This morning he read on Facebook one more case of discrimination for breastfeeding in public (of so many there are) of a girl who, breastfeeding her baby in the Picasso museum from Málaga, she was invited to stop doing so and to go outside or to the bar, where she could feed her baby, as long as preserve the safety of the works exhibited there. And, (I get ironic), everyone knows that there is nothing more dangerous for a painting than a woman breastfeeding, with her milk spurting out, and her baby eager to suck all exposed work.
There are many occasions when something like this has happened, there are many women who continue to receive looks or complaints for breastfeeding in public and the response must be unanimous: when someone bothers to see you breastfeed in public show him that the offended is you.
A good friend of mine said that there is always someone crazier than you. The context? Well, if you ever meet a madman with the intention of saying or doing something that can bother you, you can always return it exponentially. Something like "you tried to scare me, but in the end it was I who scared you." I never paid much attention to him, because I am not very skilled in lying, but there are situations in which it is worth not defending, but counterattacking.
There are many years explaining them and many cases of women who are invited to cover themselves or go somewhere else to breastfeed their babies and that is why the time comes when the mothers say that enough is enough, that is already well, that there is no intention to teach or show or suggest, but a baby who is hungry in his full right to be fed wherever he needs it. And the mother obviously has the same right as any other woman to go to visit museums, to enter a restaurant to eat or to go shopping at a mall.
The defense of breastfeeding
There is no law in Spain, for now, that defends breastfeeding in public, but there is no one that prohibits it, so in that situation the rights of people must prevail and, above all, baby's rights. In Breastfeeding released they collected these rights a few months ago and we took advantage of what they said there to explain it here.
In case they are shielded in the Admission rights, the law says the following:
Law 17/1997, of July 4, Art 24.2. The owners of establishments and the organizers of shows or recreational activities or persons in whom they delegate may exercise the right of admission. This right may not be used to restrict access in an arbitrary or discriminatory manner, nor to place the user in conditions of inferiority, defenselessness or comparative tort. The right of admission must have the purpose of preventing the access of people who behave in a violent manner, which may cause discomfort to the public or users or may alter the normal development of the show or activity. The conditions for the exercise of the right of admission must be recorded in a visible place at the entrance of the premises, establishments and enclosures.
A baby eating because he can not wait is not something violent, does not alter the development of the activity and does not bother the public or users. It is an act of necessity and, as such, must be protected. In addition, as the law says, this right cannot be used to place the baby in conditions of inferiority, helplessness or comparative tort. With cases of babies who have been expelled by their mothers to eat in the sink or outside a restaurant while others do exactly the same: eat!
They protect the baby, also the Rights of the Child of UNICEF of 1989, where we read the following:
Art 24, 2, e) Ensure that all sectors of society, and in particular parents and children, know the basic principles of children's health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and accident prevention measures, have access to relevant education and receive support in the application of that knowledge.
In addition, the WHO states that it is recommended that a baby be exclusively breastfed and in demand until 6 months of age (already on demand means when the baby requests food) and the 1990 Innocenti Declaration says that governments and international organizations should :
- Design action strategies for the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding, including a global monitoring and evaluation of these strategies.
- Support situational analyzes and national surveys and the development of objectives and goals for action; Y
- Encourage and support national authorities in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of their breastfeeding policies.
Come on, that really what a mother should receive, in case someone wanted to come and tell her something, is support, love and admiration, for dedicating the baby, for breastfeeding even walking, to include the baby in his life and leisure and, ultimately, support to continue with it as long as he can and wants.
If instead they receive misunderstanding and bad looks ...
If instead what a mother receives is an invitation to stop breastfeeding her baby, if they are discriminated against for it and are told that they cannot do that because they can bother others, then the mother must Show that Of all those present, the victim is her and the baby, that they are the two who are being discriminated against and that are they offended. It is they, mother and son, who are being harmed on the basis of no law (they are not doing anything illegal) and based on internal norms (if those norms exist, because I doubt that in a Museum there is a norm that says that "you cannot breastfeed to preserve the safety of the works") that undermine the rights of the baby.
They let them know and, if necessary, if one wants to do that "there is always someone crazier than you", police are notified to intervene. And then the corresponding claims are filed and you get as far as you have to go. Or do you think the world is going to change without the affected ones moving a finger? Who does not cry, does not breast, so if you want something to change, you will have to put your grain of sand.
Further, Who but you is going to defend your baby's rights better? They cannot ask to be respected and understood that they cannot choose where and when to eat, so it is you, and the parents, who must give voice and defend your children.
