Although in the United Kingdom a few years ago a law specifies that preventing breastfeeding in public is discrimination against women, there are still people who have not heard about it and who feel they have the power or the power to decide what is right or what is wrong, or how it should be done, based on their personal criteria.
It has happened recently in Wolverhampton, where this girl in the photo and her baby have encountered a Facebook status of a radio host who, after seeing her breastfeeding her baby, explained something like: "Breastfeeding walking down the street, isn't it going too far?".
What did the radio announcer say exactly
As we read in Breastfeeding in Freedom, an association that fights for the normalization of breastfeeding in public, the man is called Richard "Dicky" Dodd and yesterday morning he decided to publish what had just happened to him on the street, probably thinking that the affected woman would not find out about it:
Well, yesterday I was in the car on Merridale Street when I saw something that I had NEVER seen before.
A woman in her twenties was coming towards me. She was carrying her baby in one of those baby carriers, where you can take them face to face with you. When I approached, I realized something that left me amazed ...
I was breastfeeding the baby while walking. Yes, he had his right breast completely out, in sight, feeding the baby !!!!
Look that I support breastfeeding in public but walking down the street ???
This is going too far, isn't it?
But he found out and decided to spread
His name is Bethanie Alys and after learning about this publication today he has decided to intervene doing exactly what the announcer wanted: spread it. What Mr. Dodd did not imagine, is that this type of diffusion was not going to make him too funny, and that is that Bethanie has published a state that, you see, has even reached Spain:
I would like to publicly name and embarrass this man, who is a radio host. He saw me breastfeeding my son (as in the photo) while we were walking and he felt the need to talk about it because he was "astonished". I want to clarify that he is NOT the one who verbally harassed me that same day. But I did realize that he and his son looked at me from the car. I want to name it because they are people like these, with opinions like that, that open the door to people like the woman who called me a whore and laughed at me. It is opinions like these that make women stop breastfeeding.
I do not exist for you. I don't care if it "amazes you" or if you think "I went too far".
Part of the reason I give the tit in public is because I want to normalize it. States like yours only show that breastfeeding is seen too little and when it is seen, people are astonished and criticize the mother.
OMG! I have the "totally out" tit. What amazes you the most? The tits that are used for what they are? Or that you had to see something you don't like? Or is it the same because a woman (22 years old please) had so much confidence in herself and loves herself so much that she doesn't give a shit what fragile people like you think ???
This is public. Share it Share it for the world. To women who feel nervous about breastfeeding in public, I see you. I feel these nerves for you. I am with you. Fuck the idiots who think they can say what you do or not with your body.
And the announcer has threatened her with her lawyer
Apparently, Dodd has contacted her to apologize and ask her to withdraw her status from Bethanie, who has refused to start a conversation. In this situation, the announcer has informed him that I was going to mention it with your lawyer.
Far from being scared, the mother has decided to edit her status and add this sentence:
I edit to add that he has asked me to erase the state because he has contacted a lawyer, so I would appreciate it if even more emphasis was placed on sharing it.
Finally, they talked on the phone
A while later (about this a few hours ago), both have spoken by phone, and Bethanie has returned to edit her status to add this paragraph:
I just talked to Richard. Despite a complicated conversation beginning, I have clarified what my feelings are and I have explained why I should have thought twice or even several times before posting something like this on social media. Richard has apologized for what has happened and has said that he will reflect on this to learn from his mistake.
I have explained to him what the impact of his publication is, and with what intention I have made mine, and we have agreed to turn this into something positive and use the radio to spread the existence of local breastfeeding support groups.
I would be grateful if those who are sending threatening messages stop doing it.
To all those who have shared and given support, thank you. We have raised awareness about it and have managed to spread the message far and wide. Kisses to all nursing mothers.
Anyway, I wanted to tell you everything that happened so you can see what happened and what happens often in any part of the world. In this case, the man wanted to spread and she found out. In others, it's a look, a misplaced comment, a trial, and all because It is still considered by many people that breastfeeding is an obscene act, when the female breasts are displayed almost daily in advertisements and magazines (they are seen even if you do not look for them, because they put them even in the soup), and in those cases it seems that it is much more normalized.
Well, for Bethanie, for her struggle to normalize something that, with more reason, should be considered normal: a baby eating.
