Does TN need a nurse-in? - Page 2

[greene_mama]

Originally Posted by Ziggysmama

I just have a question. Was the mama i an area where inmates could see her?

Supposedly she was, but that was sort of an "after-the-fact" reason that the deputy gave for telling her to leave-- in later reports in our local media, his statements were more focused on being concerned for her well-being, but the earliest reporting indicated that his reason for asking her to relocate was that "people were complaining." The hallway they showed on the news where she was nursing was just outside a courtroom, but it was definitely a public place, and inmates would not have been the only people present. Anyone with business in court that day would have been walking by...it was not as though she were standing in front of a crowded jail cell or anything.

[janasmama]

Well, I think it's funny that the sheriff claim to have let her leave w/o arresting her despite the fact that she was disruptive. It was the sheriffs who unlawfully started the whole thing.

Most of the time I just can't stand law enforcement.

[LionessMom]

Originally Posted by tmarie15

At any LLL meetings I have attended, we were encouraged to be discreet. In fact, the very first meeting I attended I felt very uncomfortable nursing my premature baby at the meeting because I was using a nipple shield at the time, my baby still was learning to suck, I looked like I was wrestling topless with a baby every time I tried to nurse her and I was nowhere near discreet. I didn't attend another meeting until I could nurse her without the nipple shield and I could cover up.

nobody is dicreet at the LLL meetings i attend. i seen breasts and nipples everywhere. nobody covers up. it has encouraged me to not care about what other people think.
i have nursed in a courtroom too. the judge didnt care. i left though because DD wouldnt quit fussing and was causing a racket.

[soso-lynn]

The Sheriff's Department acknowledges in the statement that breastfeeding is legal in Tennessee, but if there are complaints, they ask women to cover up or move to a private area.

Isn't that in direct contradiction with the law? I always find it very insulting when law enforcement people do that. If they so blatantly and openly disregard the law (or show their ignorance of it) for something like this, I can only imagine all the other shady or ignorant things they do.

I have nursed DD as an infant and as a toddler in the courthouse, courtroom, even while testifying. Usually people who are in a courthouse are there because they HAVE to be there. It seems even more important that their right to nurse however they see fit be enforced. When I had to testify, the judge actually asked me before I started if I had someone else there to take care of my daughter (she was maybe 6-7 months) as a courtroom is no place for a baby. I got annoyed and told her that if they want to subpoena me then that's all very well, but my daughter comes attached to me in a sling and that's just that. I told her I could leave, but if they subpoenaed me again I would bring my daughter again. What nerve! They force me to be there and then try to tell me that it is no place for a baby! Anyhow, the judge or anyone else did not say anything when I proceeded to start nursing on the stand as it quieted DD right away, but I swear, had anyone dared, I would not have been too graceful about it.

Oh, and the thing about nursing in front of inmates is kind of weird. I don't get it. Oh, no! Those 'criminals' might get some education about infant nutrition and the proper use of breasts! I really don't get it at all.

[Ziggysmama]

Originally Posted by soso-lynn

Oh, and the thing about nursing in front of inmates is kind of weird. I don't get it. Oh, no! Those 'criminals' might get some education about infant nutrition and the proper use of breasts! I really don't get it at all.

Yeah cos thats what inmates think about when they see a womans breast after being locked away from women...
Look I am a total lactivist (and anti-prison), BUT, there are strict rules in courthouses and county jails. They are there for the protection of the inmates, staff and anyone who might be visitng etc.
When I used to go visit my ex in prison there were VERY strict rules about necklines and hemlines and clothing etc...
I think sometimes you have to just take stock of your surroundings. I can't believe I am saying this but I think the mum might of been better off nursing somewhere a little private for her sake at least.

[songbh]

Originally Posted by Ziggysmama

Yeah cos thats what inmates think about when they see a womans breast after being locked away from women...

But there is no evidence that the mother's breast was visible to anyone. She nursed on camera in the TV news story to show how discreet she was being. What's more, the initial story from the deputy was that he approached her because "there were complaints" -- not "for her safety." You think he'd listen to the "complaint" of an inmate in shackles? I don't.

If a courthouse lobby can't be a safe place for a woman to nurse her baby, then it can't be a safe place for any citizen. Those inmates walking past for their hearings might react badly to the sight of someone's Rolex watch or silk tie, after weeks locked up without either. Let's be careful not to conflate a public courthouse lobby with visiting hours at a prison, nor to excuse an illegal action by a law enforcement officer on our assumptions about the sexuality of inmates.

I think what this incident boils down to -- like the Applebee's incident last summer (when the mother pulled the state law out of her diaper bag to support her right to breastfeed in public and was slammed for that on the grounds that it suggested she was looking for a fight) -- is that women and poor people who stand up for their rights tend to get slapped down hard by those in charge.

The folks who take for granted our ignorant compliance with our own oppression really don't like it when we know better. This is how a deputy's violation of a state law -- inside an actual courthouse! -- gets turned into a mother "being disruptive" and nearly arrested and separated from her nursling.

[adtake]

I think the part about the inmates comments that is bugging me the most is the sterio typing of them. They have commited a crime. They are not all perverts. They are not all out to see naked breasts. They are not going to go crazy in the hallway because a woman is nursing. It is just as likley that the man sitting across the hall is more a 'danger' to the mom than the inmates were.

Having said that ...my cousin works in a sheriff's department/jail. She said that when they are moving a group of inmates the entire hall is cleared. Everyone must leave. It did not sound like the case with this mom. She was singled out to move. I think if all were asked to move the mom would not have made an issue of it.

I am a mom who will nurse anywhere and everywhere. I think a mom knows when the place is 'wrong'. I have been places before and started to nurse and thought to myself to move. I couldn't really put a finger on why, I just knew it wasnt' a safe or happy place to nurse.