Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
The big news from Saturday was the nurse-in at Victoria’s Secret. That was the story that WLOSers led with at 6, only there wasn’t any video.
Holly Headache teed up the report, then stood uncomfortably in front of the glaring camera. Then there was some video of traffic. Then back to Holly, who started talking to finish the non-news. Then Russ “Beefcake” Bowen told us to come back at 11 to see the vid.
The story was that some local women were going to hold a nurse-in at the Victoria’s Secret store in the Asheville Mall because of two incidents last week in Burlington, Wis., and Quincy, Mass. In both cases, women who wanted to breastfeed in a Victoria’s Secret store were pointed to restrooms outside the store.
Of course, that set off the local titty slingers, who held a nurse-in last year at the Malvern Hills pool after someone was asked to go to a changing room because stupid teen-age boys were making a fuss over a woman breastfeeding a baby. The women were offered a simple alternative, but that somehow offended their sensibilities. “Well, we shouldn’t have to do that!” they screamed, so Ashvegas City Councilman Bryan Freebie’s wife and a bunch of others got together and whipped ’em out to prove their point.
Look, you don’t eff with La Leche. This we’ve learned. They’ve got the legal right to breastfeed in public. They’ve got the science. They’ve got the hormones. They’ve got hungry babies, for Pete’s sake.
But what offends us is the militant reactions to all this. Just calm down and do your business. You don’t have to prove a point by whipping out a tit like you’re living on the plains of the Serengheti.
In the local story, one woman was quoted as saying there should be areas for women to feed their babies, because “I wouldn’t want to eat in a bathroom, either.” Like the child cried, “I don’t want to eat here!” Like the child has the snobbery to be thinking, “Yes, I disdain the mall toilets. I’d much rather suck in a Victoria’s Secret changing room.” C’mon. Sounds like this is more about you than the child. Why must you show off?
We were going to Hooters. Instead, we went over to the mall to see what the fuss was about. Just a lot of titillation.
And that’s the bottom line. La Leche, if you’re really worried about kids getting fed, find a new protest.
The point that the breast-feeders (and others) are missing is that businesses are under no obligation to provide restrooms or feeding stations or diaper changing stations for customers. It’s a business, for chrissakes. They sell merchandise. Customers shop. If a business wants to provide these amenities, that’s fine. But VS or any other business has no obligation to the public other than to provide goods or services as advertised.
There are hundreds of businesses in this town that do not even offer restrooms for the public. Are they next to be protested?
I don’t care if you want to show the world your breasts in public. That’s up to you. From what I’ve seen, that’s your best feature anyway. I’d rather see you do that than have to put up with some of your undisciplined rugrats climbing and drooling all over the store’s merchandise. But don’t expect a business to provide special accommodations for you.
– Bulldog
And apparently lost to the militant boobs-on-display feeders is that Vicky’s Secret corporate apologized for the two isolated incidents, said they were the result of local employees who made a mistake, and apologized. The chain did absolutely the right thing, acknowledged it was wrong — and that’s still not good enough, so women unassociated with the incidents in question insist on making boobs of themselves by protesting at individual stores unassociated with the incidents. Victoria’s Secret said they were wrong, said they were sorry, and are now using the incidents to make sure all employees are aware of how it should have been handled. What more do these publicity seekers want?