At the Louvre, a mother who was breastfeeding her baby was redirected to the museum toilets by an agent telling her that “this could disturb some of the visitors”. The event caused general indignation on the web, forcing the museum to justify itself for this act.
Visiting the Louvre Museum in Paris on June 2, a Franco-American mother experienced a particularly revolting moment. After more than two hours of strolling in front of paintings and statutes, Jasmin notices that her five-and-a-half-month-old daughter is hungry.. Noting that the Richelieu Gallery, which she, her French spouse and her sister from the United States have just entered, is almost emptyJasmin decides to breastfeed her baby on a bench.
But hardly does she begin to feed her child that a security guard approaches her and interrupts her : “What are you doing, lady?”, he asks. “He looked at us more closely and then explained to me that it was not allowed. When I asked why, he replied that this could disturb some of the visitors”, remembers Jasmin with our colleagues from Parisian.
Between misunderstanding and indignation
Shocked by the behavior of this agent who asks him to continue breastfeeding in the toilet, Jasmin and her family leave the museum. A few days later, when she speaks to the Ile-de-France daily, the mother is still confused.
Very modest, she affirms that she had a nursing dress that covered the chest and only allowed to let out the nipple, and only in parallel, the museum exhibited many representations of breastfeeding women. And it is not Internet users who will say the opposite. On Twitter, the reactions were not long in coming, it was general outrage.
The Louvre Museum will make a “general reminder of instructions”
Jasmin decided to write directly to the management of the Parisian museum, who replied: “If we have not yet succeeded in identifying the agent in question, we repeat that the visiting rules absolutely do not prohibit breastfeeding in the rooms. There may have been a misinterpretation of the rules. We are going to give a general reminder of the instructions.” The museum also wished to point out that a dedicated space, “the Studio”, offers mothers an armchair with armrests, as well as a bottle warmer to take care of infants.
Despite these justifications, the incident once again reveals how far there is still to go regarding the taboo of breastfeeding in public.