[kavamamakava]

I just saw this on the 5:30 news and

http://www.komotv.com/kenschram/story.asp?ID=37268

Quote:

Now, I know we're supposed to be living in an enlightened society and all, but I'll tell you what: When some woman sitting next to you pops it out and starts suckling little Johnny or Suzie, I think it makes MOST people uncomfortable! Yeah, I know. It's natural. Well, so is urinating, but most folks don't up and pee in a glass jar in the middle of the mall. Maybe women in general are more OK with breastfeeding in public (though many women tell me no they are not). But for guys, it is nigh on impossible to switch from breasts as something sexual to breasts as take-out-food.

KOMO 4 TV News's saving grace was that the newscaster who got to come on after him said

Quote:

Get over it, Ken Schram. What an idiot!

I think her name is Kathi Goertzen

 

[girlndocs]

Oh my goodness! She SAID THAT? I think I love Kathi Goertzen!

And Schram is getting a love letter from me too

 

[kavamamakava]

The other people on the set with her looked a little shocked. Maybe she needs some fan mail

 

[captain optimism]

Here's what I wrote to him:

Quote:

Dear Mr. Schram, I saw your comments on the New York nurse-in at the offices of The View. (I found the written transcript here: http://komotv.com/stories/37268.htm). I'm a nursing mom and sometimes I do nurse my baby in public. I don't use a cover, but I think people would really have to scrutinize me to get a glimpse of my glorious female flesh. I took a look at the photos from the nurse in, and while I saw a lot of very beautiful slings and nice looking babies and toddlers, I didn't get to see any boobies. I don't think the so-called "modesty issue" is real. I think the issue is that a lot of people aren't used to seeing women nurse their children anymore. It disturbs them because they think of breasts as a sexual part. Well, you know, ears are a sexual part too, should I wear ear muffs when I'm out in public? It would make it harder for me to use my ears the way people usually do--to hear--but at least my sexy earlobes would be hidden. See the parallel? The purpose of breasts is to feed babies. The fact that anyone has to assert this in public is pretty ludicrous, but the fact that you came out against it is even more so. It's quite amazing, if you think about it, that even people who concede, upon reflection, that nursing is the normal way to feed a baby, want women to hide while we do it. How do you think moms with young babies should get around? Should we all stay home? Or perhaps you would like to pass a law that we have to wear abayas in public? Good luck to you, sir.

 

[jakesmama]

WTF I so hoped that our neck of the woods here was a bit more educated than that. Yea, to Kathi Goertzen for saying something (she could have let it slide). I am really disappointed and want to write a letter badly only I am so upset that everything kind of comes out...er, bad.

: If I still had a nursling I'd be calling into work sick tomorrow to sit by Ken Schram's office door!!
I also think he kind of missed the point. Wasn't the nurse-in more about NIP and nasty comments on the VIEW than about "women feeling discouraged from nursing?"
Shaking my head in the Puget Sound,

 

[Chandar]

I think Kathi definately deserves some fan mail!

Way to go sister, stand up to the loud mouths, and show them they can't always bully their view into the rest of us!!! Any email addy for her?

 

[girlndocs]

I just gave it a shot addressing it to [email protected]. We'll see if it bounces back.

Quote:

Dear Ms. Goertzen, This is a love letter. I was astounded, amazed and hugely gratified when I heard your response to Ken Schram's editorial tonight. I don't know whether it was something you would have said if you had stopped to think twice, but if not, I'm glad you didn't stop! So often idiocy like Schram's goes completely unchallenged by mealy-mouthed, polite co-anchors (one only has to look at Elisabeth Hasselbeck of The View for an example of this kind of wimpiness) and it was wonderful to hear it get the reply it deserved for once. Nursing mothers, nursing babies and lactivists throughout the Puget Sound applaud you for telling it like it is!

ETA: It bounced

Here is their list of contact emails. http://www.komotv.com/contact/ Which do y'all think would be most appropriate to try, or is there a better way to fnd her email address?

 

[a~...Mamacitaa~...]

Here is my little letter to her!

I just wanted to thanks you for your comments to ken. You are right he is an idiot! Comments and comparing breatfeeding to urination was stupid, children and infants are not getting their hungar satisfied by pee. We need more women like you in a postion to get the word out(Unlike the women at the View) breastfeeding is not something to be ashamed of or a reason to run to the car/bathroom. You have now got a fan from Redding,ca. Thanks you for you honest reaction, it means alot to women everywhere who are trying to make the public see our side of breasfeeding.

 

[a~...Mamacitaa~...]

crap, mine bounced back too!!!!! i couldn't find any good links either, please osmeone find on, i am m off to bed , before my words to running together!

 

[kavamamakava]

[email protected] ?

 

[sntm]

My letter (I've now got a stockpile of previous letters, so this one is modified from something else

)

Quote:

Dear Mr. Schram, The ignorance displayed in your recent comments (http://www.komotv.com/kenschram/story.asp?ID=37268) sadly no longer surprises me. A good, natural, healthy, desirable act offends you. You consider the hardship of averting your eyes, of simply "not looking" to be unbearable, and certainly more so than the hardship of neglecting a hungry baby. You do not recognize the health risks of not breastfeeding to the baby (25% higher risk of death in the first year, higher risk of ear infection, respiratory illness, GI illness, obesity, leukemia, lower IQ, SIDS, allergy, cardiovascular disease) and to the mother (higher risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, osteoporosis, postpartum depression, failure to lose postpartum weight). Or you do recognize the risks, but fail to recognize that some mothers cannot pump and maintain supply. And some babies cannot or will not drink from bottles. And that babies (who should not be on feeding schedules, which you also don't realize) are not always predictable in their hunger. And that babies do not often enjoy or permit their heads to be covered while eating. And that mothers who are doing the right thing for their babies do not enjoy being made to feel ashamed of doing that, of feeling that they have to cover up. You do not realize that perceptions of societal acceptance and limitations of freedom are the most common factors associated in decisions not to breastfeed babies or failures to breastfeed successfully. And that those decisions and failures lead to 720 deaths a year. You do not realize that your offense mirrors that of people who were offended by blacks. By homosexuals. By immigrants. By the obese. By the disabled. You judge under double standards. You castigate the mother who is doing the right thing for her child, whose breast is barely exposed, while breasts are more visible on the covers of Cosmopolitan or the latest fashions in the mall. You expect every consideration for your own wishes, however arbitrary and irrational they are, and extend no consideration for the mothers and children who are supported by the law, by nature, by medicine, and by a large proportion of society. Recognize your words for what they are -- petty and destructive. These women deserve your respect and your thanks. Shannon ***, MD Unviersity of **

 

[kavamamakava]

That was awesome Shannon

I need to get my butt in gear and write my own letter. I want Schram to know that urinating is a bodily function which produces waste. Breastmilk is not bodily waste.