Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Breastfeeding mum asked to face the wall in Haringey library
BREASTFEEDING support groups have expressed concern after a mother breastfeeding her eight-week-old daughter was ordered to 'face the wall' by a library worker in north London, reports the Daily Mail.
IMHO, if library staff are concerned about conduct of patrons, as they should be, it would best be directed to keeping down the noise of other users.
Disclaimer: I was a breast-fed baby. Breast is best.
IMHO, if library staff are concerned about conduct of patrons, as they should be, it would best be directed to keeping down the noise of other users.
Disclaimer: I was a breast-fed baby. Breast is best.
Tags for Forum Posts: Breastfeeding
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Clive this discussion should have been started under the photography in public one. Similar levels of ignorance, prudery, assumption of authority and no doubt some local punter will come on in a few days with some ridiculous and unwarranted piece of folk wisdom. I think the local police will probably stay out of it though.
Good luck.
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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Can I be that local punter, John, minus any pieces of folk wisdom?
The DM report used verbs like ordered, told, confronted, giving a rather different picture from the nursing mother's own quoted account. Seems to me the Haringey library assistant wasn't such a paragon of prudery, ignorance and assumed authority - more like the soul of discretion with a slight admixture of male embarassment knowing he had a bunch of (?unpredictable)school kids about to arrive. His employers, much more PC at the safe distance of Wood Green Hq, will no doubt hang him out to dry.
But at least the DM headline wasn't: 'Baby P Authority Librarian Insults Nursing Mum'.
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You are definitely that local punter. Honestly, you're allowed to be gay and have a bloody parade now but you're not allowed to breastfeed in public. Misogyny. I certainly would have told my boss where to go if they'd asked me to perform that task.
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Permalink Reply by Caroline on
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'you're allowed to be gay and have a bloody parade' !! Honestly, do you read your comments back before uploading them? I wasn't aware that this was an either/or option and being gay and having breastfed in public I find this more than a little offensive.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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I think all that John is saying is that society has moved on in some areas (thankfully ) but, curiously, not in others. Or that's how I read it anyway.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Caroline I don't think John intended to be offensive, I think he was suggesting there was inconsistency.
Going by the description of the mother, she was being discreet and the intervention was questionable. The DM report did use hard language to characterise the request (I used the neutral "asked" in the title) but I have little doubt the request came across harshly to the mother.
Library staff should be concerned with conduct that genuinely and often upsets people trying to read or concentrate: noise from other patrons and not least, mobile phone use. This aspect has slipped a lot in recent years.
I think its great that a mother should take very young children to a library: they're being exposed to a knowledge centre along with mother's milk; such mothers should not be discouraged.
I am a little curious as to whether the librarian was imposing his own code of decency (religious based?) or was he implementing a central directive? Either way, it appears to have been unjustified.
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Well good on you for posting your thoughts in this discussion. Many people happy to be offended by what I write think it's acceptable to waste Hugh's time be emailing him.
If you can't get angry about the disparity I have alluded to then I'm happy to have offended you. Sorry but that's just the way it is.
Who will be the Peter Tatchell of breastfeeding?
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code of decency (religious based?)??
Which strange religion has something against breastfeeding, public or private? Maybe the Church of Sacred Cow & Gate plc ?
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Permalink Reply by Dan McQuillan on
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fwiw this article claims that 12,000 women per year get arrested for breastfeeding in public in the United States
Chicago Woman Arrested for Breastfeeding in Public.
I saw the numbers disputed in a convo on Twitter (using US Gov crime statistics).
A related trend is the fact that Facebook censors photos of breast feeding.
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Seems our local SNT's slipping up.
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