Thursday, April 09, 2009

Massachusetts makes a bit of NiP* legal. Finally.

Massachusetts, the first state in the United States to make same sex marriage legal, today - that's right, TODAY - made it legal for a mother to nurse her baby in public without fear of being charged with indecent exposure or lewd conduct.

Think about that for a moment. Go ahead, I'll wait.

*humming*

Yes, my lambs, in this beautiful state I call home it was, until today, ILLEGAL to nurse a baby in public. I could sit on a dirty toilet surrounded by all matter of waste and breastfeed my baby, that would have been perfectly fine since I would have been behind closed doors and away from delicate eyes that may have spontaneously EXPLODED from seeing the back of my baby's head and maybe a millimeter more flesh than I usually expose, but I couldn't feed my child on a park bench without fear of being asked to cover all that nastiness and move along or be thrown in the clink.

See? I'm so worked up about this, I'm writing ridiculously long, run-on sentences.

Also? Not really in the clink. Fined, yes. Publicly ridiculed, almost definitely. Thrown in jail? Doubtful, but still...

So give yourself a hand today, Massachusetts. We are the third to last state in the country to make it legal to nurse in public. WhooHoo! We rule!

*Thud*

Or better yet, maybe all of us nursing moms should go outside and feed our precious infants and toddlers from our nutrition-giving bosoms. Just because we can. And if someone gives you a hard time you can show them this and then squirt them in the eye with your milk.

Now that this is settled I'm going to work on legislation that's really important. Like making madras shorts illegal.


*NIP = Nursing in Public

12 comments:

SciFi Dad said...

I heard the bill had a rider... something about nursing moms being allowed to vote now or whatever.

Massachusetts: birthplace of John Adams, near-deathplace of human rights.

Lori a.k.a. kcgirlgeek said...

Well, considering Massachusetts probably has more intellectually superior, college educated people that anywhere in the Midwest (where, sadly, I live), and that your state has led the race of common sense on almost everything under the legal sun...I suppose all I can say is, "Y'all can't be brilliant about EVERYthing."

Amazing. Really. I'm almost speechless. Uhm...congratulations?

flutter said...

huh.

who knew we needed to starve our kids for public comfort?

Fairly Odd Mother said...

Hot damn, I love a little public protest, so I guess those 5 1/2 years of (combined) public nursing were my silent demonstrations. I'd go outside and nurse right now but I think my youngest would be a bit alarmed seeing as he weaned 2 years ago.

Anonymous said...

I just think it's embarassing that this law aganst breastfeeding your child in publc was on the books for so long...

Missy said...

seriously? They have laws against that shit? I am beyond words.

Missy

Sarah @ BecomingSarah.com said...

SciFi Dad's comment really busted me up. It took me this long to comment because I had to clean up the mess I made when I spit out my drink first. Lol.

Go Massachusetts. Better late than never!

Heather said...

Wow. I had no idea it was illegal anywhere in the US.

Anonymous said...

Huh. I didn't know this when I sat in front of the church on Main Street in Chatham in the middle of July doing my thing, but it wouldn't have made a difference to me.

Mandy said...

So I just have to say, the few odd cases aside, we Canucks are MUCH more relaxed about these things. I fed both my boys publically (restaurants, parks, malls, stores, airplanes, libraries, I'm-sure-I'm-missing-an-obvious-spot) routinely. Without one sideways glance. Ever.

The idea of needing legislation to do it seems, well, sad?

courtney said...

Holy crap. I had no idea that they even COULD make that illegal! It's feeding a baby in the most natural way! Insanity! Well, at least it's legal now. Sheesh.

WorkingMom said...

Now if we can just get the law overturned that says you can't walk your horse down the left side of the street on a Sunday, we'll be all set! What frustrates me even more is that our elected officials actually had to spend time on this issue, when there's so much more going on that needs immediate attention...

You have my support on the madras issue.