Stranger Tells Woman She Can’t Breastfeed In Her Own Car Because He Has His Kids With Him
A woman can breastfeed her child wherever she wants.
TikTok A TikToker named Gelsey Maree (@gelseymaree) posted a video recently that showed her in her car being harassed by a man for breastfeeding in public.
The minute-long video has been viewed by over 1.7 million people and showcases a very real problem that has plagued mothers for years and still continues to.
Gelsey Maree was harassed for breastfeeding in her car because the man had kids with him.
“So if I’m in my own car, this is my property and my area, it’s up to you whether you want to look into my car,” Maree says as soon as she set up the camera to record her altercation with the man who’s off-screen.
Maree, who was just breastfeeding inside her parked car in a parking garage, fixes herself and speaks to the man who approached her about feeding the baby in her arms while recording.
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“That’s okay,” the man claims, “I got kids in the car and all they see is your areolas and it’s just inappropriate. I don’t care what you got going on in here, I need you to go breastfeeding somewhere in private.”
He believes that, although she’s in the privacy of her car, his children are still able to see her breastfeeding and she should go somewhere else.
“I don’t know what you think this is, this is a public area,” he continued.
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The legality of breastfeeding in public varies state by state and as of July 2018, public breastfeeding was legalized in all 50 states when Idaho and Utah passed legislation to make it so.
“I’m in my private property — my car,” Maree continues. “You can choose to tell your children to look somewhere else because we’re in an outside world where there’s other things to look at.”
“Let me tell you how it’s gonna go little missy,” the man says, before continuing on his rant about how he shouldn’t have to see her breastfeeding.
At one point, Maree threatens to call the police, accusing him of harassing her and pointing out that the law is not on his side and he would be the one getting in trouble.
To this, he responds “I fear no man. I fear God,” before the video gets cut off.
People online were furious that the man told the new mom to breastfeed somewhere else.
“The way I would have rolled my window up, flipped him off and called the police,” one woman wrote.
Many also claimed that they would’ve called the police and said that she should have — the law was not on his side and he could have gotten in trouble.
“The audacity, I would’ve laughed in his face and rolled the window up,” another user wrote.
Others commended her for being able to stay calm in such an infuriating situation.
Maree did not provide an update on what happened after the video cut off, but it’s safe to assume that she kept minding her own business.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.