On June 2, a young mother visiting the Louvre Museum was asked by a security guard to go and breastfeed her baby in the toilets, rather than in a museum room.
On the Internet, Internet users are defending a ban and comparing breast-feeding in public spaces to sexual exhibition.
No law prohibits breastfeeding in the public space in France, and this act has nothing to do with the definition of sexual exhibition according to the Penal Code.
"Ok, the Louvre is full of exposed breasts on statues and paintings, but a breastfeeding woman is disturbing..." While some Internet users were amused, the case sparked a large number of debates on the networks. social.
On June 2, a woman who was breastfeeding her baby during a visit to the Louvre Museum was ordered to go to the bathroom to pursue by a museum agent.
The latter would have explained to him that breastfeeding in the museum was not “allowed” and that “it could disturb other visitors”.
This case echoes others that have occurred in recent months, whether at Pôle emploi or at Disneyland.
If the majority of Internet users were offended by the agent's reaction, others justified his decision, arguing that breastfeeding in public spaces fell under the offense of sexual exhibition provided for by article 222-32 of the Penal Code.
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What does the law say about this?
Nothing precisely, but what is not prohibited is authorized, as specified in article 5 of the declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen.
Thus, mothers who wish to do so are free to breastfeed in the public space and the agent of the Louvre Museum had no right to ask the young mother to hide from view to breast-feed her baby. .
The only mention of breastfeeding in the law concerns breastfeeding at work.
These are articles L1225-30 and L1225-31 of the Labor Code which stipulate that an employee may breastfeed her child in the establishment where she works and that "for one year from the day of birth, the employee breastfeeding her child has one hour a day for this purpose during working hours.
Nothing to do with sexual exhibition
It is therefore a question here of facilitating breastfeeding for mothers who wish it.
Nothing to do with a possible offense of sexual exhibition since the quoted article specifies that "sexual exhibition is constituted if is imposed in the sight of others, in a place accessible to the gaze of the public, the explicit commission of a sexual act, real or simulated”.
This debate about breastfeeding in the public space is not new and always gives rise to the same controversies.
To remedy this, Fiona Lazaar, MP for the 5th constituency of Val-d'Oise tabled, on June 15, 2021, before the National Assembly a bill relating to the creation of an offense of obstruction of breastfeeding. .
A bill for "Offence of obstructing breastfeeding"
This bill contains two articles, the first creates an offense punishable by a fine of 1,500 euros for anyone who prohibits or attempts to prohibit a woman from breastfeeding in a public space or in an establishment open to the public.
The second writes in black on white that breastfeeding in public does not constitute sexual exhibition.
The bill is, to this day, still referred to the Social Affairs Committee.
The Louvre Museum has also returned to the incident following articles published on this affair, to confirm that it is possible to breastfeed in the museum, and that in addition, a space dedicated to parents who so wish offers a nursing chair.
Contacted by
20 Minutes
on the follow-up given to this case, the museum has not yet responded to our requests.
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