Are breasts really that bad? Local breast feeding fiasco

[Skinny Shooter]

I can't help but laugh at the current events unfolding over the last couple of days.

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/mot...dback_o_1.html
And the offended mothers article on mothering.com: http://www.mothering.com/sections/ac...h-bellini.html

And I bet this thread has the most "views" and it might even rival the manbeef thread just because of the title.

[Swift]

Ain't nothin wrong with breast feeding in public.....as long as it is done tastefully.

[Skinny Shooter]

Is there a pun in there somewhere?

[GoodOlBoy]

Ya know what. Women been breast feedin babies for quite some time now, I think that if somebody has a problem with it they need to get a life. How many more people had their attention called to it because of this? breast feeding is natural, and the way it should be done.

Now should the mother start performing breast feeding stunts like spin the baby, or the baby bungee dangle then yes by all means ask her to stop for the safety of the child.

One more question I have to ask though. Was she just feeding the baby or the baby and the husband? Sorry I had ta ask.

GoodOlBoy

[jl1966]

This discussion must stop now! There are many conservative people on this site. This discussion may cause one of them to actually think of, or possibly even picture in their head, a ........well you know those things women have to feed babies. Oh now you have done it, I just thought of one, now I will have to report myself to Rush Limbaugh. I guess since I live in Va. Jerry Falwell will assign me a punishment.

[skeet]

GOB without a doubt you have an evil mind. I would never have thunk you woulda thought like me...er that! Cain't believe ya. You is sick! eeerrr-aaahhh does you happen to remember dat breast feedin stuff? I don't. I was a deprived kid! or is that depraved?? Now is is got to go dig out de whole first year of Playboy and see what I was a missin!

[Rocky Raab]

If they do the protest, they should all line up in front of the Victoria's Secret outlet.

And see who gets embarrassed by what.

As a proud Grampa, I'd be happy to escort my daughter and her naturally-fed daughter anywhere, anytime -- and just see who says something.

This sparks a memory (almost typed a mammary...) from long ago when I was a City Councilman. At a regular public meeting, a lady complained about a newly opened topless bar (which wasn't even inside our city limits). After she complained of being highly offended by even the thought of naked breasts, she finished by quoting some Bible passage.

I asked, "Madam, does the Bible say, 'If your hand offend thee, cut it off'?"

She agreed that it does.

I then said, "Well breasts must not offend you at all, because it appears that you are still wearing yours."

End of tirade.

[Swift]

Originally posted by Skinny Shooter
Is there a pun in there somewhere?

Ya caught that!

[Wahnie]

Originally posted by Rocky Raab
This sparks a memory (almost typed a mammary...) from long ago when I was a City Councilman. At a regular public meeting, a lady complained about a newly opened topless bar (which wasn't even inside our city limits). After she complained of being highly offended by even the thought of naked breasts, she finished by quoting some Bible passage.

I asked, "Madam, does the Bible say, 'If your hand offend thee, cut it off'?"

She agreed that it does.

I then said, "Well breasts must not offend you at all, because it appears that you are still wearing yours."

End of tirade.

LMAO! Very nice, Rocky! She didn't have much to say after that, eh?

I really can't stand people who complain about breastfeeding. I don't think you should go out of your way to expose yourself, but like you guys said, this is a natural thing that every mammal on the planet does. Why should we be offended by it? I could preach all day about modesty, but I won't. We're just too uptight in this day and age. Too superficial.

[rickjordan]

Yes- some people are WAY too uptight! Come on, do these people really think that the lady is some kind of voyeur who wants men to look at her? She is feeding her child! If there is anything on this planet more natural than that, I have never seen it! What will they go after next- trying to get the chimps in the zoo to stop touching themselves? My wife breast fed both of my children and if someone had said something to her about it, I would have said something back- and not something very nice either knowing me. Either that or I would have done something that would have truly offended them.

[Jack]

"This sparks a memory (almost typed a mammary...) from long ago when I was a City Councilman. At a regular public meeting, a lady complained about a newly opened topless bar (which wasn't even inside our city limits). After she complained of being highly offended by even the thought of naked breasts, she finished by quoting some Bible passage.

I asked, "Madam, does the Bible say, 'If your hand offend thee, cut it off'?"

She agreed that it does.

I then said, "Well breasts must not offend you at all, because it appears that you are still wearing yours."



Wonderful, Rocky!
Sorry I wasn't there to see that.

[Rocky Raab]

Yeah, it took about ten minutes to quiet the room down after that -- what with the laughing and people rolling on the floor!

The lady stormed out, her face beet red, but whether from humiliation or anger, I don't know.

In fact, this was a beachside community, and the difference between what you could see inside that bar and on the beach outside wasn't much. Except that the beer outside was a lot cheaper!

[8X56MS]

I have never minded watching boobs.

[skeet]

I have never minded watching boobs. Well of the type we were talkin about here. I have dealt with quite a few of the other type boobs too!

[Skinny Shooter]

Hey, why do we dis-respect breasts by calling dumb people boobs.


Here is the article about the breast-in yesterday:
And there are updates on the blog links I posted above.

Breast-feeding mothers stage protest
Women and their backers demonstrate against a Berkshire Mall guard's recent decision to tell a nursing mom to use a blanket or stop.

By Holly Herman
Reading Eagle

Lunchtime crowds in the food court weren't the only ones dining out Saturday at the Berkshire Mall.
Just downstairs in the center of the mall, more than 100 mothers were nursing their babies.

“If adults get hungry at the mall, they eat,” said Lindsay J. Turner, 24. “My child needs to eat, and he should be allowed to eat at the mall. Mothers should not be forced to breast-feed children in their homes. The babies need to eat when they get hungry.”

Turner was one of than 300 protesters, some carrying signs saying “I was Breastfed in Public” and “Breast-feeding is not an Option” who staged a “nurse-in” at the Wyomissing mall.

The demonstration was staged in response to an incident Feb. 17 when security guards told Leigh Bellini of Shillington to use a blanket or stop nursing her 7-month-old son.

Bellini, 29, continued to nurse her child while she argued with three guards.

When she was finished, she went home. The following day, she contacted nursing-support groups, which organized the protest.

“I am holding back tears,” Bellini said just before nursing her son, Enzo, seated on the floor of the mall.

“I can't believe how much support I have here,” she said. “I wasn't expecting this at all.”

Mall officials said last week that they do not object to women breast-feeding there but they said public nursing should be done discreetly. They said they will review how to handle such situations.

As the women nursed their babies, shoppers crowded around. Some participants said they attended the event to provide support.

“I saw in the newspaper they were having a demonstration, and I support breast-feeding,” said Richard Hassler, 51, of Womelsdorf. “I think mothers should be allowed to breast-feed when the babies are hungry.”

More than 150 people signed a petition supporting a proposed Pennsylvania law that would protect the right of mothers to breast-feed in public and calling for the mall to avoid interfering with breast-feeding.

Jake Marcus, an attorney for Birth Without Boundaries in Harrisburg who helped organize the protest, said Pennsylvania is one of 14 states that does not have legislation to protect women who breast-feed in public.

Anne Shuman Urban of Wilmington, Del., said she was visiting relatives in Wyomissing when she heard about the protest.

“I feel that there should be a law in Pennsylvania to protect the women who breast-feed,” she said. “I would like to know that when I come home to visit my family I don't have to worry about my child's nutrition.”

Mark D. Lazarony, 27, of Wernersville said he attended the protest to support his wife, Melissa, who is nursing the couple's 21/2-month-old son, Myles.

“It concerns me that we live in a society that allows the stores in the mall to put up scantily clad women but doesn't approve of breast-feeding,” Lazarony said.

Christina M. Waltz, 25, Birdsboro, said she was disturbed when she heard about Bellini's experience.

“I think every mother has a right to breast-feed her child in a public mall,” Waltz said.

Jen Sawyer, 31, of Pennside said many shoppers at the mall are mothers with babies.

“To make a mother feel she has to be locked up in her home is wrong,” said Sawyer, who was nursing her 5-month-old, Makenna. “Everyone promotes breast-feeding, and when you feed your child you should not have to feel that you are doing something wrong.”