"Doesn't he worry that he can offend people with the nasty tit on the top of the truck?" "I worry that we offend hungry babies every day for not letting them eat when they need it." This is one of the FAQ of the milk truck, "The Milk Truck".
That they provide a place to breastfeed babies seems appropriate for mothers who wish, just as there are those who prefer to give them the porridge or change them in a quiet and comfortable place. But the function of this truck goes further. The strident colors and the big tit that crowns it and that some may consider offensive give clues about it.
"The Milk Truck" ('the milk truck') is a truck that claims breastfeeding in the United States, a country in which about 12,000 women are arrested every year for breastfeeding their babies in public. Making breastfeeding visible and fun through this "symbolic truck" seems like a good idea in this country.
And, although breastfeeding is a perfectly legal act according to the national laws of the United States and thus it has been highlighted in recent years by reactions to detentions, law enforcement is protected by certain "laws of indecency" in force in several states or cities.
Whereupon, if it seems indecent to someone that a woman breastfeeds her baby in public, and runs into law enforcement to consider it, the woman could be arrested.
As we have seen in the blog, in certain cities there are rules that prohibit breastfeeding in public, equating the fact of feeding the baby to a sexual provocation or an act of indecency (you will understand what warming minds can determine this ...).
They are treated in my opinion of prudish and hypocritical norms that put natural breastfeeding in the same sack of other "indecencies" such as festive topless or sexual provocations. A narrow view that contrasts with other issues for me much more indecent than the country boasts.
But it is not necessary to go to the United States to find an opposition and rejection of the mother who breastfeeds in public. Also in Spain, we have found news of mothers who have tried to prevent breastfeeding in police stations, museums or restaurants, although "persecutors" have always had to rectify, as the law protects this right. A few truck stories of these would be needed in many parts of the world ...
How "The milk Truck" works
The milk truck circulating in the United States, like old milk trucks, will ring its bell through the streets in search of mothers who need to breastfeed wherever they are. The interior of the truck offers everything necessary for the comfort of mother and babies.
The first city that has seen this “milk truck 2.0” circulate is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, thanks to Jill Miller, a professor at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Art who, thanks to donations received at Kickstarter, has created the vehicle with irony and hoping to start a debate about mothers' rights to breastfeed wherever they please.
The vehicle will operate in the city during the Pittsburgh Biennial, until mid-December, and will serve nursing mothers when they are disturbed or recriminated for breastfeeding in public: they can send an SMS, a tweet or call the truck of the milk, which will go to the place where the woman has been vilified.
In this way he will stand before the accusers themselves, so that the mother can breastfeed in the same place. I can imagine them asking for reinforcements and law enforcement cordoning off the area!
The milk truck also carries out periodic rounds to offer a private and clean space for working mothers who extract milk (and incidentally claim better conditions for working mothers) and will visit companies with female personnel that require it, To make yourself known.
In short, I think "The Milk Truck", the breastfeeding truck in the United States in the original and fresh way of giving in the beards of those who see the tit from the top of the truck or that of the breastfeeding mother as something offensive. And above all, a way of moving controversy and making visible the barbarity of prohibiting breastfeeding in public.
