What the hell is wrong with this country?
Time magazine’s cover (yeah, this is for all the hermits of the world who have had their electricity cut off) shows a pretty young mother whose son is feeding from one of her breasts. The overwhelming negative reaction has simply floored me.
The reaction has gone from “barf” to “I don’t want to see them.” Over 70% of people polled are grossed out about a woman showing her breasts on the cover of Time. Her three year old son is getting milk from his mother’s breast. It’s not like she is sharing some crack with her toddler. It’s milk! And her son does not appear to be malnourished. That is part of the function of the breasts.
Would we have gone to war if part of the nipple was exposed? What a bunch of boobs.
I can only imagine what the response would have been if they had used an overweight woman on the cover. The reaction would have been that only fat pigs whip it out in public. And don’t tell me it wouldn’t have been that kind of uproar. A bunch of hippie freaks who are trying to overthrow the government by exposing their breasts.
France is looking really good about now.
People were annoyed that this woman appears to be healthy and slender. We women cannot win. This country makes us feel like something is wrong with us all the time. That somehow our breasts are vile and not one of the most beautiful parts of our bodies.
Breasts are really quite stunning and should be revered and not reviled. Regardless of the size and shape, whether they are healthy or not, our breasts offer beauty and in some cases… life itself.
Are we so afraid of the human body? Are we afraid about how the body functions? (I know my family is, but that is another blog). Are we just a bunch of puritanical and hypocritical misfits who feel the sight of a breast is a justified reason for the majority of Americans to have a meltdown? Grow up.
I can hear the comments already: the breast is not to be shown in public. Keep it behind closed doors. Breastfeeding should be done with the lights out. Nourishing your child after a certain age will lead them to the psychiatrist’s chair one day.
I like my breasts. I don’t need this country giving them an inferiority complex.
Hey, folks, Al Qaeda is looking to attack us again.
And just for the record –I wrote this blog while topless.
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You know, now that I think of it…this cover may have just paid for her breast-feeding son’s college. She will get the last laugh…
Five weeks spent in the NNICU watching my daughter being fed through a tube to gain enough weight just to come home. I tried everything to produce enough milk for her including pumping for hours and visiting a compound pharmacy for a special prescription. Ten cc’s of Momma’s Milk was an accomplishment. My insurance would no longer pay for donor milk. I told her doctor and the lactation counselers to do whatever was necessary to get her home. This meant switching to formula. Am I Mother Enough?
Jena- I think you are a great and caring mother who does the best for her baby. We all make the choices that work best for us and not what society says.
My knee-jerk reaction is this: It’s fine if she wants to breast-feed her 3-year-old son, but why does anybody have to flaunt it on the cover of a magazine? I don’t want to look at that, and it does kind of creep me out. That kid looks a little old to be breast feeding (yes, I know, in many countries, kids breast-feed till the age of 5). If that were a photo of a mother cradling and breast-feeding her infant child, I’d probably think it looked beautiful and react differently. But this? YUK.
Upon reading Lena Roy’s comments, now I can pin-point what grossed me out. As Lena wrote, “My issue with this cover is that TIME is being intentionally sexually provocative to gross people out. I was. Note the staging and body positions. The facial expressions. That is what is outrageous. It’s all in the presentation!”
I breastfed all three of my kids until they were almost two. My issue with this cover is that TIME is being intentionally sexually provocative to gross people out. I was. Note the staging and body positions. The facial expressions. That is what is outrageous. It’s all in the presentation! How are people going to ever accept breastfeeding if it’s presented like that?
Lena – my background is in the advertising field and I know Time knew what they were doing when they put that shot on the cover. I think if they put a peaceful shot of a mother and child, people would have been bored. this cover got everyone’s attention. And I am not saying I agree with it 100%. it is not a beautiful shot – it is cold. But people need to talk about it and give all breastfeeding mothers a break.
Thank you, Lena, for your comments. I was grossed out but couldn’t really put my finger on why. After reading your response, I thought, THAT’S IT!
I agree with you wholeheartedly. It’s the staging.
Am I the only one who looks at that photo and sees Chelsea Handler and Chewy?
I’ve taken heat for breastfeeding in public. Not much though, because I don’t put up with crap. People need to get over their puritanical, small-mindedness. Babies need to eat. Breasts are made to feed them. The end.
No problem seeing the wonderful act of breast-feeding. The age of the child doesn’t bother me either; however long it works for mother and child, in a healthy way of course. We’re so conservative in America.
I do take issue with the photo shoot itself, however. I imagine this shot was staged with lights, cameras and instructions, as any cover shoot would be. It seems as if this would lend a weird message to the boy’s interpretation of breast feeding, or at least take something wholesome and turn it into a spectacle.
Britton – I agree – we are too conservative in this country when it comes to our bodies. why is it acceptable to watch Holloywood blow up our bodies, multilate our bodies, but when it comes to a mother feeding her child, we say “not in front of me?” I agree – let the mother decide how to take good care of her child.
Elizabeth, loved your blog. If more women breastfed the world would be a better place and we would have healthier kids. I absolutely loved breastfeeding. The bonding was wonderful and the nutrition for the kids is the best. I did not continue it nearly as long as the women on the magazine, but to each her own. I am not ever offended by a picture of a woman breastfeeding and I always smile when I see any woman doing it in public or private because I can feel the love that she feels for her child. If only women ruled the world…………………………….
I had heard about the cover – but had not seen it. My thoughts when all the hoopla started about it – was not that it was about BREASTS or Breast feeding in public (the hoopla – not the article – haven’t read it and if it wasn’t thanks to your hitting the current themes, I’d still have not seen it) was the age of the child. I just remember seeing something that the kid was a bit old to be hanging on still. Not being a mother I don’t have a clue. I do keep my breasts hidden from my dogs. For safety reasons as they are jumpers. I am hoping to be able to flash them at a date one night – if anyone ever braves my house.
Damn funny.
American infantile thinking strikes again. People “grossed out” by breastfeeding? I’m now eager for my alien abduction…
Mark – save us a few seats!
Why is it, when they’re in Playboy, or the woman is lying sprawled in silk sheets, or she’s on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, they’re “art”. Use them for the intended purpose? They’re gross. It’s about the double-standard men and yes, some women have set up in this country. This nation thinks nothing of sexualizing a woman, but let her show her strength, how she can use them to nourish her family… and it’s suddenly inappropriate. Breastfeeding is powerful. When they’re not hooters or tits, men lose their erections. No pity party from me, sister!