Awesome. (Yes, this is the same symbol I have up on my front door.)
I am, by this point, quite proficient at "whipping it out" really fast and while showing very little skin. However, if I had not seen this sign, I probably would have found a nice patch of floor in a back corner and gotten down to business. But this sign gave the push I needed to plop myself down in one of the infinitely more comfy glider rockers near where the toys are. Ahhhh... Much better.
So, I realize that the sign doesn't actually mean too much. The staff would be unlikely to hassle me anyway (and if they did I could inform them of my rights according to Oklahoma state law with the piece of paper I keep in my wallet). And the attitudes of the other patrons are not magically changed by the posting of that sign.
But it does make a difference. It set me at ease, gave me the extra push I needed to nurse in front of a group of strangers (and their children!), which will help normalize the practice of nursing in public. Which is what I'm going for. I'd love for those signs and that symbol to be superfluous.
8 comments:
Sweet! Nice to know those laws exist as well. It makes sense...but I'd never have thought to look it up.
Has anyone ever tried to kick you out?
No, I've never had a problem. I don't know if that's b/c this Oklahoma and everyone is "nice", or b/c I don't go many places (and even fewer without Norman), or something else.
One of these days it's bound to happen though, considering how much I plan to breastfeed during my lifetime and the fact that I refuse to use a cover.
Is the reason you go places with Norman and feel less timid about breastfeeding that Norman is so very intimidating?
LOL -- He IS very tall. But really, I think people would be more likely to say something to a lone woman. More vulnerable. That's messed up.
And for the record, I don't feel more timid when Norman isn't there.
that's awesome! I never once saw a sign like this in my bf days...I knew it was my right to do so, but I did an awful lot of it in the car... ;)
Good for the Norman Public Library, and good for you.
That's so awesome, Jessie. I love what you are doing. I never saw these signs, either, E is only 2 and I breast fed for 13 months. I fear for the person who thinks of saying something negative to a bf mother, I really, really do.
Jessie, you would love it here in Peru. These ladies have absolutely no problem 'whipping it out' whenever and wherever. Seriously. In the taxi, on the sidewalk, at the bank, while walking down the street....it does not matter. And, they will just patiently wait with their shirts pulled up while their child fusses and cries until the kid gets back to the business of eating. It was shocking at first, but it's so normal.
Thanks for trying to change our culture's crazy aversion to anything to womanly and motherly.
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