Do you know what offends Park Slope breastfeeding moms more than banning breastfeeding? Covering up artwork that features nipples! A painting of a topless woman at Tea Lounge on Union Street was briefly censored, thanks to a concerned employee.
According to the Wall Street Journal, cafe owner Jonathan Spiel "was surprised by the mini-tempest in his tea shop and blamed the abundance of caution on a misunderstanding with his staff," explaining the paintings, including the one in question, were "done by an employee of mine. Originally I'd asked him to make sure there was nothing uncomfortable which a little kid might ask his mom about. I don't want to offend people or cause that tension." Right, like kids at Tea Lounge have never seen nipples before.
So when another employee asked David Mitchell Aronson to, uh, adjust the painting, Aronson agreed—and also covered up male subjects' nipples. After the mini-outcry (one mom said, "It's absolutely ridiculous because this is such a liberal hangout, and there are so many breast-feeding mothers in here"), Spiel bared the boobs, but did admit that a no-lady-nipples-in-art ban did extend to...photography.
