Posted on 07/30/2005 8:15:50 AM PDT by Asphalt
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Never mind officials voiding a $50 ticket for indecent exposure, or an explanation from county officials that a ranger who issued the citation to the breast-feeding mother was inexperienced.
Dorian Ryan said she wants an apology for what she called a "humiliating and degrading" experience.
"This isn't right. Women shouldn't be harassed for breast-feeding their children," Dorian Ryan said.
Colorado lawmakers agree. A law passed last year gives women the right to breast feed anywhere she's allowed to be in public.
Ryan, 43, was ticketed for indecent exposure July 14 when she breast fed her son at the Carter Lake swim beach in Larimer County. She was shielded from view by two umbrellas and a towel.
An inexperienced park ranger mistakenly issued the ticket, said Dan Rieves, manager of the Blue Mountain District, which oversees the beach. Park officials have voided the ticket.
Rieves, who has been in contact with Ryan, said a written apology would be sent Friday.
I wonder how many of the women on that beach were ticketed for wearing a thong. I have more of a problem seeing someone's bottom, than seeing a breast. And I am a woman.
No, I don't have a reading comprehension problem. I'm a professional writer. Do you have a root-cause-analysis problem?
The legislation was passed why? Because screaming-faced women demanded it. Because their lives are so "horribly oppressed" not being able to whip out whenever they want.
In some cases bottle feeding has been better for the child.
Then by all means go right ahead and harass them. Report back to this thread the results.
Do you have the nerve?
Breast may be best, but I don't think there is anything wrong with infant formula. I've done both with my children, and I tell you what. I take issue with anyone who would look down on how a mother chooses to nourish her infant, be it breast or bottle. Different strokes for different folks, and you and I both know that there are issues that come with breast feeding some women cannot overcome, i.e. supply, for example. I will not make someone else feel guilty for that, or even if they simply prefer it. I chose to bottle feed my youngest (almost 7 weeks old), and while I would have liked to breast feed him as well, I know my own limits, and I know that it would not have worked well. You never know why someone chooses one over the other, and it's really none of our business, either.
A healthy, happy baby is what matters.
You forgot that there really are far more serious issues.
You also forgot that once this becomes acceptable, a host of other ills will also become acceptable. As a free nation, we need to be observant of unwritten law as well as written. It is the unwritten laws, otherwise known as manners and respect, that makes us a civilized society. When the civil breaks down, so too, does freedom.
Huh?
You can't judge by size. My fourth baby was born at 23 inches long. He's always been a big boy. All my boys are big.
Well, this incident was definitely not discreet by any means.
Big, sloppy boob over the buffet table. No cover, no nothing. I think she did it on purpose.
That is not "cute."
I don't know why people think it is.
But the mom in the article was shielded by 2 umbrellas and a towel. It sounds to me like she made a reasonable attempt at privacy. True, she should turn off the huff-alarm now and move on.
Very true. While breastfeeding comes very easily for some women, others have troubles. And there are women who simply can't produce enough milk, regardless of their desire to breastfeed. While breastfeeding is very beneficial, bottle-feeding isn't a bad thing.
I understand that formula has saved the lives of many babies who would have died in earlier eras. I guess I just have a bad impression of the formula companies that circle like vultures and do anything they can (free samples, diaper bags with logos) to sabatoge a nursing mother's best efforts.
Best wishes to you and your little one.
Women who just want to 'whip it out' don't have to go through the whole process of pregnancy, childbirth and diaper changing just for the thrill of showing boob. By mischaracterizing the motivation, you miss the point. She breastfeeds because she is a mom with a child to care for. To make that into an unnatural and shameful thing is to completely pervert our purpose on this planet.
Good grief. We are in fact mammals, and only really confused ideas about sexuality turns nursing into something obscene. Prudish attitudes about it are the natural result of a people who have long left a world that resembles a natural one. Our food comes in plastic containers and we hide behind clothes that might display we are mammals with genitals and mammary glands. We worry about breastfeeding moms in the corners of restaurants, but for entertainment, we watch women in bikinis bounce around on football fields and erotic music videos.
I don't have kids, nor have I have seen nursing moms do anything but try to be as discreet as they can. Most are not the type to want to show skin soon after birthing, and I've walked right up to friends without noticing they were feeding. They shroud from modesty, not from shame.
Obvious, full-hangout, breast feeding amoung gawkers and the readily offended is not discrete for the mother, and as an indiscretion, it is remarkable: deserving of remark and directed comment.
On the other hand the gawkers and rude onlookers or loud, physical rebukers are indiscrete too. They are as or more uncivil.
But discrete, fully covered of partially covered breast-feeding in public is no sin, nor un-civil, nor indiscrete.
I don't think she's breast-feeding in this photo, unless her nipple is in her arm pit. Second, the law is against "exposing genitals." Breasts aren't genitals. Last time I checked. And when you're draped with a towel, ain't nothing exposed.
The legislation was passed because people saw a need for it and lobbied for it?? Oh, the horror!
As a mom who has occasionally run into the need to breastfeed in public, I'm pretty happy about being able to do it without being harrassed. I have also always been discreet, and I doubt that anyone has noticed what I was doing.
I sincerely disagree with your choice to characterize all women who have done this on occasion as "screaming-faced" people who are just looking to flash their breasts, because this is just clearly not true.
Do I agree that there are some breast-feeding women who do it in public just to get in people's faces? Yes. Is this the majority of breast-feeding women? Definitely not.
Cool. :) I understand and agree, especially as far as the formula companies go, and I cannot understate the importance of good support when trying to start breast-feeding. It can make or break you. :)
Thanks for clarifying, and for your kind words. Sorry if I came across harshly myself...can you tell I'm not entirely comfortable with my decision? LOL The guilt gets ya, sometimes.
FRiends? (LOL!)
This is factually incorrect, I'm sorry to say. Many breast-fed babies will not suck an artificial nipple. I know. How infantile. (Sigh.)
unngh. Imagery (sp?)
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