Some move to change ‘breast’ milk to ‘chest’ or ‘human’ milk in effort to be more inclusive
CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — There is a new push by some health care professionals to change the term “breast milk” to “chest milk.”
In the United Kingdom, one hospital made international headlines for changing the term “breast milk” to “human milk.” It’s an effort to be more inclusive to transgender and non-binary parents.
But not all organizations or hospitals are following suit. Dr. Cecilia Banga specializes in delivering babies and prenatal care.
“This [term] is not really a pervasive topic of discussion here in the United States,” said Banga. She says breast tissue itself is not specific to one gender.
“I think it’s important to note that regardless of the origin. It’s very important for infants to get milk that comes from humans. Depending on what we want to call it, breast milk, chest milk, human milk. That depends on the patient and what they are comfortable with. It doesn’t change the fact that the milk is coming from humans and that it’s coming from the breast,” said Banga.
The North Carolina doctor says that despite the term, milk itself is an essential necessity to babies’ health. “Breast milk is a huge first step towards a baby developing a strong immune system because it is chock full of multiple nutrients,” said Banga.
Regardless of the term, both experts say it’s a person’s choice to decide what they want to call it and gender inclusion does not mean exclusion for any other patients.
They recommend patients tell their doctor or lactation expert which pronouns they prefer and the terms they are most comfortable with as they go through the process.
via: https://pix11.com/news/some-move-to-change-breast-milk-to-chest-or-human-milk-in-effort-to-be-more-inclusive/
Photo Credit: pix11.com
California bill would ban ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ departments in stores
Big stores in California would have to get rid of separate “boys” and “girls” departments for toys and clothes under a new bill.
The proposal would require stores with 500 or more employees to maintain “undivided areas of its sales floor” for childcare items, kids clothes and toys, “regardless of whether an item has traditionally been marketed for either girls or for boys,” according to the legislation.
The bill, which refers to “unjustified differences in similar products that are traditionally marketed either for girls or for boys,” would also ban signs indicating specific items are for girls or boys.
Online, any California-based businesses selling childcare items, children’s clothing or toys, would have to “dedicate a section of the internet website to the sale of those items and articles that is titled, at the discretion of the retailer, ‘kids,’ ‘unisex,’ or ‘gender neutral.’”, the bill states.
Stores would face $1,000 fines for failing to comply.
The bill, co-authored by Democrat, Evan Low, who chairs the California Legislative LGBT Caucus, and Cristina Garcia, who chairs the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, was first introduced last year but scrapped as the pandemic came to the forefront.
Low told the Sacramento Bee he was inspired by Target Corp.’s move to do away with gendered signs in 2015.
“As much as I’d like to think of this as watershed legislation, this is something the industry is already doing. We’re just trying to play catch up,” he said.
He also cited a staffer’s 9-year-old daughter, who complained the science toys were in the “boys” section of a store.
“That was the impetus of this, which is how do we make a safe space today for children in society.”
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/06/california-bill-would-ban-boys-girls-departments-in-stores/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Utah mom arrested for driving with her two kids while on video call
A Utah mother was arrested Wednesday for allegedly making a video call while driving with her two young daughters in the backseat, authorities said.
Gabriella Ann McKenzie, 19, was stopped by a detective after he saw her driving erratically in Eagle Mountain just after 6:30 p.m., according to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.
The detective pulled up next to McKenzie and saw she was on a video call with someone.
A deputy arrived at the scene for back up, and they asked her to get her children — ages 2 and eight months — out of the car so they could search it, the sheriff’s office said.
McKenzie refused but ended up taking her kids out of the car as well as a brown bag she hid in her waistband, according to officials.
The officers handcuffed her and confiscated the brown bag, which contained cocaine.
They also found marijuana, a bottle of liquor and other drug paraphernalia, the sheriff’s office said.
McKenzie’s parents later arrived at the scene and took her daughters and car.
The young mother was booked into jail on charges of child endangerment, possession of cocaine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, among others.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/04/utah-mom-arrested-for-driving-with-her-two-kids-while-on-video-call/
Photo Credit: Utah County Sheriff’s Office
NY lawmaker wants sex ed for kindergartners and kids as young as 11 would get lectures on vaginal, oral and anal sex
Get ready for the latest woke wave in education: comprehensive sex ed for kids as young as 5 — thanks to a new bill in the state Senate.
Legislation sponsored by state Sen. Samra G. Brouk, a freshman Democrat from Rochester, would tie New York’s health curriculum to standards written by a left-wing interest group that advocates “Sex Ed for Social Change” — and would make those lessons mandatory statewide.
Under that group’s current standards, public and charter schools would have to teach 5-year-olds about “gender identity” and instruct 8-year-olds on hormone blockers to prevent puberty in transgender-identifying preteens.
Kids as young as 11 would get lectures on “vaginal, oral, and anal sex”; study “queer, two-spirit, asexual, pansexual” and other gender identities; and receive explicit instruction on the use of external and internal condoms, dental dams and other contraceptives.
Brouk told The Post, “I am greatly concerned about the unacceptably high incidence of relationship violence, sexual harassment and assault, and online bullying in our society today. We must equip the next generation with the skills and education they will need to thrive.”
But her proposal would legally link New York’s schools to the shifting recommendations of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).
“We would be outsourcing our curriculum to this outside organization,” said Assemblyman Michael Reilly (R-SI), a member of the education committee. “That’s a concern.”
Some parents are also worried.
“The state constitution guarantees a basic education, but nowhere does it say ‘we have to prepare our kids to change their sex if they want to,’” said Sam Pirozzolo of the New York City Parents Union. “We have schools where 95% of kids can’t read or do math at grade level, and now they want to bring in these complicated social justice issues? That’s BS.”
Even parents who approve of sex ed in school are queasy about the envelope-pushing topics the law would require.
“It’s inappropriate,” said Ken Jewell, a Manhattan family law attorney whose two children attend New York City public elementary schools. “These are things kids that age are not capable of comprehending yet.”
Jewell favors early-grade instruction on personal space and pedophilia protection, but think’s Brouk’s measure “goes too far.”
“As a dad I want my kid armed enough to know if something is wrong,” he said. “But I don’t want to put knowledge in their heads that takes away the innocence of childhood.”
A recent study by Montclair State University professors boosted early sex education as a way of preventing child sex abuse and, later, partner violence.
“I am in love with the SEICUS standards,” declared child psychologist Dr. Kelly Rabenstein Donohoe. “They discuss all aspects of human sexual development and relationships, and promote better communication about uncomfortable topics. This knowledge both protects kids and prepares them.”
New York is one of 22 states that lacks a statewide sex-ed requirement. State law leaves the topic to local school districts to decide — other than HIV/AIDS instruction, which is required for grades K-12 using lesson plans “consistent with community values.”
In New York City public schools, that means lower-grade instruction on viruses and the immune system, with no mention of sexual contact until fourth grade. Middle and high schoolers receive sexual health education in city schools starting in sixth grade.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/06/ny-lawmaker-wants-sex-ed-for-kindergartners/
Photo Credit: nysenate.gov
Amanda Gorman, inaugural poet, ‘tailed’ by security guard on her walk home because she looked “suspicious”
(CNN)Amanda Gorman, the nation’s first youth poet laureate, said she was “tailed” and told “you look suspicious” by a security guard as she walked home Friday night.”
A security guard tailed me on my walk home tonight. He demanded if I lived there because ‘you look suspicious.’ I showed my keys & buzzed myself into my building. He left, no apology,” Gorman wrote in a post on her verified Instagram account.
“This is the reality of black girls: One day you’re called an icon, the next day, a threat,” she added.
In a later tweet, the 22-year-old said, “In a sense he was right. I AM A THREAT: a threat to injustice, to inequality, to ignorance. Anyone who speaks the truth and walks with hope is an obvious and fatal danger to the powers that be. A threat and proud.”
America’s youngest inaugural poet earned national acclaim on January 21 when she recited her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” as President Joe Biden took the oath of office.It was mere days since a mob of armed Trump supporters wielding knives, bombs, and pepper spray stormed the Capitol.
The encounter with the security guard Gorman describes is reminiscent of police violence and aggression against Black Americans, whose deaths have sparked national movements, including #BlackLivesMatter.
Black men are approximately 2.5 times more likely to die at the hands of police over a lifetime as compared to White men, according to research by the National Academy of Sciences.
Based on the 2019 study, Black women are about 1.4 times more likely to be killed by police compared with White women, according to the researchers.
In March 2020, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was shot and killed by police officers inside her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky during a flawed forced entry raid.
Her death sparked a national rallying cry for racial justice and an overhaul of the policing system, including the campaign #SayHerName.
“#SayHerName is grounded in the sad reality that Black women and girls who are targeted, brutalized, and killed by police are all too often excluded from mainstream narratives around police violence,” the campaign’s webpage reads.
“You’re not safe anywhere. Not even safe in your own home,” #SayHerName founder and attorney Kimberlé Crenshaw told CNN’s Erin Burnett.
via: https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/06/us/amanda-gorman-followed-security-guard-trnd/index.html
Photo Credit: cnn.com
Texas school under fire for ‘chivalry day’ that had girls obey boys
A Texas school is under fire after it organized a “Rules of Chivalry Day” and encouraged female students to “obey” any “reasonable” demands made of them by male classmates.
According to a copy of the assignment rules posted by a Dallas Morning News reporter, the unorthodox lesson was meant to mimic medieval notions of chivalry to demonstrate how “courtly love carries over into the modern day.”
Female students were encouraged to “address all men with a lowered head and curtsy” and encouraged “not to whine or complain” for the duration of the assignment.
In order to win points during the exercise at Shallowater High School in Lubbock, female students were told not to “show intellectual superiority if it would offend the men around them,” according to the tweet.
Male students were also reportedly given advisories — including referring to girls as “milady” and showing “courtly courtesy as they assist ladies who may have dropped an article by picking it up for them,” according to a subsequent tweet.
Boys were also told not to use vulgarity or complain and to rise when females entered or exited a room.
Twitter reactions varied — with some speculating that the assignments were supposed to demonstrate regressive gender roles of the period.
But most respondents found the material unacceptable no matter the intent.
The school eventually canceled the concept outright.
“This assignment has been reviewed, and despite its historical context, it does not reflect our district and community values,” wrote Dr. Anita Herbert, superintendent of the local district, according to Fox News. “The matter has been addressed with the teacher, and the assignment was removed.”
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/05/texas-school-under-fire-for-chivalry-day-that-had-girls-obey-boys/
Photo Credit: Google Maps
EMS worker bitten by patient while responding to call
SHEEPSHEAD BAY, Brooklyn — An FDNY EMS paramedic was bitten in the face responding to a call Friday in Brooklyn, according to officials.
An FDNY official said it happened on Friday at about 1:40 a.m. The paramedic responded to 2856 Haring Street for a report of someone feeling ill.
While the paramedic was trying to move the patient onto a stretcher to take them to the hospital, she was bitten in the face by the patient, a union official said.
Anthony Almojera, an FDNY EMS union officer, shared the account on social media seeking to amplify the dangers EMS workers go though. (She gave Almojera permission to share the photos with PIX11.)
After the attack, two people were taken to local hospitals, an FDNY spokesperson said — a patient and the paramedic.
The union called the attack vicious and said the paramedic suffered “extensive injuries and possible permanent facial scars.”
“How much longer will our women and men be sent out on calls without having the proper tools to assist them? This past week alone, over a dozen FDNY EMS Local 2507 members were assaulted, one even sustained a broken nose, another crew had a knife pulled on them and countless others suffered other injuries,” said FDNY EMS Local 2507 President Oren Barzilay.
“When will our public officials come to our defense and offer EMS personnel protections? We need better training, better equipment, better care of our women and men for the long term effects from these assaults.
“The injuries sustained by our Paramedic are horrific. No one should be attacked when they are at work, and certainly not EMTs and Paramedics who respond to every incident with one mission – to save lives,” said Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro.
A source said two other EMS workers were bitten in recent weeks in addition to Friday’s attack.
via: https://pix11.com/news/local-news/brooklyn/ems-worker-bitten-by-patient-while-responding-to-call/
Photo Credit: Anthony Almojera
Amazon delivery driver urinates on customer’s groceries
(Meredith) – A Rhode Island man is shocked after he said he watched his Ring doorbell camera to find an Amazon delivery driver urinating on the groceries he had just dropped off.
In the Ring video, you can see the driver dropping off cases of seltzer water that the customer had ordered from Whole Foods through Amazon Prime.
The customer, who wants to remain anonymous, was alerted by his Ring doorbell camera when the delivery driver approached.
“I was watching, and he was acting strange. So I kept watching,” the customer told WLNE.
The video shows the delivery driver pacing back and forth a few times. Then, he realizes he is being captured on camera, so he crouches down out of view and presumably urinates on the groceries he just dropped off.
“I didn’t know what he did until I looked outside and saw the wet spot there on the ground,” the customer told WLNE. “Then I went back inside and re-watched the video. And I put the volume all the way up and I could hear it. At that point, I realized that he had urinated all over my food.”
The customer immediately called Amazon customer service, which he said was largely unhelpful. But then he called a corporate Amazon number, and a representative apologized profusely and sent a cleaning crew to the customer’s house to clean their front walkway. The representative also gave the customer a $100 Amazon credit.
The customer said he is “mind-blown” about the whole situation and is thankful for his Ring camera.
“I’m extremely happy that I had the Ring doorbell because if we didn’t then we would be drinking those seltzers right now,” he said. “It’s disgusting to think about.”
The customer also contacted local police, who have been trying to locate the driver.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/caught-on-cam-amazon-delivery-driver-urinates-on-customers-groceries/article_6128a645-3db5-5a9a-a063-debee8a2bf1a.html?block_id=666554
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Missouri pastor slammed for telling wives to ‘lose weight,’ ‘look less butch’ to keep husbands
(Meredith) – A Missouri pastor is on leave after he gave a sermon that many people say was sexist, misogynistic and inappropriate.
Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark took a leave of absence Tuesday from First General Baptist Church in Malden, Missouri – located in the state’s southeast boot heel – after receiving widespread criticism for his sermon given in late February.
In his sermon, he explained that women need to lose weight and submit to the sexual desires of their husbands to keep the men from straying.
Clark also said wives need to wear makeup, dress nicely, have nice hair and appear less “butch.”
The original video was deleted from the church’s website, but a woman who was watching the sermon that day managed to post the video to Facebook, where it has caused widespread anger and gained thousands of comments.
Clark continued to ask why women “let themselves go after marriage” and reiterated that men only marry for good looks and sex.
“Men have a need for their women to look like women. Sweatpants don’t cut it all the time. Wearing flip flops and pajamas to Walmart – that ain’t going to work. Ain’t nothing attractive about that. It’ ain’t,” Clark said in his sermon. “And men want their wives to look good at home and in public, can I get an Amen!”Your first title is on usListen to Originals, audiobooks, podcasts, & more. Try Audible free for 30 daysAd By Audible See More
Clark also claimed this topic is “so important” that a friend of his has put a weight limit on his wife before he would divorce her.
“Ladies, it’s the way God made us. It’s the way we are. Men are going to look. He made us to look. You want them to be looking at you. Don’t let yourself go,” Clark said in his sermon.
Clark also used former First Lady Melania Trump as an example of what women should strive to look like, although he acknowledged that “not everybody looks like that.”
“Now look, I’m not saying every woman can be the epic, epic trophy wife of all time like Melania Trump. I’m not saying that at all. Most women can’t be trophy wives, but you know … maybe you’re a participation trophy,” Clark said as a photo of Melania Trump appeared on the screen. “I don’t know, but all I can say is not everybody looks like that. Amen! Not everybody looks like that. But you don’t need to look like a butch either.”
The church released a statement Monday saying Clark’s sermon was “not consistent with the positions and values” of the church.
“General Baptists believe that every woman was created in the image of God, and they should be valued for that reason,” General Baptist Ministries posted on Facebook.
Clark is now on leave. It’s unclear whether that leave is paid or unpaid. The church also said Clark is now seeking “professional counseling.”
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/missouri-pastor-slammed-for-telling-wives-to-lose-weight-look-less-butch-to-keep-husbands/article_74bf3477-28bd-5efc-9c3c-f0ade3d653ed.html
Photo Credit: lipstickalley
1-year-old baby accidentally shot by Houston officer in deadly shooting
HOUSTON (KTRK ) — A mother who pulled into a southwest Houston gas station overnight could never have imagined what happened next. Her 1-year-old baby in the backseat of her car was shot. The pair was caught in the middle as police confronted a chase suspect.
The shooting happened around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday at a Chevron gas station near the Southwest Freeway and Beechnut.
Police say the officer who opened fire didn’t know the baby was in the back seat.
The baby’s mother was parked at the gas station at pump 4. She was outside her car getting gas, and her baby was in the back seat.
Suddenly, a suspect in a black Mercedes crashed at the gas station, jumped out of the Mercedes, and got into her car, according to police.
Houston police had been chasing the man for about three miles. They say the black Mercedes he was driving was possibly linked to two aggravated robberies.
Officers thought he was about to steal the woman’s car.
Police say the man had a gun, so officers told him to drop it.
According to police, the man didn’t drop the gun, and that’s when the officer fired, hitting not only the suspect, but also the 1-year-old child in the backseat.
“The most important thing right here, for our entire city, pray for this 1-year-old and that mother,” HPD Executive Assistant Chief Troy Finner said. “Can you imagine? She’s pumping gas, probably coming from work or whatever, and has to go through this. And now she’s in the hospital and we’re all praying for that baby.”
Video shows the baby’s head bandaged at the scene. The 1-year-old was reportedly stable at a hospital. Police say the baby’s mom was not hurt.
The faces of the police officers in the video are blurred as they were undercover at the time of the shooting.
The suspect, a man in his 30s, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Although police say the suspect had a gun, it is unclear if he ever pointed it at officers.
“I saw at least four or five cop cars chasing, I believe it was a Mercedes. Your best bet is to get footage from the gas station. I’m pretty sure they got everything,” eyewitness Jaffar Hassan recalled.
The clerk at the gas station confirmed with ABC13 that there is surveillance video of the shooting.
The officer who shot the suspect and the baby has been with HPD for 15 years. HPD says he has been placed on administrative leave while the investigation continues.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/1-year-old-baby-accidentally-shot-by-houston-officer-in-deadly-shooting-police-say/article_4a456d22-748f-5b74-80bc-5dda398ffb81.html
Photo Credit: kmov.com