Jan Moir on breastfeeding?

Drazic<3 · Mar 10th, 2010, 07:12 AM

I couldn't see a thread about this so wondered what you all thought. Since the Stephen Gately article controversy, Jan Moir and her DM filth makes my skin crawl. What that paper gets away with (not unaided by the fact that their editor is on the board at the press complaints commision) is abborant.

But anyway, what do you think?

Quote:

I'm afraid too many mums are self-righteous

By Jan Moir

Come on, mums! Left, right, left, right, shoulders back, chest out, nipple in: go, go, go!

After a nursing mother was thrown out of a South-East London charity shop this week, angry mums are mobilising to launch a mass breast-feed-in on the premises. Hungry or not, mewling tots must be prepared to shut up and glug back in the name of lactating-mum liberty and breast-is-best propagandists.

For the mothers are appalled by the behaviour of Steve Symonds, the manager of the East Dulwich branch of the charity shop Mind in South-East London. After finding Anisa Baker in a compromising position with ten-month-old Elsie in the changing room, Mr Symonds sprayed air freshener around and chastised her for feeding her baby in his shop. 'Changing rooms aren't for breast-feeding,' he said, before telling her that her 'breast milk stinks'.

Isn't diplomacy a beautiful thing? Yet this small incident has been the starting gun for a blast of instant maternal affront and Curse Of The Mummy-style fury. Emphasising once more that it takes a brave man - or woman - to get between the modern young mother and her perceived statutory rights.

These include, as if we all didn't know, the right to mow you down with a buggy if you don't get out of the way quickly enough; the right to behave as if they have just given birth to the second coming of Christ instead of a farty little squirt called Sam; the right to congregate en masse all day in the best coffee shop seats, sharing a single latte and a blueberry muffin between six; the right to sigh like a tornado when their Hummer-sized pram cuts your heel to the bone; and the general and overreaching right to behave as if the normal rules of polite society do not apply to them.

For her part, Mrs Baker - true to breast-feeding mummy form - was 'amazingly insulted' to be told that her milk was odiferous and challenged the manager for looking into the cubicle in the first place. Now, she wants Mind to announce a clear policy allowing breast-feeding and guaranteeing privacy behind curtains.

Really. What self-righteous humbug. Why should Mind do anything of the sort?

Agreed, perhaps the shop manager did not behave with the utmost tact and charm. Even in a charity shop, refolding the jumpers and cataloguing Alan Titchmarsh novels is not enough effort in the customer relations department.

His managerial skills definitely need refreshing, not to mention his childcare skills; spraying an aerosol near a baby is never advisable, even if it is making a lot of noise.

However, let us be fair. Isn't it also rather shabby of Mrs Baker to hint to newspapers that the manager might be some kind of peeping tom? Especially as it seems possible that she snuck into Mind with the express intention of feeding her baby there.

All this is another skirmish in the ongoing milk wars. Yet for many, the argument that women should be allowed to breast-feed wherever they like has gone too far.

The application of decency and consideration for the feelings of others is, after all, a two-way street.

Whatever happened to make mums so angry all the time? Previous generations managed perfectly well without the need to breast-feed in public. Yet the National Childbirth Trust is waging a campaign to make it illegal to stop women from breast-feeding in shops and restaurants in the UK.

Well, I do hope it fails. Yes, most of us want to be kind to starving infants, if not their bolshie mums. But surely it should be up to individual owners to decide what does and does not happen on their premises?

Campaigners and mothers always like to occupy the moral high ground by insisting that those who object are curmudgeons. Why, breast-feeding is the most natural and beautiful thing in the world, they cry. Well, so is urinating, but no one insists on doing that wherever and whenever the need takes their fancy. Not outside France, at any rate.

Personally, I don't mind breast-feeding, but I mind that others do. And I mind that their objections are increasingly steamrollered by the righteous motherhood. Why should society, bus passengers and charity shop managers be terrorised by militant mothers determined to give junior his num-nums whatever the circumstances?

Perhaps a little decorum and understanding from all sides wouldn't go amiss? Otherwise it will be more tears before bedtime.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/ar...righteous.html

AppleBlossom · Mar 10th, 2010, 07:18 AM

I hate Jan Moir with a passion. She is vile. This quote is ridiculous saying we *think* we have all these so called rights.

Quote:

These include, as if we all didn't know, the right to mow you down with a buggy if you don't get out of the way quickly enough; the right to behave as if they have just given birth to the second coming of Christ instead of a farty little squirt called Sam; the right to congregate en masse all day in the best coffee shop seats, sharing a single latte and a blueberry muffin between six; the right to sigh like a tornado when their Hummer-sized pram cuts your heel to the bone; and the general and overreaching right to behave as if the normal rules of polite society do not apply to them.

She is obviously a bitter woman

**booflebump** · Mar 10th, 2010, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Why, breast-feeding is the most natural and beautiful thing in the world, they cry. Well, so is urinating, but no one insists on doing that wherever and whenever the need takes their fancy.

I honestly have no words for this woman

Abz1982 · Mar 10th, 2010, 07:42 AM

My pre baby me can understand a lot of what she is getting at, so does my mummy head. I agree with the bits about the buggies an heels, but then from a buggy pushing point of view having been blocked in be folk who clearly saw I had a buggy, then they refuse to move yes I WILL ram them if they ignore my repeated 'Excuse mes' and in my opioion 90% of the ramming I do are people who step in front of the buggy without looking.

Anyhoo...................I am all for breast feeding. Yes mothers should feel free to do it in public.

However...........I don't feel that they should have the right to like say, nip into a cafe etc and BF without being a paying customer etc. But if they are in there and paying then yes they can feed their child.

We dont see a lot of BF in public up here - you can say that maybe we just dont notice but its not that. Its that in each shopping centre there are a number of nice quiet areas to go and sit with baby and feed them. OK they are baby change areas to, but they smell nice, they have nice lighting - not too bright and not too dark and they are QUIET, and best of all they have nice chairs (well all but 2).

Anyway, I am going off on a tangent.

I haven't read a lot of what she has written previously, but I think that with that article she does say what a lot of people are thinking, and she has been a tad more tactful than the stephen gately article.
A lot of people DO act like their child is the best thing since sliced bread - and to us yes our offspring are, but its some that fail to realise that not everyone will think their child is oh so special that are annoying. Like when I was at a baby group and another mother accidentally knocked something and it hit Emma very hard and she was screaming, they seemed amased that I was just like 'meh, accidents happen' when my 4 month old child is screaming. Its like the woman expected me to be upset with her, but I wasn't as I know that my child is no more special than her 2, who in fact are probably more special as they were premie twins.
Does that make sense? I have had 4 cups of coffee today so apologies if it doesnt!

dizzyisacow · Mar 10th, 2010, 07:50 AM

meh shes a stupid little bitch. thats all.

Drazic<3 · Mar 10th, 2010, 08:29 AM

I can understand agreeing with the overall message, even though I personally don't, I just hate the way she writes. I find it condesending and over-judgemental. The bit that really got me was to say she was 'found in a compromising position with her daughter' - I mean, that sounds so inappropriately sexual. And to compare breastfeeding with urinating? I just feel if you want to raise an issue, there are much more tactful and reasonable ways to do it. She writes to create an argument. To me, she is a big fat troll!

Linzi · Mar 10th, 2010, 08:34 AM

I couldn't even read all of that it makes me sick.

Seriosuly, seriously considering a complaint in, what a nast piece of work.

I didn't see the Stephen Gately thing, dread to think.

x

Drazic<3 · Mar 10th, 2010, 08:46 AM

Linzi, here it is if you can bring yourself to it. It was originally entiled 'nothing normal about Gately death' but they changed it. Too much even for the Mail!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/ar...g-death--.html

Raven24 · Mar 10th, 2010, 08:51 AM

what i dont get is why the shop manager looked in the changing room she seems to miss the point that he looked into a changing room where as far as he knew a woman was getting changed!!!!!! so its more disgusting tht she ws feeding her child than the fact that the man is obviously a pervert i dont think so i wonder if this woman even has children

**polo_princess** · Mar 10th, 2010, 09:02 AM

She does it on purpose because she knows she'll get a reaction from people, i just kinda glaze over when i read stuff from her

Mar 10th, 2010, 07:42 AM	#4
Abz1982 Mum (Mom) BnB Addict Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Aberdeen Posts: 3,963	My pre baby me can understand a lot of what she is getting at, so does my mummy head. I agree with the bits about the buggies an heels, but then from a buggy pushing point of view having been blocked in be folk who clearly saw I had a buggy, then they refuse to move yes I WILL ram them if they ignore my repeated 'Excuse mes' and in my opioion 90% of the ramming I do are people who step in front of the buggy without looking. Anyhoo...................I am all for breast feeding. Yes mothers should feel free to do it in public. However...........I don't feel that they should have the right to like say, nip into a cafe etc and BF without being a paying customer etc. But if they are in there and paying then yes they can feed their child. We dont see a lot of BF in public up here - you can say that maybe we just dont notice but its not that. Its that in each shopping centre there are a number of nice quiet areas to go and sit with baby and feed them. OK they are baby change areas to, but they smell nice, they have nice lighting - not too bright and not too dark and they are QUIET, and best of all they have nice chairs (well all but 2). Anyway, I am going off on a tangent. I haven't read a lot of what she has written previously, but I think that with that article she does say what a lot of people are thinking, and she has been a tad more tactful than the stephen gately article. A lot of people DO act like their child is the best thing since sliced bread - and to us yes our offspring are, but its some that fail to realise that not everyone will think their child is oh so special that are annoying. Like when I was at a baby group and another mother accidentally knocked something and it hit Emma very hard and she was screaming, they seemed amased that I was just like 'meh, accidents happen' when my 4 month old child is screaming. Its like the woman expected me to be upset with her, but I wasn't as I know that my child is no more special than her 2, who in fact are probably more special as they were premie twins. Does that make sense? I have had 4 cups of coffee today so apologies if it doesnt!

Status: Offline

Mar 10th, 2010, 07:50 AM	#5
dizzyisacow Other BnB Addict Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 9,807	meh shes a stupid little bitch. thats all.

Status: Offline

Mar 10th, 2010, 08:29 AM	#6
Drazic<3 Mum (Mom) BnB Addict Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Norfolk, England. Posts: 9,295	I can understand agreeing with the overall message, even though I personally don't, I just hate the way she writes. I find it condesending and over-judgemental. The bit that really got me was to say she was 'found in a compromising position with her daughter' - I mean, that sounds so inappropriately sexual. And to compare breastfeeding with urinating? I just feel if you want to raise an issue, there are much more tactful and reasonable ways to do it. She writes to create an argument. To me, she is a big fat troll!

Status: Offline

Mar 10th, 2010, 08:34 AM	#7
Linzi Mum (Mom) BnB Elite Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Leeds UK Posts: 15,769	I couldn't even read all of that it makes me sick. Seriosuly, seriously considering a complaint in, what a nast piece of work. I didn't see the Stephen Gately thing, dread to think. x

Status: Offline

Mar 10th, 2010, 08:46 AM	#8
Drazic<3 Mum (Mom) BnB Addict Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Norfolk, England. Posts: 9,295	Linzi, here it is if you can bring yourself to it. It was originally entiled 'nothing normal about Gately death' but they changed it. Too much even for the Mail! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/ar...g-death--.html

Status: Offline

Mar 10th, 2010, 08:51 AM	#9
Raven24 Mum (Mom) Chat Happy BnB Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: uk Posts: 1,817	what i dont get is why the shop manager looked in the changing room she seems to miss the point that he looked into a changing room where as far as he knew a woman was getting changed!!!!!! so its more disgusting tht she ws feeding her child than the fact that the man is obviously a pervert i dont think so i wonder if this woman even has children

Status: Offline

Mar 10th, 2010, 09:02 AM	#10
polo_princess Mum (Mom) BabyandBump Team Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Hertfordshire Posts: 45,510	She does it on purpose because she knows she'll get a reaction from people, i just kinda glaze over when i read stuff from her

Status: Offline

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