Whole Foods Market National Nurse-In
Plan of Action
Our purpose is to convince Whole Foods Market to support the healthy and natural act of breastfeeding within their establishments by providing a nondiscriminatory environment for families who choose to breastfeed.
A national nurse-in has been planned for Saturday, August 20 at 2 p.m. (Pacific), 3 p.m. (Mountain), 4 p.m. (Central), and 5 p.m. (Eastern) in protest of discrimination against breastfeeding at Whole Foods Market.
Whether or not you plan to attend the nurse-in, we encourage you to take action in any or all of the following ways:
Share these links with your friends and social networks
Whole Baby Foods Blog
http://wholebabyfoods.blog
Whole Foods Market Discriminates Against Breastfeeding
http://wholebabyfoods.blog
Responses from Whole Foods and Next Steps
http://wholebabyfoods.blog
Whole Foods Market National Nurse-In FB Page
https://www.facebook.com/p
Here's a discussion on the Whole Foods Trolley Square FB page
https://www.facebook.com/t
Boycott Whole Foods
Stop shopping at Whole Foods until they have adopted an official company policy affirming and accommodating the rights of breastfeeding women in their stores.
Contact Whole Foods
1. Let them know that you are disappointed with how they handled the situation and with their defensive response.
2. Tell them that you and all of your friends are boycotting until they have a global company policy that affirms and accommodates the right to breastfeed anywhere in their store, regardless of whether state law requires it or not.
3. Tell them how much money you used to spend on average, so they know what they are losing.
4. Tell them of your plan to participate in the nurse-in.
5. Explain why you believe this is an important issue, and why you got involved. Make it personal.
You can send an email through their website
http://www.wholefoodsmarke
ALSO, call and write (snail mail) your local store and speak to the manager.
Store Finder: http://www.wholefoodsmarke
Contact Utah Legislators
Let your representatives know that some businesses cannot be trusted to do what is right, and it has therefore become necessary to pass a law that affirms " a mother may breastfeed her child in any location, public or private, except the private home or residence of another, where the mother and the child are otherwise authorized to be present."
http://www.utah.gov/govern
Governor's Office
350 State Capitol Building, Suite E220
Salt Lake City, UT, 84114
Phone: (801) 538-1000
Now, here's my take on it all. If you read the account of the event that took place to start this all, I think the mom in question is completely overreacting. A customer was offended by seeing this lady's boob while she was breastfeeding her child so the customer complained to management. This puts management in an awkward position. On one hand, the lady does have a right to breastfeed her child there. On the other hand, the last thing management wants is another customer being uncomfortable. They were put in a position where they were guaranteed to upset at least one of the customers shopping in their store; the mom or the offended customer. So, management asked the mom if she wouldn't mind moving to another location. They didn't force her to move, they didn't tell her she had to leave, they merely asked her to go elsewhere and suggested locations. Most likely they suggested the cafe area, the same place an adult would sit to eat their meal at. Could management have handled the situation with more tact? Possibly. I'm willing to bet that the story, as told by the mom, is written with a bias though so I'm taking it as such.
As a food establishment, the store has a "No shirt, no shoes, no service" policy. Part of that is for comfort of other shoppers, part of it is for sanitary reasons and part of it is for safety. For the mom to insist she was mistreated and was appalled by it is absurd. Not everyone wants to see your boob hanging out. There is absolutely no reason why she couldn't move to the cafe area to sit down and feed her child. Heck, I don't breastfeed and I still usually move to a place I can sit down to feed David simply because it's a lot easier than carrying him around a store with a bottle.
I was reading the comments on all the above links and one person expressed what I'm trying to say perfectly: "There's no reason that she couldn't have put a blanket over her breast and solved the problem. Going slightly out of your way to help avoid conflict with others is part of being a decent person. I wear deodorant as a courtesy to others, even though it's my right to smell like a circus monkey. The store didn't tell her to stop, they asked her to cover up or move to a more private location. As a private business, that shows more tact, kindness, and consideration than she was showing the other patrons. Breastfeeding is good. Breastfeeding discreetly when in public is better, because it shows manners and tact."
I love the analogy with deodorant! I fully support breastfeeding and I'm glad that women have the right to do so openly. But, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask a mom to be considerate of other people.
The even larger issue here is that they are calling for a boycott of Whole Foods as an entire company. That is ludicrous! The mom had an issue with the manager at this particular store. It's not a widespread issue. I know I've seen moms breastfeeding at numerous Whole Food locations around me with nary a concern from any fellow customers or employees. To boycott my local store when they have done nothing wrong makes no sense to me. Heck, one of the stores near me holds monthly Le Leche League meetings. I know they don't have a problem with breastfeeding in any way, shape or form. I am willing to bet that every corporation that employs thousands of people is going to have employees of various viewpoints. I am also willing to bet that many of those employees will have viewpoints different from mine. Does that mean I should boycott every large corporation?
It just doesn't make sense to me.
Of course, when I tried to express my opinion that I thought this nationwide boycott was out of line, I was told, in no uncertain terms, that my opinions are irrelevant because I'm not a breastfeeder. I often wonder if these extremist lactivists (as they call themselves) realize that they are shooting themselves in the foot. I have every intention of attempting to breastfeed my next child and hoping it goes better than the last time; that I won't have all the same medical issues working against me next time. However, there is a small part of me that considers not attempting breastfeeding just because I don't want to ever be mistakenly affiliated with the extremist lactivists. I'd rather feed my child the evil carcinogen (according to extremist lactivists) known as formula.
