Radio has fallen so much, I don’t even know who Jason Rantz is. I guess he has a show on KIRO. Anyway, here is him talking about breastfeeding, for, um, reasons. [h/t]
You are supposed to feel bad if a mom breastfeeding in public makes you a little uncomfortable.
Are you supposed to feel anything? Just, maybe, act like an adult. Problem solved.
It’s an issue that the feminist cause has taken up over the last few years and there’s some validity to their points, but they’re so militant in response to anyone who dare question what they’re doing.
You’re the one writing a 20 paragraph piece.
Case in point: A mom, Lydia Davis, in Spokane is outraged that some employee at a public pool told her to breast feed her child in the bathroom.
It’s tough to look at that sentence and say it probably needs more commas, but it does. After “Spokane.” Maybe it needs to be 2 or 3 sentences. Maybe find something else to write this column on because right now it’s kind of just Rantz being an asshole to new moms feeding their infants.
Now, it is legal to breast feed in public in Washington. It’s state law. But this employee obviously didn’t know. But we’ll treat it like some affront to womanhood.
Really? That sounds harsh. I hope the thing you’re going to quote doesn’t just talk about feeding a child and not being ashamed. And definitely says an affront to womanhood. Otherwise, it’s pretty pointless.
“I’m not ashamed of breast-feeding,” she told the Spokesman Review. “I don’t ever want anybody to be ashamed to feed their child if the child is hungry. We’re at a public pool where people have bikinis on. How is me breast-feeding any worse than people wandering around in a bikini?”
The link to the S-R’s website instead of the article left in because it amuses me. Here’s the link to the actual article. Anyway, does the quote continue to the affront to womanhood? No? back to Rantz?
Well, the difference is a bikini covers up a sexualized body part.
Jesus. Did KIRO give a radio spot to a not very mature 13 year old? Look l’il man, soon you’ll be able to put those feelings in more of a context. Until then, good luck with the radio show.
We get it, you have no shame. You don’t want to feel ashamed, but you’re doing it in public because you want attention; because you know something like this gets you attention and you absolutely love it.
If a mother with a baby that’s crying because it’s hungry wants attention, doing nothing is probably the way to go. Keep that baby crying and I’m sure many more people will stop and look than if she feeds it. Honestly.
Because that’s what this is about.
Also, not for nothing, but if you’re so dead set against giving breastfeeding mothers any attention, maybe don’t write 560 words and — I’m assuming — do a radio commentary on it. I mean there’s a primary election coming up. The legislature just adjourned recently, maybe for the year, maybe not if the Supreme Court says they have to deal with education funding.
Many of these moms are breastfeeding in public not because they have to — not because they have no alternatives or no other place to go — but because you want to make some feminist point.
???
And this is a clear case of that to me, because this mom immediately complained to the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department and they immediately apologized and said they would provide extra training for the pool’s staff.
So her complaining helped fix a problem. Unlike this post where the complaining is just for the sake of complaining.
The mom was apparently pleased by the response. In fact, the staff did end up getting the extra training.
Great.
But this mom — and other mommy activists — decided to hold a “nurse-in” on Friday at the pool. So despite getting an apology and being pleased with the reaction from city officials, Lydia Davis held a protest with her friends.
Well, as mentioned earlier, not everybody knows state law in this area. So a little education seems fine. More people will know it’s the law now. If you don’t want to be a part of it, you don’t have to.
Apparently about a dozen moms and their kids showed up to breast feed in public.
Lila McDermid learned about the event on Facebook and brought her children down, according to the Spokesman Review.
“I just never want to lose my right to feed my child anytime and anywhere I need to,” she said.
But she didn’t need to go to this pool to breastfeed. She chose to, like all these women, because they’re trying to push against ideas of etiquette.
The ideas of etiquette? You’re trying to push women into public bathrooms to feed their children. Seriously, public bathrooms. Because of etiquette?
There’s a big difference between breastfeeding in public because you have to (there are no reasonable, private accommodations) and because you want to; because you don’t care how uncomfortable it makes people feel.
I don’t care how uncomfortable 13 year old Jason Rantz is. Nobody does. Nobody should. There’s a crying, hungry baby.
McDermid told the paper: “Society has sexualized women’s bodies so that breast-feeding is seen as sexual when it’s not…”
I’m awful at punctuation, and this is the second — then quickly third for comic effect — time I’m making fun of this piece with regard to it, so I’m sure there’s some glaring typo of mine in this post. Nonetheless:
This is a major fuck up. The thing he’s quoting isn’t McDermid. It’s the Spokesman-Review characterizing her position. It seems accurate given the rest of the quotes, but it’s not a quote by her. Even though he just graduated middle school, Rantz should be able to recognize that. Also, there’s no need for those ellipses.
Society hasn’t done that. No one thinks breastfeeding is sexual. People think the breast is.
Seriously? Anyway, this whole argument has been ridiculous, but I think there’s a real chance to end weak. Like, super weak. Just awful, horrible, terrible, shittastic writing.
And if you want to blame society, fine. Society has defined your breasts as a sexual body part and if you don’t think that’s right, you should start off by talking to your fellow women who get breast implants, who wear clothing that accentuate the breasts, who purchase lingerie that highlight the breasts, because it’s women who are pushing the notion that that body part should be viewed as sexual.
Um. So. Maybe you’ll learn about context in some remedial high school class.
