Recently, in the city I live in, a woman was banned from a sportswear shop for breastfeeding her baby. Apparently they had a clause in their rules/book of conduct/whatever stating that any person showing "inappropriate skin" is to be banned.
It seems that this is happening quite a lot, and in many other countries too. Students from the University of North Texas, Kris Haro and Johnathan Wenske, started a campaign to gain awareness a woman's right to nourish her baby wherever she needs to. The cleverly named "When Nurture Calls" campaign features these posters that show what women are forced to do in some places when they are discriminated against and have to find a private place to feed their child, which often happens to be a dirty public bathroom.
I think a lot of people are feeling positive about this campaign. I'm just completely shocked that it has become acceptable for women to be refused service or dismissed from shops for doing what a woman's body was made to do.
Breasts have become so overly sexualised that people think breasts are only there for men and sexuality. It seems it's perfectly ok to show breasts in advertisements everywhere you look but as soon as you use them for their sole purpose nooo absolutely not!
I wish England had a campaign like this, I also have experience of this discrimination when my mum was pregnant with my little sister a few years back, she was breastfeeding in a cafe and got rude comments from other mums. Not even men or young women, other women with children seemed to have a problem with this. Bizarre.
Not only is this issue humiliating and discriminatory, it's probably going to prevent women from wanting to breastfeed their children. Breastfeeding is the best way for your child to receive the nutrients they need to develop and be healthy as well as helping to form that essential mother-baby bond early on.
I'm not sure where we can go from this, hopefully awareness can be spread and women can feel safe and happy to feed their babies whenever nurture calls.
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