Hey Victoria's Secret:Breasts are not just marketing devices for everything from A2Z

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Dreadsox

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http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/13766360.htm

[Q]The bill was introduced after an incident last summer at a Victoria's Secret lingerie store in Mount Pleasant.
Lori Rueger, who attended Wednesday's meeting, said she was told by a store clerk that she could not breast-feed her 10-week-old daughter in a dressing room and was encouraged to use a restroom instead.
"I can't really comprehend the human being who told you that," said Rep. Walt McLeod, D-Little Mountain. "It's really kind of subhuman behavior."
Victoria's Secret, seldom shy about its intimate clothing marketing, says what it calls a misunderstanding with Rueger has had a positive effect.
Victoria's Secret has a "long-standing policy to allow nursing in our stores. We are still for and about women," said Anthony Hebron, a spokesman for the retailer's parent, Limited Brands Inc. But the incident propelled discussion of public breast-feeding and "got the public focused," he said.[/Q]
 
nbcrusader said:
Is this the first breastfeeding thread of the year?

The first one that I actually decided was worthy of a post:hyper:
 
:lol: Precious. Too bad the tot wasn't a boy, then she could've looked up at the clerk and protested, "It's not for HIM--it's for ME!"

Oh the irony.
 
Well at the very least men wouldn't have to be in a store that sexualizes breasts a million times over and be told that the natural function of said breasts is wrong or dirty in some way
 
MrsSpringsteen said:
How lame

If men could breastfeed they'd be whipping them out anywhere and everywhere and no one would give a damn

Men can't breastfeed?:huh:

I mean technically????
 
They have pictures of half naked women plastered all over the walls and they( VS) are getting bent out of shape because a woman is feeding her child? What hypocrites:eyebrow:
 
WHY was she asked not to breast feed there? Was it because of the breast in general, or something else? Most stores' rooms are always full and have lines. Dressing rooms are for people to try on clothes. As a woman, I think a lot of people have a lot of growing up to do with regards to views on breast feeding, but in this case, a store is a store and a dressing room probably wasn't the most appropriate choice. It's like asking if you could use a dressing room to make a phone call, check your e-mail, or sit down and snack. That's what lounge areas and restrooms are for.
 
MrsSpringsteen said:
Well at the very least men wouldn't have to be in a store that sexualizes breasts a million times over and be told that the natural function of said breasts is wrong or dirty in some way

True enough. The odd thing is that it's usually women who have a problem with other women breastfeeding, not men. Men are rather facsinated by it - not necessarily in a sexual way, moreso natural curiosity.

After all, it was a woman who asked the mom not to use the changeroom and didn't offer a reasonable alternative if there was a line of customers waiting.

Sometimes women are their own worst enemies.
 
MrsSpringsteen said:
How lame

If men could breastfeed they'd be whipping them out anywhere and everywhere and no one would give a damn

Maybe so, but is that so bad? Think about it :hmm: ...if men could breastfeed, they'd most likely have more developed breasts - like women. And if they had their OWN more developed breasts, they'd be so busy fondling themselves they'd never leave their own homes. (Dudes say: Imagine - fondling 'upstairs' AND 'downstairs'!!! :cool: :rockon: )

And since they'd never be in public to whip anything out, no one would be able to get offended by it and raise a stink. Let's get those genetic manipulators working on this one, can we? :lmao:
 
AliEnvy said:
True enough. The odd thing is that it's usually women who have a problem with other women breastfeeding, not men. Men are rather facsinated by it - not necessarily in a sexual way, moreso natural curiosity.
Can't go along with that, I've known numerous men who were thoroughly repulsed by the idea of women breastfeeding in public. Maybe not so much because of the physicality as because of an instinctive possessive reaction of, "Ugh, I wouldn't want my wife showing her breasts to the whole world."

But true, women are also often repulsed by the "impropriety."
 
yolland said:

But true, women are also often repulsed by the "impropriety."

For me it has nothing to do with breasts, or what I think is proper, but the fact that a store is a store. There's things you do do at a store, like shop and try out clothes, and there's things you don't do, like sit down and use your laptop, eat your lunch, breastfeed your kids, etc.

I would not be offended if I saw someone breast feeding in a store or a dressing room, but I'd understand why the store clerks would be upset if there was a line of people waiting to actually try things on.
 
What I really enjoy is that it was a female that told another female that she couldn't breast feed in the store, but that fact seems to be lost by some people. Once again the moral of the story is men are simplistic pigs. :|
 
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randhail said:
Once again the moral of the story is men are simplistic pigs. :|

If it makes you feel any better. I work with ALL men and I LOVE it. My internship is with mostly women, the high-maintenence kind, and afterwards I feel like committing myself. :huh:
 
LivLuvAndBootlegMusic said:
For me it has nothing to do with breasts, or what I think is proper, but the fact that a store is a store. There's things you do do at a store, like shop and try out clothes, and there's things you don't do, like sit down and use your laptop, eat your lunch, breastfeed your kids, etc.

I would not be offended if I saw someone breast feeding in a store or a dressing room, but I'd understand why the store clerks would be upset if there was a line of people waiting to actually try things on.

I get what you're saying but unfortunately, 10 week old babies have their own sense of timing. The comparison to laptops and lunches doesn't fly. When was the last time you checked your email or ate your lunch sitting on a toilet in a restroom stall?

It's sad and pathetic that store clerks and/or female customers in a store that caters to women would be put out by the 15 minutes it takes to fill a tiny empty tummy.
 
AliEnvy said:

I get what you're saying but unfortunately, 10 week old babies have their own sense of timing. The comparison to laptops and lunches doesn't fly. When was the last time you checked your email or ate your lunch sitting on a toilet in a restroom stall?

I don't think restrooms are appropriate for breast feeding either, too dirty, but most malls have a lounge area. I feel like there should be entirely seperate places for breast feeding mothers, so they're not forced to use a bathroom stall or dressing room. I don't think allowing dressing rooms to be used for breast feeding really gets at the heart of the issue anyway. Men get bathrooms with plenty of toilet stalls AND urinals while women wait in line for 20 minutes just to pee and meanwhile have nowhere to breast feed but a dirty stall or changing table.
 
randhail said:
What I really enjoy is that it was a female that told another female that she couldn't breast feed in the store, but that fact seems to be lost by some people. Once again the moral of the story is men are simplistic pigs. :|
That's a bit of an overreaction. One poster only, whom you already expressed disagreement with, framed it as a consequence of men not having breasts. And that was more along the lines of hands-thrown-up exasperation that this ought to be an issue at all, than a comment on this particular clerk's motivation.

An honest question: where do you think the idea that breastfeeding is something to be hidden from public view comes from? And why would it suddenly no longer be shameful when the environment in question is a public *women's* restroom?
 
LivLuvAndBootlegMusic said:
I feel like there should be entirely seperate places for breast feeding mothers, so they're not forced to use a bathroom stall or dressing room. I don't think allowing dressing rooms to be used for breast feeding really gets at the heart of the issue anyway.

I completely agree. In the context of this thread though, I do think the store clerk was wrong in that situation.

Private lounges for nursing moms are the best way to make everybody happy but they are rare.
 
I'd just like to chime in and say how filthy most dressing rooms are. You would not believe the things people do in there. Even at places like Victoria's Secret.

I can not tell you how many dirty diapers I've had to clean up. And that's just the beginning. :crack:
 
WildHoneyAlways said:
You would not believe the things people do in there. Even at places like Victoria's Secret.

ESPECIALLY at places like Victoria's Secret!!!

But that's an entirely different impropriety lol :sexywink:
 
randhail said:
Once again the moral of the story is men are simplistic pigs. :|

No that's not what I was saying, but if you want to say I said that :shrug: I do know men who are simplistic pigs but that's another issue...

I said that out of exasperation- I am aware that it was a female clerk, etc. That doesn't change the fact that there IS a double standard among many men in this world - that breasts are sexualized but somehow they get upset over breast feeding. That happened w/ the whole Gillette Stadium incident and with other incidents. Men don't have to face the issue of having to breast feed in public, if they did perhaps things would be different.

However I don't think most people get upset at all about breast feeding as long as it is done in a discreet manner.

And I agree about dressing rooms. I worked in a store and saw what people did in them, I would never want to feed a baby in one. :|
 
MrsSpringsteen said:


Of course it is, and I didn't mean to imply that it isn't -that wasn't the point I was trying to make.

I know. I think it may change the view of differing standards when it is not purely driven by one sex upon the other.
 
MrsSpringsteen said:
However I don't think most people get upset at all about breast feeding as long as it is done in a discreet manner.

If that were generally true moms wouldn't need legislation to say it's OK.

Depends where you live I suppose. Hang ups and hypocricy about breasts (for both sexes) run pretty deep in some places.

For some people it doesn't matter that you can't even see what's going on, just the awareness that breastfeeding is taking place makes them squirm.

:shrug:
 
MrsSpringsteen said:
However I don't think most people get upset at all about breast feeding as long as it is done in a discreet manner.

Very true and that is simple common sense.

But the qualifier of "descreet manner" can be (or has been) portrayed as burdensome or otherwise unfair.
 
At least the consensus is now that nursing is the best thing for both babies and moms.

It will just take more time for some people to adjust to what that means for modern moms. One day hopefully it will be normal enough out in the open not to be debated.

There was a time when women who were pregnant weren't even supposed to go out in public. And it wasn't even all that long ago that Demi Moore baring her full bump on a magazine cover was a BIG DEAL.

Now being seen "in the family way" is not only tolerated or accepted, it's celebrated.
 
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