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From:
Cee Miller <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 30 Jun 2006 06:23:12 -0700
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Apologies to those who are on other lists with me and have already seen this.  :-)
   
  I know this might be an unpopular opinion, but I really think the Victoria's Secret nurse-in idea is a bad one. :/ I have been contemplating whether or not to voice my opinions about it, and I decided that I really have to say something because 1) I care about my friends and their children and 2) I care even more about the overall promotion of breastfeeding. More to the point, I think this protest is a waste of your time and that you will be doing more harm than good for the "cause".

If you wonder where my apprehension originates... well... as a hot-headed liberal, I had the opportunity, shall we say, in my impetuous youth of participating in more than a few civil protests. Some of what I'm going to say here is based on personal, unpleasant experience. 

Here are my concerns:

* Most people who say they will participate do not ultimately show up. Even in the fabulous 60s and 70s, this was true. It is even more true now, IME.

* Whether there are 3 or 20 of you there with your babies, VS isn't going to let you hang out in their store if it is obvious that you're there to stage a protest. They will ask you to leave the premises, and it is within their legal rights to do so. If you don't cooperate, they can call the cops and have you removed bodily. If you return to the store, they can have you charged with trespassing... and hauled off to jail.

* If the mall wants to join in on the fun, they can also ask you to leave and never return to their property. If you do, they can have you charged with trespassing. I guess it depends on how much you like your local mall as to whether or not you mind never being able to legally set foot in there again.

* If the cops want to get nasty about it, they can charge all of you with unlawful assembly. If it goes that far - and I sincerely doubt that it will because I know y'all are more sensible than that - they will have a DCF/CPS van there to take custody of your kids and a paddy wagon to take you to jail.

* Staging nurse-ins at every Victoria's Secret in the country isn't going to change a thing for the better, IMO. The one lasting effect of it will be that it makes breastfeeding mothers look like a bunch of kooks, particularly if the protest gets the attention of the news media.

* The best way to change attitudes about breastfeeding in public is to just do it every day as you go about your usual business. If anyone looks your way, give 'em a big smile and act like what you're doing is the most natural thing in the world because... well... IT IS! If you really want to see some changes, get together with other breastfeeding moms *every* day and walk around together, sit and chat in the food court or on the benches in the middle of the mall, and breastfeed openly and proudly when your children want to breastfeed. Who cares if some store won't let you breastfeed in their fitting room? Breastfeeding shouldn't be hidden there anyway!

* The only thing that will change what is done at Victoria's Secret is a formal change in corporate policy. I think a more effective way to accomplish that is:

1) thousands of letters to the parent company, Limited Brands, expressing sane and coherent points about why the issue should be addressed with a corporate policy, perhaps targeting their own supposed policies of "social responsibility" outlined here: http://www.limitedbrands.com/social_responsibility/index.jsp. I particularly want to focus on their policy of "inclusion"... "By valuing inclusion and treating all people with respect, we strengthen our enterprise."  Supposedly, Limited Brands already HAS a policy about supporting breastfeeding... so what they need to be reminded of is to do some top-down training so every single employee who works for them knows the policy!

2) a promise of *and adherence to* a boycott of not only VS stores but all of the companies owned by Limited Brands, Inc. These include - Express, Bath & Body Works [ouch], The Limited (and all its branches), C.O. Bigelow, White Barn Candle Company and Henri Bendel. Put your money where your mouth is, ya know?

OK, that is all. I apologize for raining on the parade, but... I feel much better for having expressed my opinion. ;)

  And, by the way, here's a link to Promom.org's 3-minute activist email to Limited Brands... http://promom.org/3min/3min_victoriassecret_june06.html
   
  Cee

 		
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