Breastfeeding mom kicked out of Conn. court
Breastfeeding Mom kicked out of court: Why are women against women in the breastfeeding battle?
A baby stretching in his stroller during a celebration of World Breastfeeding Week, in Thessaloniki, Greece, Sunday, Nov. 3.
Nikolas Giakoumidis/AP
By illegally ejecting a discreetly nursing mother from a courtroom, a female Connecticut marshal drove home the point that breastfeeding is a women鈥檚 issue often fought between women.
Connecticut is one of 45 states with a provision allowing women to breastfeed in public. Yet Danielle Gendron聽was ushered out of a Connecticut courtroom while she was discreetly nursing her 3-month-old son according to 聽in New London, Conn.
I worry about a society that鈥檚 fine with showing every kind of violence on television, yet can鈥檛 stand to witness a young mother discreetly nourishing her child.
As a mother who nursed four sons, I considered "discreetly" to usually mean聽sitting in the back of the room with the baby under a blanket or shawl which covered me more than the average bathing suit, with perhaps the very crown of baby鈥檚 head visible. Anything anyone thinks they saw while I nursed was most likely in their own imagination.
In light of Ms. Gendron鈥檚 experience it is fitting to note that a sizeable part of the nation鈥檚 population is currently prepping for a holiday that centers on the birth of a child.
While I am no archeologist or biblical historian, I can pretty much guarantee that Mary didn鈥檛 bottle feed her baby, nor did any wise man, shepherd, or woman blow the whistle on her for feeding her babe.
Perhaps now, in this season, we could take a moment to find the wonder at the gift women have to be able to nourish their children via this perfectly natural act.
When Ms.聽Gendron was perhaps age five, I was sitting in my car on Long Beach Island, NJ, discreetly nursing my first son under a shawl when a woman who was in her 50s began beating on my window demanding, 鈥淵ou stop that right now! That鈥檚 disgusting.鈥�
The woman called police and, because there was no provision allowing public feeding at the time,聽I was politely asked to 鈥淢ove along.鈥�
What infuriated me then and seeing Gendron鈥檚 story now is that in both cases it was women who made such an issue of a woman鈥檚 issue.
I have marveled at this odd turning of woman against woman. The only thing I can imagine is that perhaps the women taking issue are those who themselves were deterred from breastfeeding in public spaces and convinced the act was lurid and 鈥渨rong.鈥�
In my experience, men who see a woman breastfeeding either don鈥檛 recognize what they鈥檙e seeing, or are too uncomfortable to make a report.
The only time anyone ever came up to me to complain about seeing me feed the baby, which happened many times in various states of the union, it was always a woman.
Gendron has been initiated into the sorority of women outed by women.
鈥淭hat's never happened to me, so I wasn't sure she was speaking to me at first, so I kind of looked around, and she was like, 鈥楪et out,鈥櫬�鈥澛�Gendron聽tells聽WTNH about the female marshal.
The new mom was removed from family court on December 4. She was waiting her turn to testify in a case, according to WTNH.
鈥淚t almost makes you feel ashamed, which is terrible, because you shouldn't feel that way,鈥� Gendron told WTNH.
It made Gendron feel 鈥渁shamed.鈥� It made me feel humiliated and furious when it happened to me. Today it makes me feel sad because frankly, we鈥檙e better than this, as both a culture and a sex.
When Gendron鈥檚 story became public, the court apologized to Gendron's sister, who had called the court to complain, according to the TV station. As a result, reports , 鈥淭he marshal was instructed on the law, as were judicial marshals statewide.鈥�