July 31st, 2006 by Mrs Eaves
CNN.com has an article covering (uncovering?) the latest breastfeeding controversy: a photograph on the cover of a magazine depicting a mother nursing her baby. Yep, there’s a bare breast. And a happy baby.
According to the article, there has evidently been quite an uproar about the photo, including a mother who shredded the magazine so her 13-year-old son wouldn’t see it. Evidently, she feels that a “breast is a breast,” and that her son doesn’t need to see something as sexual as a baby nursing on a bare breast.
Uh, yeah. If your 13-year-old-son is anything like the average 13-year-old-boy, I’m sure he’s seen a heck of a lot worse on network television, dating advertisements that pop up just about everywhere on the internet, and pre-teen fashion magazines with scantily-clad underage models.Â
You, Mom, had the opportunity to balance the cleavage of society with something that’s natural and certainly not sexually explicit. Instead, you belittled the breast to a simple sexual tool, and that is now how your son will view those parts of the female anatomy. Way to go, Mom!
July 31st, 2006 at 1:24 pm
First off, I’d like to say I like the word “boob”. It’s fun to say. Say it. BOOB.
Secondly, it’s a magazine geared toward women who are expecting or have recently had a baby. Jesus, ladies! It’s a boob! Barring any accidents or illness, you have two of them! There’s no nipple in the picture, and if you just glance at it quick-like, it could easily be an elbow, a shoulder or a knee. It’s not, but it could be.
Don’t let a sex-centric media turn something wholesome into something naughty. There’s nothing wrong with breasts or breast-feeding (unless we’re talking about a five-year-old doing it). I’d like to think that all breastfeeding mother are modest about it by covering up or nursing in an area specifically designated when they’re in mixed company. If you see a woman breastfeeding, and it bothers you, you can politely suggest that they cover up, or you can go somewhere you can’t see it. It’s not rocket science.
July 31st, 2006 at 1:32 pm
Amen!
July 31st, 2006 at 1:51 pm
I think that boobs in general are sexualized way more than they should be. Sure, don’t put em on cereal boxes, but it seems that other cultures are a lot less sexually oppressive, what with the acceptance of topless beaches and whatnot. I don’t think the problem here is that one wackjob is wigging out over titty, but rather that the media is picking this whole thing up as an OMG BOOBIEs thing, and thats really really old.
And, I’ll say it, I like boob. Show me more boob.
July 31st, 2006 at 2:02 pm
GAC said everything there is to say on this subject. Magazine for pregnant/new moms, no nipple or areola, nothing to fuss about. It’s a breast doing its’ job. I’ve got more explicit pictures in my flickr set than the cover of that magazine. My two teenagers, who find my existance on this planet embarrassing, don’t even blink when they see me or someone else breastfeeding.
July 31st, 2006 at 2:17 pm
As it should be.
July 31st, 2006 at 2:29 pm
Yes, all teenagers should find their parents embarrassing. :)
July 31st, 2006 at 2:39 pm
Well said, Mrs. Eaves! It’s unfortunate that society seems to have forgotten exactly what the primary purpose of the female breast really is. That they make our clothes hang nicely is incidental.
Like one woman in the article, I do remember one old biddy telling me in a restaurant that I should take my daughter to the ladies’ room to feed her. I was being very discreet, sitting in a corner, and covered with a receiving blanket… I told her that I don’t eat in the restroom, and that my baby shouldn’t have to, either.
July 31st, 2006 at 3:21 pm
My favorite statement from the article comes from the editor of babytalk magazine. She says, “It’s not like women are whipping them out with tassels on them,” she added. “Mostly, they are trying to be discreet.”
Ha! I wonder when La Leche League will start handing out tassels at their meetings?
fyi:
http://www.lalecheleague.org/
July 31st, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Being the oldest of five siblings, even at age 7, I knew good and well what boobs (You’re right GAC…great word, and fun to say) were good for. The spring my youngest brother was born, I bragged to my neighborhood buddies something to that effect and what was more I could prove it.
One afternoon, as soon as we got out of school, 5 or 6 of my closest bosom buddies went to my house and surprised my mother as she breast fed my baby brother. Mom didn’t miss a beat as I loudly exclaimed to my pals, “SEE I TOLD YOU!” She simply smiled and asked us if we wouldn’t be happy playing in the back yard.
July 31st, 2006 at 5:12 pm
So you were, that kid, huh, daco? Were you also the first to sneak a Playboy out of your dad’s closet?
July 31st, 2006 at 6:11 pm
No GAC, it wasn’t about sneakin a peak at a boob. I was the kid that had to explain to the morons that boobs were mammary glands and had a higher purpose than their daddies had taught them.
My mom, retired now, was a registered nurse. An OB nurse that loved the labor and delivery department. For a few years before and after I was at ORHS, dear ole mom taught some of the girl’s health classes at the high school. I grew up with a very healthy understanding of my parts and your parts.
Poor ole daco…always so misunderstood.
July 31st, 2006 at 7:41 pm
Every magazine cover should be so inclinded.
A couple of weeks ago, my wife went with her sister and our son to the beach.
On the way home in car, my son and wife were talking about off the wall things.
My son asked, “Mom, do you have big boobs?”
Shocked, she replied, “Ryan! No! They’re called breasts and thats not nice to ask a woman.”
Confused, my son then asked, “Are you going to buy some?”
“Ryan, no. i like the ones I have. This was how I was made.”
“Well i have small ones and you need big ones”
“Wait, Ryan… what are you talking about?”
“BOOTS MOMMY. BOOTS! YOU KNOW, FOR YOUR FEET?”
August 1st, 2006 at 11:47 am
folk who equate breastfeeding with sexuality are … well you know.
why is that some are Boob Fearing? that can’t be a sign of a healthy
individual. (unless it’s like that huge one that got loose in the
Woody Allen movie Everything You Always Wanted To Know
About Sex)
i’ve been seeing lots of boobs in all these political ads of late.
and remember, if ya have a Fear of Boob, just drop a letter and say
Bob.
August 2nd, 2006 at 4:31 pm
Dear lord, if the world doesn’t lighten up a lil bit, it’s gonna blow a friggin’ gasket.