No, we ought to pass laws enjoining discretion...They ought not to be allowed to breast feed in a common dining area, for example...
I missed that the first time around. An odd notion. I would grant some credence to a decision by the owner of a restaurant to prohibit breastfeeding, though I would think it rude and slightly uncivilized. The notion of deciding that breastfeeding in a restaurant ought not to be allowed, or of passing a law enjoing it, seems way over the top, and more than a bit bizarre. It would suggest the possibility that restaurant owners could not allow breastfeeding even if they wanted to. Can you imagine Aunt Agatha suing the management of a restaurant for failing to ban breastfeeding, and thus inflicting upon her the immeasurable pain of a fleeting look at a swollen tit?
My personal inclination is to treat pregnant women and nursing mothers as somewhat privileged individuals, and to expect others to accommodate them. But it seems to me that there are solutions far simpler than passing laws. If a restaurant is really worried that the spectacle of a breastfeeding woman might put some shriveled prudes off their cutlets, they should simply acquire and hold in reserve a supply of elegant silk shawls. If a shriveled prude complains of having caught a glimpse of bosom, an apologetic person would approach the woman, apologize, and politely ask her to please use the shawl for the sake of the geriatric prudes at table 12. If the woman refuses to use the shawl, she is an ungracious twit and deserves to be asked to leave. If she accepts, covers up, and the shriveled prudes still complain, then they are slobbering Philistines and deserve to be told to f&%k off.
Problem solved. No law needed. |
