Poppa Large

LACTIVISM

public enemy #1?
Ok, by this time, every parent blog on the planet has probably been sent this story in yesterday's NY Times about lactating mothers protesting ABC because Barbara Walters admitted she was the spawn of the Devil bothered by sitting next to a nursing mother.

As the husband of a mom who breastfeeds in public, I'm definitely down for the general rule that nursing mothers get to do their thing wherever they want and everyone else needs to shut the fuck up.

However, when I see comments like this, I take a pause: "the new generation of lactivists compare discomfort with seeing breast-feeding in public to discomfort with seeing interracial couples or gays holding hands."

Just to point out the brutally obvious: nursing moms don't get lynched, stabbed or otherwise maimed for feeding babies in public whereas in many places in the U.S., being in an interracial or queer relationship can get you killed. If lactivists are really pushing their issue as a civil rights cause on par with anti-racism and anti-homophobia, they need a serious reality check and heavy dose of chill out. I'm all for legislation that bars nursing moms from being discriminated against or harassed, but just go easy on the analogies.

Didn't I warn you about the BFFs?

Posted by P.L. at 11:37 PM