Queer as Moms
Meri Perra blogs about the challenges she and her partner face in trying to raise their girls with feminist values
When I interviewed queer parenting expert Rachel Epstein, the coordinator of the LGBTQ Parenting Network at the Sherbourne Health Centre last summer, she told me what I had always suspected. “We don’t usually hear about problems at daycare,” Epstein said.
It’s good news, and despite us being the only queer family at our day care centre, it’s been our experience as well. Back in the summer, I didn’t know we were about to lose the kindergarten wait-list gamble we choose for our four-year old. I couldn’t imagine, that after we lost, I would feel part guilt (for depriving Rosa of a JK experience) and part relief (thank you God, public school is delayed another year!) Read more...
Queer as Moms
Meri Perra blogs about the challenges she and her partner face in trying to raise their girls with feminist values
This must be what it feels like to be stuck in a time loop. Last week, two more chapters were added to the saga of Facebook versus the breastfeeding moms.
In a story that got less of attention this side of the pond, the social networking site apologized to a U.K. breastfeeding supply company, Express Yourself Mums, for shutting down their page because of
a “policy violation”. The violation: pictures of children play-breastfeeding dolls.
Like many parents, Express Yourself Mums co-owner Sharon Blackstone couldn’t resist posting a picture of her daughter, Maya, to Facebook. After giving her doll a naming ceremony, Maya announced her baby was hungry. Acting just like her mom, Maya began to “breastfeed” her doll. What’s a mom who runs a breastfeeding supply company to do other than take out her phone, snap a picture and post it to Facebook? It was like Maya was doing the marketing for her mom’s company. Read more...
Queer as Moms
Meri Perra blogs about the challenges she and her partner face in trying to raise their girls with feminist values
A couple of years ago, I wrote an article about the City of Toronto’s breastfeeding-friendly restaurant campaign. I talked to several restaurant owners, most of who happened to be men, about breastfeeding in public.
They were all – yes, all – quite positive about having women breastfeed in their businesses. Most of them did not think the campaign, which involved sending breastfeeding-friendly decals to every restaurant in Toronto, mattered one bit.
Long before they had a sticker on their door that said so, they told me, women breastfeed in their restaurants. Moms dinned while babies BTOB (brought their own breast). Sorry.
One owner told me, “It’s the most natural thing in the world, why would anyone have a problem with it?”
Why indeed. Read more...
