It’s so important to stand up for your rights – as a woman and as a mother, which is why we’re not surprised by the overwhelming wave of support mum Emily Locke has received since sharing her now viral Facebook post on Monday.
Emily, like many other mums around the world, was left shocked and speechless when she was recently asked to stop breastfeeding her child at a museum – because she was apparently ‘hurting the innocence of children’ in the vicinity.
Sharing her experience on Facebook, Emily explained that she had been happily celebrating her sister’s wedding in the venue, when what was supposed to be a ‘beautiful day’ ended up ‘darkened by one situation’.
After taking a break from posing for photos to breastfeed her nine-month-old son, Emily was taken aback to say the least when she was approached by a museum employee who told her she had to stop nursing.
Emily fought her corner, insisting that she was well within her rights to breastfeed in a public place – but she was told that what she was doing was against the museum’s policy.
This past weekend I was in my sisters wedding. It was a beautiful day darkened by one situation. While taking pictures...
Posted by Emily Locke on Monday, March 21, 2016
“I refused [to stop] and she said she would have to get her manager. I said I would be happy to speak with her manager. Moments later, I was approached by a young woman. She said I would have to move and they had a private area where I could ‘do that’. I said I was fine where I was, and told her that legally I could nurse my child where ever I was permitted to be,” she wrote.
In what was possibly the most shocking and infuriating moment of their exchange, Emily recalled: “She then told me it was a family museum. I explained this is a family moment. She then told me she was just trying to protect the innocent children.”
Thankfully, Emily stood firm, and eventually the museum manager walked away defeated, but the mum-of-three admitted that she was shocked by the suggestion that, by nursing, she was ‘in some way hurting the innocence of children’.
“I was treated this way by women in a museum which actually has exhibits celebrating the civil rights movement, and women's rights. A museum that has nude female form on display as art, but could not see the art and beauty of a woman nursing her child. Mostly though, it concerned me that they believe it is okay to have a policy against nursing. That they would so aggressively try to stop me,” she added.
Emily told her Facebook friends and fans of her post that she was sharing her story in the hopes that the museum would learn a valuable lesson from the incident, as well as to reaffirm women’s right to nurse in public.
How do you feel about what happened to Emily?
