write.as/jonbeckett

I've been reading blog posts and news stories about the breast-feeding protest taking place outside Claridges in London today, and wondering what on earth has gone wrong with the world. Before anybody launches into a protest about me taking one side or the other, and encourages the world and it's dog to protest with them while insulting and defaming me, let me explain.

Last week a woman was breastfeeding her baby in Claridges (an expensive restaurant) in full view of the rest of the clientelle. As far as I understand it, the restuarant staff politely requested she shield her body from direct view somewhatby covering her breast with a napkin, or similar. The woman immediately reported the story to the press, and given the relatively quiet news week, the press ran with it, because the British press like nothing more than giving somebody a kicking.

It got me wonderingand rather than spout off with my opinion, I thought I would actually do some research. Here is what the Crown Prosecution Service has to say about public nudity;In the absence of any sexual context and in relation to nudity where the person has no intention to cause alarm or distress it will normally be appropriate to take no action unless members of the public were actually caused harassment, alarm or distress. and here's what the NCT (National Childbirth Trust) says about the provision for breastfeeding in public in the law;You are protected (by law) in public places such as parks, sports and leisure facilities, public buildings and when using public transport such as buses, trains and planes. You are protected in shops, pubs, restaurants and hotels regardless of how big or small. You are also protected in places like hospitals, theatres, cinemas and petrol stations.

The reason I've included both is because the reason many are opposed to public breastfeeding (and they seem to carefully avoid admitting it) is public nudityit doesn't seem to be anything to do with the actual act of breastfeeding a child. Given that public nudity in a non-sexual context is not against the law, and that breastfeeding in public is protected by law, you're probably wondering why I'm writing this.

My problem is with the whole “protest movement”. Using today as an example, a number of mothers are currently stood outside Claridges restaurant on a cold autumn evening, publicly breastfeeding children. Why would anybody in their right mind do something like this? It seems to me they are using their children to make a statement. I think this is wrong. Also, the press had already caused huge damage to the restaurant by reporting on the storya mob then turning up to essentially harras the customers and staff seems a little like vandalism to me.

While looking up the law references above, it didn't surprise me at all that the first search results turned up various “action groups”, inviting people to report any and all perceived injustices. Isn't this the same tactic used by insurance sharks, promoting “where there's a blame, there's a claim” ?Maybe I'm horribly out of touch, but it seems to me that change can be brought about far more effectively by education, rather than vandalism. If people were not so afraid of public nudity, the restaurant would not be trying to dissuade their clientelle from displaying themselves (for whatever reason). If the restaurant didn't feel the need to try and protect their clientelle in the first place, the entire episode would never have happened.

The real blame is not with the restaurant at allbut with the people in the restaurant.