Wear Your Burka if You Want to Nurse at Applebees
I don’t understand why people have a problem with women nursing their babies while out in public. I really don’t. It’s clear that some people really do have an issue with it, but I just don’t understand the problem.
You’re lost? You’re wondering what on earth does breastfeeding have to do with Applebees? And where do burkas fit in? Ah. A brief synopsis: A woman named Brooke Ryan was told by a waitress at an Applebees in Kentucky that she had to cover herself while nursing because another customer had complained. Ryan asked to see a manager and gave him a copy of Kentucky’s breastfeeding laws, which explicity protect a woman’s right to breastfeed. The manager said he knew about the law but she still had to cover the baby with a blanket. Because, you see, laws apparently only apply in Applebees when no one complains.
Applebee’s corporate response to her lawyer’s second letter has been that the restaurant will stock blankets so that women can cover themselves. How nice. But, um, guys…the law states that no person shall interfere with a mother breastfeeding her child in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be. Insisting that nursing mothers cover themselves with a blanket would qualify, at least in my universe, as interfering.
There is, if you are interested, a nation-wide protest on September 8. I would participate but no one seems to be playing where I live, possibly because no one around here bats an eye when women nurse their babies.
I really don’t see why people care whether someone nurses her child in public. If it bothers you, just don’t stare. Problem solved.
Oh, and note to Applebees Corporate: when you get a letter from a lawyer letting you know you have violated the law, perhaps you should run your response past the legal department before you send it out. And the PR department.
Stumble it!
and the 529 college savings accounts get a kickback.
September 4th, 2007 00:57
I’m glad I don’t eat there, anyways….
Stacie posts a rant about Applebee’s stocking up blankets for mothers to nurse their babies. How helpful. How handy. How utterly ridiculous.
(I almost wanted to type “udderly” there)
When Matthew was first born, the first place we eve…
September 4th, 2007 09:30
I asked Jeff it it made him uncomfortable when women nurse in public, and if it was hard not to stare. He laughed. He said it’s a boob and it catches his eye, but it’s not sexy so he moves on. How is this hard for the rest of America?
I am intrigued to see what comes of this, especially based on Applebee’s response.
September 4th, 2007 09:55
Ah Crapplebees. We don’t eat there because the service always sucks, but that is just crazy.
I don’t get it. It’s natural. If you saw a dog nursing puppies, you say “how cute!” A baby calf or horse gets the same reaction.
But a baby human? That is “disgusting”
WHAT?
But a bb in a sexual context? It’s perfectly ok. Like the soft-core VS commercials they show all the time. Oh and the life-like VS mannekin (sp?) in the mall wearing a g-string and mesh bra in the window display.
Virtually no bb and a baby who is clearly nursing under there causes a stir.
If you don’t want to see it, don’t look. Or if you have a problem with it maybe you can examine why it bothers you so much and have a little bit more of an open mind.
(getting off soapbox)
September 4th, 2007 10:43
I think it’s nuts, too. I was nursing last weekend at an agricultural fair. Trying to be as discrete as possible, on a bench, one babe at a time. There I am thinking I fit right in at this back to nature place with the cows and the Dairy Queens. Instead, lots of older women gave me quite the dirty looks and whispered to each other. I guess it’s only natural when the cows do it.
It’s not super protected by law in PA from my reading on the topic. You have a right to do it, but if it’s a privately owned place like a restaurant, the law that the owner has a right to refuse you service for any reason is still in effect.
September 4th, 2007 11:14
I recently got a bad reaction for the first time nursing in public — it was from the librarian in the children’s section of the library. Yeah, children’s section. Granted, i did flash boob by accident — baby pulled up my shirt just as she was passing. Oops. I later heard the librarians gossiping about me ‘I just can’t *believe* it!’. Jeez. Excuse me for living. Maybe they are just sticklers for that ‘no eating in the library’ rule, eh?
I don’t actually like nursing in public either but with a todder & newborn twins it is basically an inevitability. Or we stay home like shut-ins. I guess i should be happy i have not had more adverse reactions than that…
September 4th, 2007 12:08
I have never had a problem nursing in public here in Oregon. I was always pretty discreet about it, just from my own modesty, I guess. The only negative comment I ever heard came in MY OWN HOME! When my middle child was a newborn, we had a contractor rip up our kitchen floor and lay tiles. One evening, as he was finishing up, I was in the front room nursing. He asked a question, I responded. He came into the room and talked with me for about 30 seconds before suddenly screaming, “Oh, GROSS!” and running into the hallway. We finished the conversation from separate rooms. To this day, (seven years later) I sort of regret not firing him. My floor is beautiful, though.
September 4th, 2007 13:07
ARRRGGGH. I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. Perhaps a boycott is in order.
September 4th, 2007 14:39
I’ve got the perfect solution…a burka with a graphic of kittens nursing at their mother on the front! Our culture is just obsessed with the breast, so when one gets flashed at them for reasons other than what they are prepared to react to, they don’t know what to do with their feelings. So maybe in another generation it will be no big deal again. Let’s hope anyway.
September 4th, 2007 21:18
I’m feeling a little neglected by my favorite twins blogger.
It doesn’t gross me out. I would never complain about that. But it is a little awkward just because it’s a naked boob and guys are trained to oogle at that regardless of what’s going on with it. I was interviewing a woman two weeks ago and she began feeding her daughter. It was not gross or strange but I felt a bit uncomfortable. I’m certainly not advocating Applebee’s response – it’s stupid and I agree with what you’re saying. But I also don’t see anything wrong with trying to be a little discreet about it.
September 4th, 2007 21:39
I don’t get the outrage over public nursing, either. Neither does my husband. If it isn’t encased in the latest Victoria’s Secret demi-cup, covered in a pastie with tassels, or naked and accompanied by a come-hither look, he couldn’t care any less about it.
I hate Applebee’s anyway.
September 4th, 2007 21:49
What, you mean the “dirty t-shirt shoved up with baby’s head on boob” look isn’t a turn on for him? Some people are SO FUSSY!!!
September 5th, 2007 08:28
But what I want to know is if the New York City Council passes this new voyeur law that goes after people for looking up people’s skirts on the stairs at the subway or similar activities, what happens in Applebee’s when someone complains after staring at a breastfeeding woman?
September 5th, 2007 15:25
It is amazing how obsessed with breast feeding we are in this country and yet we’ll turn right around and blame mothers for not taking care of their children.
Hey people and corporations. Get over it!!!!!!
Boycott is on.
September 5th, 2007 16:15
I don’t understand ppl. There is NOTHING more natural then breastfeeding. I am with you on this. WEll said! The problem is there are always going to be ppl that complain for one thing or another. Appelbees I never liked so it won’t be hard for me to boy cut them over this issue! STUPID management!
And Sara-pretty funny! had me laughing!
September 5th, 2007 18:59
I think the breastfeeding moms should go on the offensive. Like, start complaining all the time in restaurants and other public places. These chairs aren’t comfortable enough. That man gave me the hairy eyeball. I don’t like the look of the couple (with no kids) over there, they give me the creeps. They smooched and that bothered me and my peaceful nursling. Etc. That stewardess didn’t serve me fast enough. That waiter wouldn’t meet my eye.
LET’s GIVE em HECK!
Sometimes I forgot I’m not nursing anymore. Sob.
September 7th, 2007 13:01
[...] Wear Your Burka if You Want to Nurse at Youre wondering what on earth does breastfeeding have to do with ? And where do burkas fit in? Ah. A brief synopsis: A woman named Brooke Ryan was told by a waitress at an in Kentucky that she had to cover herself . [...]
September 9th, 2007 02:45
Come March, I will have a craving for Applebee’s, sans blanket. I would have told the manager to make the lady next to me cover her face while eating because her sloppy chewing made me wanna hurl. Wonder if they’d actually make her get under the blanket. That’s rediculous and these are the times I am proud of my no nonsense big mouth.
September 9th, 2007 02:47
BTW.. where would one locate Texas law regarding breastfeeding?