DarrenBarefoot.com

I would say that your observation/suggestion that it was a botched story is accurate. Her agenda (and thesis topic) is now pretty clear.

[Reply]

Well said, Jon.

I also recall the fact that Valle was a Gender Studies PhD candidate being mentioned in initial media coverage. My colleague and I (doulas, LaLeche League Leader) were joking about that.

You can’t blame Valle for understanding her rights and knowing how to publicly respond to this issue just because her professional interests lie within the arena of gender discrimination.

The incident was a catalyst for many women coming out and discussing how they’d recently been discriminated against. So many women who don’t have an academic knowledge of discrimination would’ve chalked H&M’s actions (and the actions of all other public nursing threats) to rudeness or bad luck and not understanding that the incidents were illegal actions. That is reason alone for supporting the advocate response, I think. Because soooo many women aren’t as lucky as Valle to know they even have ammunition.

[Reply]

This was reported everywhere. All the moms I know were aware of this. But if you look at Manuela’s history, you will see that she has been involved in many lobby issues since she was in her teens. This is not new for her. Also, her PhD topic has to do with the treatment of sexuality in Chile. She is in the faculty of Gender Studies, not just Women’s Studies.

The reason this took off is that Manuels and her friends are so well connected. Every Women’s Study student, midwife, nurse, lactation consultant, prenatal service provider, postnatal provider, parent-infant group attendee, tot drop-in attendee and so on knew about it. More than 150 of us showed up. Do you know how hard that is when you have kids? That means many more simply couldn’t get there. I know two people who couldn’t get there because they had fussy babies.

Someone who has a background in Women’s Studies and a PhD-level education is articulate, informed and not likely to back down. That is why this happened.

Moreover, the other women who have filed human rights charges (BC and Ontario) are not in Women’s Studies. This is not just about Manuela.

Many of us have fought the breastfeeding fight more quietly, but mostly because we didn’t have the extensive network. I got St. Paul’s Hospital to change its protocol for accommodating breastfeeding day surgery and day procedure patients. Because of that, my friend felt empowered to have them change the procedure for overnight surgery patients. This all takes a huge amount of work. I didn’t go to the media, because I was able to point St Paul’s to my human rights and they complied.

Breastfeeding has the highest uptake among well educated women. You know why? It’s because you need to be informed, confident, able to grapple with the system and able to read and synthesize information, if you are going to breastfeed. Breastfeeding is in and of itself still a very political act in this country. When my mother was breastfeeding 30+ years ago, it was even more “radical”.

But this case is mostly about making sure that corporations cannot put limits on human rights. It has to do with gay rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, rights of people of colour, rights of people with disabilities, religious freedom — human rights. It’s not about breastfeeding.

[Reply]

When I search, I can find it on G&M, Metro, Canada.com, CBC, etc.

FWIW, some of the media say 60 women attended and others say 150. This is because some journalists did not realize that the moms with strollers had to go through the bottom floor while the moms without went through the Granville entrance. And many other women stood/sat outside in the mall, rather than right in the store.

[Reply]

Uh…can’t remember what I used earlier. I tried stuff like H&M PhD. Don’t use her name, as that is more limiting.

I believe all the TV reports mentioned the PhD. I deleted all my recordings last night, but I watched the news on 4 or 5 channels.

News of the nurse in was mostly funnelled through Facebook. (The group is gone now.) But Mothering.commune and the various other sites all mentioned the PhD and Gender Studies thing. In fact, I think this helped more people show up. Everybody felt like she was equipped to speak accurately.

[Reply]

Andrea: I’m still unable to generate any more articles that indicate Ms. Valle’s area of study. Weird.

[Reply]

Um…. how dose being a gender studies student make her less reliable exactly? This sounds like it’s heading in the direction of “she must be one of those terrorist feminists trying to force her breasts on the world”.

To avoid creating more straw men arguments, the article that you post she says her main complaint was the way in which she was handled by the staff, not the mere fact that her breastfeeding was not permitted. It sounds like she wasn’t trying to force her breastfeeding on the world, she was in fact trying to highlight the fact that she was rudely treated in the store and physically forced into a changing room.

[Reply]

Raul: yes, people will take you less seriously and will question your motives when you speak up about the environment, because clearly you are biased.

[Reply]

Interesting observation, Darren. I admit that when I first heard the stories I was not aware of Manuela’s academic or professional interests. I suspected she must be a person of significant courage and connection.

After reading Manuela’s area of academic interest on the UBC website, I disagree that her area of study gives her any particular bias in this incident. “Disciplining of sexualities by the state” is relevant but not specifically focused on breastfeeding issues. That paragraph describing her study doesn’t mention that she focuses on women’s issues, which given the context of the paragraph, you’d expect it to if she were specializing.

Did this incident get blown out of proportion because of Manuela’s academic bias? I disagree. I think it became a big deal because a) she’s well-connected and knows how to get the word out via social media; b) there are lots of parents out there who are sick of trying to hide themselves away while they nurse their baby and were willing to join in a group protest because it was safer than speaking up individually; and c) the media loves to cover any story about breasts.

[Reply]