Woman Told Breastfeeding Was Indecent

December 16th, 2011 - By Brande Victorian

Security guards in a Washington, DC DMV picked the wrong mother to mess with this week. When Simone dos Santos was breastfeeding her 4-month-old in a hallway, two female security guards asked her to stop because it was indecent. What they didn’t know was dos Santos is an attorney, and she wasn’t about to take their “indecent exposure” claim at face value.

“I called my law firm to ask for pro bono assistance and an associate who could immediately research whether there was a law regarding breastfeeding in public,” dos Santos wrote in a blog for the Washington Post. “I wanted to get the name of all of the guards involved, and finally got a name and number of a supervisor before I was called into the room for the hearing on the parking ticket.”

dos Santos added that she’s since learned that the guards were wrong and had no right to stop her from breastfeeding her son. Citing the “Child’s Right to Nurse Human Rights Amendment Act of 2007, she said the law allows women to breastfeed in any location she has a right to be with her child—-public or private.

Stories like these aren’t uncommon. Last year, ABC did a little undercover experiment to gauge people’s reaction to mothers breastfeeding in public. Most people didn’t approve, but approval and rights are two separate things.

Are you bothered by women breastfeeding in public? Have you ever been asked or asked someone else to stop breastfeeding when you were out?


Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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  • cryx

    Small minded and insurer people erroll always see this as an issue. When my doctor told me the benefits of breastfeeding, out literally took me an instant to decide to breastfeed my baby girl. I’m not knocking formula its a personal choice but I would hater to know that people were choosing formula over natural milk just because of what someone else that has no say on the care of your child thought about exposure. I see moyer boobs and tail from sooner people who don’t even have so of its an indecent thing thenbefore you chastise a mother for exposing her breast to feed her hungry child, how about you chastise the random chick at table 3 for sitting the world her thing bc get skirt is too short, or the chick at table 6 who’s showing a lil bit of nipple and sheer had no children with her. How about asking them to go sit in the bathroom to eat? And then while your at it how about you take your lunch in the bathroom I’m pretty sure that feminine product bin would make a nicer little table for ur plate, and that toilet your sitting on couldn’t possibly have been a better, more comfortable seat, and if you look to your left…ahh…a whole roll of toliet tissue for you to wipe your face on. So the next time u tell a mother to go feed her fragile littler baby with its fragile little immune system in the filthy bathroom for doing exactly what God created us to do put yourself in the same situation. Breastfeeding mothers have rights and our feeding choice does not make us any less human than the next person so do yourself a favor and back off.

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  • Cynthiahinton

    Breastfeeding is the bonding experience a mother and child could have, so keep on Breastfeeding for the baby.

  • Mrsbagopepsi

    WAIT!!! As long as she doesn’t exposing her breast there’s no problem!? Breastfeeding is the most natural and healthy thing you can do for your child. She was completely in the right to breastfeed her child, breast out or NOT!! Ppl have been brainwashed so much in thinking that something so natural as breastfeeding could be considered indecent….when you eat cover yourself in layers. No one wants to see you eat either!

    • THarris

      Um, no and you really should stop the madness. Just because its best for the baby doesn’t mean respect for others go out the window. No one wants to see someone else’s goods. If she was covered up, then no one should care. Sounds like she was respectable about it. She shouldn’t have been bothered. 

      • Live_in_LDN

        Tharris, if you don’t want to see it then don’t gawk. Simple.

        • THarris

          I wish it were that simple! I can only speak on 1 experience I had where I was 19 and at a dinner party with my boyfriends extended family. We ate at Red Lobster and dessert was on its way and everything was cool until my exes too cool for school auntie pulled out a “lunch pack” (for lack of a better word) and jammed it into this 3 year olds mouth for the world to see ! I never even knew a momma could lactate THAT long. I was practically traumatized and she was so open with it. SMH Babies got eat too but she cold have done that in a bathroom.

          • Live_in_LDN

            Would you eat in a public restroom? I’m not a mother but if i had kids I wouldn’t feed them in a bathroom.

            I kind of see your shock cos I think 3 years old is too old to be breastfed personally. At 3 , you nephew/niece has the motor skills to drink from a sippy cup.

      • http://www.facebook.com/kayla.esbjorn Kayla Ancrum

        Most mothers who breast feed in public are super discrete about it. Just like you don’t want to see their goods, they don’t want to show them. I have never in my life seen a woman breast feeding in public whose breast wasn’t primarily covered. And if any part was exposed it wasn’t anymore than you would see if they were wearing a low cut shirt. For most people, its mainly just the act that disgusts them, not the appearance of actual flesh. Which is kind of stupid of you ask me, as it is something everyone does and no one likes the sound of a screaming hungry baby.

  • Girliusmaximus

    Sometime people should just mind their own business. Say something to those mommas letting their kids run loose in the grocery store and the mall like Godzilla on Tokyo… Leave breast-feeding mothers alone.

  • L-Boogie

    Clearly, she was not indecent.  In fact, she was covered up by multiple layers of clothing and burping napkin I think she should get an apology.

  • Exoticmalaya

    I also agree that she did the right thing. Her baby has to eat, and she made sure she went in the hallway. Their just mad because she probably had some nice beast for a black women!! Lol..

  • http://twitter.com/kekesmith8 keke smith

    As long as she’s not exposing her breasts there is no problem with it. This woman did the right thing.