I find it hard to believe that American society still has such a hang up when it comes to the rights of mothers to nurse in public. As a father of six children who all were nursed (some still are!) by my amazing wife, I have always been and always will be a huge supporter and defender of the rights of women to publicly breastfeed. Breastfeeding has been in the news again because Facebook recently relaxed its ban on breastfeeding photos and also because a 25 year old woman graduating from college had the audacity to discreetly nurse her young child durning the commencement ceremony. To fight back, I respectfully (and sometimes disrespectfully!) give you my list of 50 Things That Are More Offensive Than Nursing In Public.
- People who give you unsolicited parenting advice.
- Using phones for pretty much any reason at the movies, but especially talking.
- People who can’t park their cars between the lines in parking lots.
- People who talk about politics or religion and then get mad when you don’t agree with them.
- Parents who bring their sick (feverish, coughing, sniffling, sneezing, wheezing, hacking or fluid-dripping) child to the park or indoor play area.
- People who complain that McDonald’s food isn’t healthy. You’re at McDonald’s. WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?
- Drivers who don’t signal their intentions. Use your stinking turn signal already!
- The one-upper. You know, that co-worker who always has a story to top the one that was just told.
- Moms that dress like teenagers when out with their teenagers.
- Garbage dumping on social media. Marginally outdone by #11.
- Drama-seeking and Vaguebooking on Facebook. Ain’t nobody got time for that!
- People who pay for groceries in pennies. Or a check that they have to hand-write even though the machine will do it in 1/10 the time.
- Loud cell phone talkers. Particularly annoying on airplanes, buses and subway trains.
- The SBD. Silent But Deadly farts. Might be the guy sleeping next to you on a plane or the person who just exited the elevator.
- Left-lane cruisers. Oblivious. Almost always a middle-aged woman in a Prius or Subaru Outback.
- Saggers. You know, mostly teens who wear their pants around their knees. No one wants to see your boxers.
- People who show up in the Express Lane at the grocery store with a cart that exceeds the 15 item limit by about 30.
- Guys who talk about their Fantasy Football team. No one cares. Really.
- People who smoke while hiking so others following them get to smell smoke instead of trees, flowers or grasses. Not that kind of grass!
- The Duck Face. Just. Don’t. Unless you’re really a duck. Then it’s fine.
- Open mouth chewing of food, gum or toothpicks. Don’t even get me started with chewing tobacco and related spitting.
- People who abuse handicapped parking tags and plates.
- The word MOIST.
- My kids that leave one square of toilet paper on the roll but don’t change it because it’s (technically) not out.
- Drivers who don’t stop at stop signs. The California roll…
- Cyclists who ignore traffic laws and get mad when drivers don’t see them or (nearly) hit them.
- Public urination, particularly when the individual is drunk.
- Karaoke night. Exacerbated by alcohol consumption and/or false sense of one’s ability to carry a tune.
- Texting while driving.
- Holding your phone to your face while driving so that nearly half of your vision is blocked so that you nearly run into a father and his child who were walking in the crosswalk. (True story.)
- When people overuse the phrases “I know, right?” and “I’m just sayin'”
- Drivers who pass a car on the highway, cut in front of them in order to immediately take the exit. Bonus for doing that to a semi-truck.
- People who use their cell phones at the dinner table and say, “Oh, nothing. I’m just eating dinner with so-and-so.” Makes your dinner company feel mighty important.
- Heck, people who always take calls even if they’re in the middle of a face-to-face conversation with you.
- Talking loudly at the movies. Heck, doing anything other than watching the movie. Except breastfeeding, of course.
- Drivers that are in such a hurry that they pass around stopped cars and narrowly miss hitting pedestrians in the crosswalk where the other cars were stopped.
- America’s obsession with the Kardashians.
- People who comment “Blame Obama” for anything online. Same for those who comment “Blame Bush”.
- Hit and run
jerksdrivers. - People who are oblivious to anyone around them. For example: stopping to text while in the middle of a busy sidewalk or blocking the aisle with your shopping cart while texting.
- When the person in front of you in line at Subway has a list of subs greater than two. Of course there are complicated toppings for each one.
- Neighbors who throw loud parties late into the night (technically early morning) in a residential neighborhood. On a school night. And then proceed to have a loud and obscenity-laced discussion about who makes the best f-ing chili.
- Short people who request exit row seating on airplanes.
- People who recline their seats on airplanes without looking back or giving any kind of warning and crushing your kneecaps.
- People who take to Facebook and spoil movies or tv shows.
- Mosquitoes.
- Drivers waiting to turn left who don’t pull forward when the light turns green.
- Fake accents. Unless you’re really really good at it, you sound like a fool, y’all.
- People who use the phrase “Mr. Mom” to describe Stay At Home Dads. Try Dad. It’s shorter and more accurate.
- Anyone who gives a nursing mother any grief about her decision to feed her child the most natural way possible. If you don’t like what you see then turn away and look somewhere else. And keep your negative thoughts to yourself.
If you agree that women need to feel empowered to nurse in public please share this list across social media platforms. I’d love to be a small part of the growing support for all moms (and dads!) to care for their babies as they see fit and without public scorn.
Big Cheese Dad 
Totally agree with you about supporting breastfeeding in public. Here in the UK, we’re lucky that women are legally entitled to breastfeed in public and that it’s a breach of equality law to discriminate against a woman who is breastfeeding. That said, this doesn’t mean that everyone has a progressive attitude to this topic.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s supposedly allowed by law in most states here in the US. Yet women are routinely harassed for nursing in public.
LikeLike
I have to admit that I’m guilty of a few things on the list. I text when at a complete stop at red lights. I also recline my seat on the plane without warning ( seriously, there’s an etiquette for this?).
LikeLiked by 1 person
The seat reclining thing is a big deal for tall guys like me with long legs that already touch the back of the seat in front of us.
LikeLike
A few of these made me laugh out loud. As a frequent user of public transportation, I could particularly relate to number 13. I also hate when people take up multiple seats on public transportation. By the way, too often number 14 comes up in that arena as well. Uggh.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sometimes I think it would be easiest if we women were allowed to go topless in public. It might dent the American obsession with boobies and would definitely make it easier for breastfeeding moms. Really people – they’re just globs of fatty and glandular tissue. Get over it.
LikeLike
Can you imagine the initial (over)reaction to such a policy? I wonder if this is such a hot topic in other cultures around the world.
LikeLike
It’s legal in New York city, but almost no one takes advantage of it, AFAIK.
LikeLike
I agree completely. It’s just an idiotic bit of cultural nonsense leftover from the country’s puritanical roots. So many cultures of the past didn’t seem to have this hangup and I’d like to see us make the effort to just knock it off.
LikeLike
#22 (and that’s a number sign, not a “hashtag”) – How does one “abuse” a handicapped parking privilege?
Two addendums to #32 – People who speed up to cut in front of you, into the two-car-length space you were maintaining, even though you’re the last car in traffic and there’s a vast amount of space behind you. Either they just don’t want to be last or they’re (scarily) just not paying any attention to what’s not right in front of them. And the wonderful idiots who make right turns from the left lane! And vice-versa. I see that one EVERY DAY.
LikeLike
People who drive a friend or relative’s vehicle with handicapped plates or tags and park in that spot.
LikeLike
You can’t tell by looking if a person has their friends tag or if they have a disease like mine where I look perfectly normal but can’t walk more than a few feet before resting. Try not to judge unless you’re sure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
#47 – those people make me crazy!! But worse than the turn-sitters are the green-light sitters. You want to set me off , just sit there when the light turns green. I’m not one of those jerks who hit the horn the second the light chances, but I don’t want to wait half a minute or more while someone is using their phone, setting the radio, or eating!
LikeLike
My dad used to joke, “The light isn’t getting any greener now!”.
LikeLike
I nursed my first child and couldn’t even nurse her in my own home without having to go to my bedroom to do it. So I proudly post this to my wall!!!
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing. That’s sad when you have to hide even in your own home.
LikeLike
#15 is the biggest annoyance for me. If you ever see wide, open freeway in front of you, and 100 angry cars behind you, the problem is you. Move over and let the nice people pass you. I need a bumper sticker for this.
LikeLike
Bumper sticker is a great idea…except the offending people wouldn’t ever see it OR they wouldn’t know it’s about them!
LikeLike
Great point. I need a flashing LED display on my hood. LOL!
LikeLike
Great post! And I agree with the majority of these, particularly #13 which drives me inSANE every single day on my train commute to work. (I’m like a magnet for ahole cell phone talkers.)
LikeLike
[…] the original post from Big Cheese Dad to see what the rest of the list looks […]
LikeLike
#11 Really? You have watched entirely too much Dead Like Me. Though your rapier wit is appreciated as I share it. Virtually EVERYTHING on this list makes want to put my face in a pencil sharpener!
LikeLike
[…] Reality Check. “50 Things That Are More Offensive Than Nursing in Public” by Carl Wilke at Big Cheese […]
LikeLike