Wow. Didn't realize. Guess I don't deal in hate. My original point was, most of the problems we have seen mentioned here (told to leave Denny's, told to leave the pool, told to leave the mall - typical American anti-breastfeeding scenarios) did not involve physical assault. They involved humiliation and shame, which is not exactly the same as being thrown against the wall. It is still abuse, it still requires *written* documentation of the incident. Babies not allowed to breastfeed at the mall, at the pool, in Denny's, are not in the same risk category as babies who are fed with dirty resources or contaminated formula donated from rich countries. Expressing the same level of fury tends to make people not take us as seriously. Especially in America, we have the resources to make things right. Should we hold the same outrage of being told to leave Denny's equal to the outrage we feel learning about babies in China being fed formula contaminated with melamine, or learning that American companies are donating expired formula to people lesser fortunate? Having the high level of outrage is like stretching a rubber band all the time (or living under the high "terrorism level"). Eventually, we get tired, relax, and let down our reserves. Being shamed or humiliated can create an opportunity to create change, fix a wrong. It is a powerful incentive. Expending energy related to these feelings of shame and humiliation could otherwise be harnessed to create change seems to me a lost resource. *Why* would I feel shame and humiliation because of someone else's stupid rules? Work to change *that* to feelings of empowerment to change stupid rules! As Morgan mentioned, change the focus. And regarding hateful comments, I can choose not to buy into these. There are hateful comments about any subject on earth. People are entitled to their opinions, whether pleasant or hateful. It's like commenting on hateful posts on blogs. As unpleasant as they are, my opinion isn't going to change their opinion, and they will be hateful whether or not I read their posts. When I spend my energy worrying about their hateful opinions, it is energy that I am not using in changing the lack of education in my corner of the world. (plus, it's so painful to read hate, it drains all of my ability to create change.) Document, document, document. And let your precious energy focus in a direction that will do the most good. Best wishes, Sam We're going to Candy Mountain, Charlie! Sam wrote: > While I agree that being told not to breastfeed is a difficult, > embarassing situation, it is not a dangerous, nor painful experience. It > creates a lot of strong feelings, but for the most part, people are not > physically injured. People are physically injured, and people are killed. The horrendous vilification* of breastfeeding mothers is a strong disincentive to breastfeeding altogether. When breastfeeding is made much more difficult then artificial feeding, mothers stop doing it. And babies die from not being breastfed every day. Lara Hopkins * This isn't hyperbole, as Morgan Gallagher's blog post on the subject makes abundantly clear: <http://one-of-those-women.blogspot.com/2009/02/lactaphobia-language-of- hate.html> *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome