Skinny Shooter
02-23-2007, 09:57 AM
I can't help but laugh at the current events unfolding over the last couple of days. :D
Nursing mom ‘humiliated' at mall
Berkshire Mall security officers asked Leigh Bellini of Shillington, who was breast-feeding her 7-month-old son, to cover herself or let the baby go hungry, she says.
By Holly Herman
Reading Eagle
A 29-year-old Shillington woman said Thursday that she was humiliated when Berkshire Mall security officers told her either to use a blanket or stop breast-feeding her 7-month-old son in the mall.
“I didn't have my breast exposed and I wasn't going to stop breast-feeding my son,” Leigh Bellini said. “He's hungry. Everyone is allowed to eat in the mall. Why not he?”
As a result of the incident last weekend, Bellini contacted several parents groups throughout the state, who plan to stage a “nurse-in” protest Saturday at 1 p.m. in the center court of the mall in Wyomissing.
“This has exploded so big that we can't even conceive of the number of people who will be there,” Bellini said. “We expect at least 100 or more mothers breast-feeding.”
Joseph Nosti, property manager for the mall and its management company, Allied Properties of Wilmington, Del., called the incident involving the security guards regrettable and one that should not have risen to such a confrontational stage.
Nosti said the guards were doing their jobs when they asked Bellini to be discreet after receiving at least one complaint about her breast-feeding and not using anything to cover herself or the baby.
“Obviously it blew up into more than it needed to be,” Nosti said.
Nosti said mall officials do not object to women breast-feeding. But in a public setting, he said, breast-feeding is best done discreetly.
Nosti said the incident, the first in the 10 years he's managed the mall, has prompted a review of how future situations can be better handled and whether an official breast-feeding policy is needed.
Lasi Leavy, founder of Mothering and More Birth Network, Shillington, a nonprofit group promoting education for pregnancy, birth and motherhood, said there is a nationwide interest in protecting women's rights to nurse their children in public.
“Breast-feeding mothers are very discreet and don't go out of the way to draw attention to themselves,” Leavy said. “They should not be asked to sit in a car or hide in a bathroom.
“In our society and culture, the breast is a sexual symbol. So people improperly view the breast as sexual instead of a normal body function.”
Jake Marcus, an attorney for Birth without Boundaries in Harrisburg, who is helping to organize the protest, said Pennsylvania is one of 14 states that does not have legislation to protect women who breast-feed in public places.
“It's important that women are able to feed their children wherever and whenever they are able to be fed,” Marcus said.
Marcus said it is not uncommon for women to be arrested at protests.
“We are prepared for that,” she said. “We don't know what the reaction will be.”
Bellini said she never expected to be bothered in the mall for breastfeeding her child, Enzo.
Bellini gave this account of the incident:
She was breast-feeding her son Saturday on a bench near a tree in the mall area outside Sears when a male security guard asked her to cover up with a blanket.
“I said I didn't have any breast exposed,” Bellini said. “I never stopped for a second.”
Bellini's husband, Dr. Tony G. Bellini, asked the security guard to stop the conversation.
“The guard told us he could have us removed from the mall,” Leigh Bellini said. “The security guard threatened to call the police.
“A second security guard who was female told me to stop breast-feeding.”
The guard offered to provide her with a blanket, but she didn't want to use one that was not washed. Another guard then asked her to breast-feed in the bathroom.
The Bellinis stayed at the bench until Leigh was finished breast-feeding, then the family left the mall.
And local "lactavists are going to have a protest:
Manager: Protest will be respected
From our news staff
The manager of the Berkshire Mall said a protest in support of public breast-feeding would be treated with respect.
All he asked for is the same in return.
The “nurse-in,” which is expected to attract at least 100 women breast-feeding their babies, is planned for Saturday at 1 p.m. in the center court of the mall.
“If they want to come into the mall and breast-feed their babies, then all power to them,” said Joseph Nosti, property manager for the mall's management company, Allied Properties of Wilmington, Del. “I have absolutely no problem with that.”
Nosti said he is confident the demonstration would be nothing more than a lot of women discreetly breast-feeding their babies. If that is the case, he said, the mall should not have to get involved.
“But if it would get out of hand and obstruct business, then obviously we are going to have to change what is happening,” Nosti said.
The Eagle Editor's blog: http://www.readingeagle.com/editor/
An Eagle reporter's blog: http://www.readingeagle.com/blog/mother/archives/2007/02/more_feedback_o_1.html
And the offended mothers article on mothering.com: http://www.mothering.com/sections/action_alerts/leigh-bellini.html
And I bet this thread has the most "views" and it might even rival the manbeef thread just because of the title. ;)
Nursing mom ‘humiliated' at mall
Berkshire Mall security officers asked Leigh Bellini of Shillington, who was breast-feeding her 7-month-old son, to cover herself or let the baby go hungry, she says.
By Holly Herman
Reading Eagle
A 29-year-old Shillington woman said Thursday that she was humiliated when Berkshire Mall security officers told her either to use a blanket or stop breast-feeding her 7-month-old son in the mall.
“I didn't have my breast exposed and I wasn't going to stop breast-feeding my son,” Leigh Bellini said. “He's hungry. Everyone is allowed to eat in the mall. Why not he?”
As a result of the incident last weekend, Bellini contacted several parents groups throughout the state, who plan to stage a “nurse-in” protest Saturday at 1 p.m. in the center court of the mall in Wyomissing.
“This has exploded so big that we can't even conceive of the number of people who will be there,” Bellini said. “We expect at least 100 or more mothers breast-feeding.”
Joseph Nosti, property manager for the mall and its management company, Allied Properties of Wilmington, Del., called the incident involving the security guards regrettable and one that should not have risen to such a confrontational stage.
Nosti said the guards were doing their jobs when they asked Bellini to be discreet after receiving at least one complaint about her breast-feeding and not using anything to cover herself or the baby.
“Obviously it blew up into more than it needed to be,” Nosti said.
Nosti said mall officials do not object to women breast-feeding. But in a public setting, he said, breast-feeding is best done discreetly.
Nosti said the incident, the first in the 10 years he's managed the mall, has prompted a review of how future situations can be better handled and whether an official breast-feeding policy is needed.
Lasi Leavy, founder of Mothering and More Birth Network, Shillington, a nonprofit group promoting education for pregnancy, birth and motherhood, said there is a nationwide interest in protecting women's rights to nurse their children in public.
“Breast-feeding mothers are very discreet and don't go out of the way to draw attention to themselves,” Leavy said. “They should not be asked to sit in a car or hide in a bathroom.
“In our society and culture, the breast is a sexual symbol. So people improperly view the breast as sexual instead of a normal body function.”
Jake Marcus, an attorney for Birth without Boundaries in Harrisburg, who is helping to organize the protest, said Pennsylvania is one of 14 states that does not have legislation to protect women who breast-feed in public places.
“It's important that women are able to feed their children wherever and whenever they are able to be fed,” Marcus said.
Marcus said it is not uncommon for women to be arrested at protests.
“We are prepared for that,” she said. “We don't know what the reaction will be.”
Bellini said she never expected to be bothered in the mall for breastfeeding her child, Enzo.
Bellini gave this account of the incident:
She was breast-feeding her son Saturday on a bench near a tree in the mall area outside Sears when a male security guard asked her to cover up with a blanket.
“I said I didn't have any breast exposed,” Bellini said. “I never stopped for a second.”
Bellini's husband, Dr. Tony G. Bellini, asked the security guard to stop the conversation.
“The guard told us he could have us removed from the mall,” Leigh Bellini said. “The security guard threatened to call the police.
“A second security guard who was female told me to stop breast-feeding.”
The guard offered to provide her with a blanket, but she didn't want to use one that was not washed. Another guard then asked her to breast-feed in the bathroom.
The Bellinis stayed at the bench until Leigh was finished breast-feeding, then the family left the mall.
And local "lactavists are going to have a protest:
Manager: Protest will be respected
From our news staff
The manager of the Berkshire Mall said a protest in support of public breast-feeding would be treated with respect.
All he asked for is the same in return.
The “nurse-in,” which is expected to attract at least 100 women breast-feeding their babies, is planned for Saturday at 1 p.m. in the center court of the mall.
“If they want to come into the mall and breast-feed their babies, then all power to them,” said Joseph Nosti, property manager for the mall's management company, Allied Properties of Wilmington, Del. “I have absolutely no problem with that.”
Nosti said he is confident the demonstration would be nothing more than a lot of women discreetly breast-feeding their babies. If that is the case, he said, the mall should not have to get involved.
“But if it would get out of hand and obstruct business, then obviously we are going to have to change what is happening,” Nosti said.
The Eagle Editor's blog: http://www.readingeagle.com/editor/
An Eagle reporter's blog: http://www.readingeagle.com/blog/mother/archives/2007/02/more_feedback_o_1.html
And the offended mothers article on mothering.com: http://www.mothering.com/sections/action_alerts/leigh-bellini.html
And I bet this thread has the most "views" and it might even rival the manbeef thread just because of the title. ;)