breastfeeding in public

No Baby Feeders!

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So there’s trouble a-brewing up in Watrous, Saskatchewan. Apparently, a mother there was asked to leave a business, Tom’s Restaurant-or some name like that, for breastfeeding. She took her case to the human rights court in Canada (maybe if you’re from Canada you can correct me on the details ;o) and won, which is awesome. But now, she says that the town is ostracizing her, she’s being poorly served in restaurants, and generally shunned by the inhabitants of the town. Of course this is a very difficult situation because this is her HOME, where she lives. And yes, a compromise would be nice, like for instance, everyone in the town realize that she can breastfeed wherever she wants and leave her alone about it. Or for instance, an apology to her and let her breastfeed wherever she wants. Or for instance, shut up and leave her to breastfeed wherever she wants. See, I can think of any number of compromises, but ultimately she’s in the right. There’s lots of qualities about a person that might make the inhabitants of a small town uncomfortable, the color of their skin, their religion, their nationality, but the inhabitant’s uncomfortable feelings do not give them permission to discriminate, or act in bullying ways.

Noteworthy, one of the other restaurants in town, John’s, says that she’s welcome to eat there…as long as she faces the wall if she nurses.

In my research on the subject (There’s a Facebook page dedicated to sending supportive cards and letters to Elizabeth) I never read anything about an angry hoard gathering and lighting their torches. I also didn’t read that angry hoards didn’t gather, and didn’t light torches. So maybe they did, maybe they didn’t, but I’m running with the idea anyway ;o) This comic is mostly speculation, but I hope, funny all the same. I’m going out of town for 10 days, I’ll post some favorite comics while I’m gone, see you in a few!

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Stupid Hypocrisy

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Sorry it’s been a while since the last comic, I’ve been spending time with the family, going to the beach, surfing, and frolicking with friends, and feel a little sad that our un-school-y schedule-y stuff is starting up again. We usually are excited to start the fall, but this year summer was pretty grand.

While on a lovely summer walk the other day I asked the kids this question, the one in this comic, and got this exact answer. These are MY children, the children of a Lactivist, the children of a breastfeeding mother; one who is still breastfeeding, the other who breastfed until four years old. I find their answers indicative of a wider societal problem, one that I’ll keep addressing in comics, but in my own family, in my own family, we’re going to spend more time talking about how gorgeous breasts are, and what miracles, and hypocrisy, and stupid rules, and how fabulous women are, and probably spend a lot more time topless ;o)

We have a story in my family of my great-grandmother the matriarch of a large family of mostly boys who were living early-twentieth century lives of wide open spaces, farm work, and rough and tumble play. One day the boys showed up at the dinner table with their shirts off, and well, my great-grandmother got up from the table and took her shirt off too. Sitting back down to complete silence, the boys sheepishly got up and put their shirts back on. I like that story, she seems like a fun broad ;o) although in my happy world I’d like it more if they all agreed that topless was comfortable and fine and necessary, especially if your breasts have a job to do, and why cover them, why cover them at all?

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More comics coming…and books!

His Nipples

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This is another response to Facebook banning me in the middle of World Breastfeeding Week (did you know that it’s really World Breastfeeding MONTH and that the rest of the world is still celebrating, but here in America we’re all like one week, that’s all our attention span can take ;o) If you hadn’t heard, Facebook banned me for 24 hours for a tiny tiny nipple in one of my comics. I wrote about it here:

The Comic that Got Me Banned From Facebook

and created this comic too:

 

 

Hope you enjoy!

 

ps. if you can’t see the comics that’s because you’re not a member, it’s easy and cheap, just sign up on the right side bar, it’s only $9.99 a year and you’ll get a free e-book (as soon as I finish it ;o)

 

 

The Best Breastfeeding Comic of 2012?

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(the question mark is because we’ve only gotten halfway through ;o)

Well my friends, we’ve reached the end of my 10 year retrospective, but the fun isn’t over. Next we’ll have a shirt give-away, and maybe a bag give-away, and how about a book give-away, too? And oh yeah, comics. Plus, I promised to get to making that volume 2 of the 2007 comics e-book, that’s on my list for pronto.

In the mean time, you’ve probably noticed that this here site is now members only. It’s only 9.99 for a whole year. This includes a free e-book (the Birth of Hathor- which is not ready to be downloaded yet, give me a few weeks) and access to every single comic that is posted on my site. I set it up the other day and have already had people join, thank you! If you gave me a donation in the last week, please e-mail me privately and I’ll add you as a member.

If you are a HUGE fan and you think that’s just not enough for how much joy the comics bring to your life then please consider becoming a ‘supporter’. That’s $5 a month, access to all the comics, the free e-book, discounts on calendars and books and shirts and loads of other stuff. You may even be called on to check my next book for typographical errors, you know, fun! Sign up to be a member or a supporter by registering in the top right corner of my blog: http://www.Heathercushmandowdee.com/

Sharing a comic or linking to a comic that I posted on Facebook or on my blog is of course free and please do, lots! But, from this day forward, it costs $5 to ‘post’ a comic on Facebook or your website (hit the donation button and tell me which comic you’re posting and where)

There are, due to my attempt at monetization, no more ‘free’ comics, unless I periodically, or someone who sends me $5 posts them. This might seem scary, but I hope we will have many many comics out circulating in the world, just that some of you will be helping to kick in on the cost of publishing them! I know this may make you sad, but try and think back to how many times in the past 10 years my comics made you happy, concentrate on that feeling, take a deep breath and with that in mind, become a member. I thank you, truly I do