What kind of person complains about a breastfeeding mom?

A recent gaffe at a U-Village restaurant has brought up some questions for
KIRO Radio’s John Curley and Jim Dever. Not about the legalities of breastfeeding in public but about who is the kind of person who complains about the act.

KIRO7 reported that a breastfeeding mother was told to cover up by an employee who received a complaint from other customers.

“While I was nursing him, the hostess came up to me and told me to cover up because people had complained,” Lauren Hernandez told KIRO7. “And I told her ‘I think it’s illegal for you to tell me to cover up’ and she said, ‘No, we just had training on it.'”

Women are allowed to breastfeed in public in Washington and it’s illegal to ask a nursing mom to stop, cover up or move to a different location in the city of Seattle, according to KIRO TV, which reports that the general manager of the restaurant later apologized for the incident over social media.

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Curley says the problem for some people is the element of modesty.

“The idea is, should you have like a breastfeeding blanket or towel, or something like that, and would that be OK?” Curley asked.

Curley and Dever could picture the type of person who complained.

“I can see her in my mind’s eye,” Curley said.

“I can see her, too, ‘Young lady, could you come here please?,” Dever responded.

Curley then questioned why both he and Dever assumed the complainer was a female.

“I don’t know why, but yeah. What does that show about us?” Dever said. “Maybe it exposes a bias.”

KIRO Radio board operator Chaz Lip, on the other hand, guessed the offended individual was a male.

“There’s a lot of uptight males out there, we’re just not talking about them; they exist,” Lip said. “There’s a lot of very conservative, button-down &#8212 I’m talking socially speaking &#8212 (men) and it’s gonna rub them the wrong way. They’re out with their family and they just think that that’s an inappropriate sight.”