Dr Christian Jessen has claimed that a breastfeeding ban on planes is ‘not unreasonable’ as it will reduce ‘agro’ from other passengers.
The TV doctor made the comments in response to the policy of Dutch airline KLM, which has said that they may ask breastfeeding mothers to cover themselves if other passengers are offended.
Not-for-profit charity BPAS (British Pregnancy Advisory Service) tweeted: ‘Breastfeeding is not “offensive”, but this policy is. Email KLM now and tell them to reverse it’ and tagged a number of accounts, including Dr Christian.
However, the Embarrassing Bodies star wasn’t on the side they expected.
The 42-year-old tweeted: ‘Why? This doesn’t seem totally unreasonable to me. What is the issue as you see it?’
After someone replied: ‘Because it’s self evidently completely impractical & women shouldn’t be persecuted if someone catches a glimpse of breast. The problem is with those obsessed with staring at breasts not the women feeding their children’, Christian wrote: ‘It seems to me that their policy may reduce the risk of any breast feeding women experiencing agro from other passengers (which we know happens).
‘This must surely be in the mother’s interest? Some people can be very unpleasant as many BF mothers will have experienced!’
Bizarrely, Dr Christian then said he would be ‘for gay couples concealing their sexuality in order to avoid agro from homophobes’, tweeting: ‘Obviously. If it’s in the interest of their safety.’
Unsurprisingly, Dr Christian’s opinions on the matter weren’t too popular, with one person replying: ‘Why is this put on the breastfeeding mother instead of dealing with the person causing the ‘agro’? Surely it’s their issue.’
Another wrote: ‘This argument is dangerous and gross. What’s the flip side “she was abused for breastfeeding in public” “well, what can she expect if she doesn’t cover up?”’
KLM sparked a major social media debate when they told a customer on Twitter that while breastfeeding was permitted on their flights, they may ask some breastfeeders to cover up.
They tweeted: ‘Breastfeeding is permitted at KLM flights. However, to ensure that all our passengers of all backgrounds feel comfortable on board, we may request a mother to cover herself while breastfeeding, should other passengers be offended by this.
‘As an international airline company, we transport passengers with a variety of backgrounds. Not all passengers feel comfortable with breastfeeding in their vicinity and sometimes these passengers complain to the cabin staff.’
Metro.co.uk has approched Dr Jessen’s rep for further comment.
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