew some inquisitive glances from passers-by and a few approving smiles but no huge attention. Their awareness-raising event had another purpose as part of a national "nurse-in" Saturday organized by "lactivists" protesting two incidents in June in which women were discouraged or not allowed to breast-feed in the lingerie stores. "It's ridiculous that there are people or stores or establishments that discourage breast-feeding, the best thing you can do for your child," said Pattie Bank of Homewood, who ws there with her 14-month-old. "A company that makes its money off breasts and has breasts all over its stores told two mothers to leave for breast-feeding. I couldn't believe that irony." During the third week in June, a shopper in Boston was told she couldn't breast-feed her baby in the Victoria's Secret dressing room and was told to go to a nearby bathroom, according to a company spokesman. The same week, a woman in Wisconsin was not allowed to breast-feed in a corner of the store when the dressing stalls were occupied. She later took her baby into a dressing room but got upset when she overheard employees discussing her. Those incidents come on the heels of a public relations drubbing Victoria's Secret took in 2005 for a similar incident at a store in Charleston, S.C. The company has apologized for all events. "Our policy plain and simple is mothers are allowed to nurse in our stores," said Anthony Hebron, a spokesman with Limited Brands, Victoria's Secret's parent company. Hebron said Victoria's Secret employees have all been trained in the past few weeks on the company's pro-breast-feeding policy, which is now also posted for employees to see. Members of the Birmingham group were low-key and did not nurse their babies directly in front of Victoria's Secret. At the end of the gathering, however, they walked into the store and handed employees a copy of the new Alabama law that says a woman may breast-feed her baby in public or private anywhere she has a right to be. More than 38 states have similar laws. Alabama's law passed in April. A grass-roots group of mothers pushed the bill after a woman in Huntsville was told in 2005 she couldn't breasst-feed her baby in public at a children's museum. Most nursing mothers at the mall Saturday said they personally had not been discouraged from breast-feeding in public but wanted to support other women.
There were Nation Wide Nurse Ins at Victoria's Secrets ALL over the US and Canada. Thousands of womyn and thier babies attended, although my youngest is now weaned, I would have gone, if not for a summer cold, that I couldn't risk exposing people to. VS sucks. They sexualize the breast, do NOT make nursing bras, and then hassle nursing mothers for showing LESS skin than the bimbos on their commercials do. They will not get a penny from me, unless a public apology is given for their 1950s hung up, uptight approach towards nursing moms, they start making nursing bras, and they stop objectifying womyn. Looks like VS will not be getting anything from me, or from a large majority of Lactation Supporters. The magazine "Real Simple" was nearly destroyed by their casual dissing of breastfeeding in one issue, and their refusal to address the issue, I am hoping (against hope) that something similar happens to Victoria's Secert.
I am VERY VERY glad Alabama FINALLY enacted a probreastfeeding legislation. (Only about 16 years after more progressive states, like Illinois, New York and even Fla, who have had legislation on the books for a decade and a half.) It's about time, Bama!
Vic doesn't make her secret in my size, they suck. I have found the world's perfect nursing bras, though, and will probably continue to wear them even after I no longer need flaps that open anymore. some states still don't have any laws protecting women's right to nurse their babies in public or pump milk at work... I nurse everywhere we go, and have never, not once, gotten a single negative comment (unless you count MIL at *her* house). I used to think it would be a big deal, but most people don't even realize my baby (okay, toddler now) is nursing. I did get some nasty looks from people in the Dallas airport during a layover on the way to California, but nobody was bold enough to say anything.
I never used to ask, either (well, with my first one, but I didn't know NOT to ask) I did a search on the Nurse Ins and there are some predictible reactions from people who are clueless, let me tell you.
