Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I was in 'the La Leche group'. MANY women have been in La Leche. It most certainly is not about sitting around thinking up stunts-perhaps you should do further research.
In REAL life, with a REAL baby, sometimes he/she is going to get hungry and have to eat. Sometimes, this happens in public. Sometimes, the mom gets hassled for that. This current story is far from the first one I have heard, like that.
Yeah, it was bad. I used to go to the Border's where a woman was told she could not breastfeed, and this same Border's proudly displayed books near the registers with naked women, and all the "lad mags" were visible to anyone who walked by. Nearly nude women in calendars.
This place was anything BUT discreet about these things, and I saw plenty of young women walking around in horrendously short skirts and tight and low-cut shirts. This is Los Angeles, after all.
But a mother feeding her child? Now, THAT has to stop. Breasts should only be used to sell magazines, beer, and cars!
"You must spread some reputation around before giving it to ShirleyK"
Darn it... and that was good post! You are sooooo right. Women are exploited all the time for money... yet, a mother breastfeeding is "gross" or immodest. I'm just shaking my head.
Right, according to the news she was not an activist. Do you think she was? I am thinking she was. How would it change anything? Are you kidding? Why are we aware of this. She was an activist acting like a victim.
I know another poster answered this and I think you were sincere in questioning...but I wanted to add that I contacted La Leche League too when my second son wouldn't breastfeed. I didn't know at the time that he had developmental issues. They were there for information. They told me that I could rent a pump from the hospital, that these pumps tended to be more effective than most store-bought pumps (which I had been using) and also offered to have someone out to observe me with the baby, see whether his mouth was positioned correctly, etc.
As far as I understood things, they were there for information. They do have "groups" but those are local meetings in one's area so that moms can talk one-to-one. It's not like you "have to" join to get benefits or something. I've never heard of a card-carrying LLL'er. I definitely got no sense of any militant sort of thing, "Join us! FIGHT for your right to, um, breastfeed" or anything like that. It's a support organization and you *can* join smaller support groups *if you want* but they don't give you a card you have to swipe or anything. "Please...place...finger...on...glass...for...fing erprint...identification. Thank you. Fingerprint...accepted. Begin...breastfeeding...child."
(And round and round we go) I think so. Yes. How does that make her an activist?
Holy granola, this is one SERIOUS issue for you, you're answering us at the speed of light, LOL. I'm getting less of a sense that this is really all for your book, and more of a sense that this is a really serious issue for you...for some reason. You'll be fine if you don't let that come out in your book. Humor/satire (I'm guessing you're doing this as sort of an Andy Rooney thing? "Did'ja ever noooootice...") is a very tricky balance in order to be readable and snappy. Good luck with your book.
ETA: Ooh! Or...a Gilda Radner-esque style would be funny. ("What's all this I hear about nursing in public? In my day, the nurses stayed at the hospital, like they ought to. Now they want to give shots and enemas in Applebee's! What is the world coming to...") Okay, just kidding. But it WOULD be funny. Funny might not be what you're after...
Yes, I am doing a book. I'm looking here and a bunch of other forums. I would never quote anyone.
You do know that the posts on a forum are the property of that forum? And of the individual that posted that information. Be very careful how you gather your information. Liz
Elmonellie, honestly, I am just not getting you. What is it you think this woman was after?
You trot out words like "activist" and "La Leche League" like they're "Satan Worshipper" and "Society of Bloodsuckers" or something. What is it about an activist or, gasp, a member of La Leche League that you think is so shocking?
Let's say she's the president of her La Leche League chapter and breastfed in public in an effort to educate women about their rights to do so. Where does that leave you? What do you think she was gaining by that?
The article didn't mention any of that, but even if it did, the only logical conclusion is that she did it in an effort to educate the public about the rights of nursing women. Can you please tell me what's wrong with that?
I think she is in La Leche League. The article says that when she went to her car after leaving the restaurant she called her LLL Leader who told her to get the names of the people involved. So what if she's in LLL? For the record, I am a member of LLL too. To be a member, you pay a $40 yearly membership fee which gets you a subscription to their magazine and a discount on their products. It's not an activist group, it's a support group. I regularly attend my local meetings where mothers come for help with breastfeeding from their peers. Meetings work like this. First announcements, then introductions, then burning questions which is when you can ask whatever breastfeeding question is on your mind and the group will help you brainstorm to solve your problem, then the evening's topic which may range from new babies to introducing solids to weaning, then social time. There is no activist component to the group. In fact, when we were trying to promote the nurse-in, we were told that LLL leaders could attend the nurse-in as private citizens but not as representatives of LLL because LLL does not support political activities. LLL Leaders also could not distribute information about the nurse-in to their groups through official LLL channels. So if you are thinking that this was some kind of a "stunt" planned by LLL, you are way off. In addition, this woman has 8 children who have all been breastfed in public and hasn't had a problem before now, though if she was as attention seeking as you seem to think, I would have expected her to have come across this kind of thing before now.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've never heard of a card-carrying LLL'er. I definitely got no sense of any militant sort of thing, "Join us! FIGHT for your right to, um, breastfeed" or anything like that. It's a support organization and you *can* join smaller support groups *if you want* but they don't give you a card you have to swipe or anything. "Please...place...finger...on...glass...for...fing erprint...identification. Thank you. Fingerprint...accepted. Begin...breastfeeding...child."
