So…I have been reading about the brouhaha (boob ha ha?) over the Baby Talk magazine cover with the baby nursing at an ample mommy boob. Some people, apparently some moms, find it offensive that a baby being fed by his mama graces the cover of a…GASP…parenting magazine! Good Lord! What will they think of next?! A photo of a naked baby on the cover!? The audacity!
First of all, Baby Talk is a free publication geared toward mothers, not pre-pubescent boys with raging hormones or dirty old men who want to get their jollies. It’s a parenting magazine. The cover also is a fit editorially as this week is World Breastfeeding Week. I work for a publishing company and I can tell you these cover concepts do not magically appear out of thin air. The editorial staff of Baby Talk chose this photo and who knows, perhaps they knew it would raise a few eyebrows and stir up some conversations over breastfeeding. And, if so, it succeeded in bringing more attention to breastfeeding. What kills me, though, is you see more boob action on MTV, BET, and VH1 in one hour than you’ll probably see in most parenting magazines. But I’m sure if they put a photo of a mother feeding her baby formula on the cover some people would have a problem with that, too.
I am not a card carrying La Leche League member and I am about as un-Granola as they come. I shave my legs and armpits regularly, I did not make my own organic baby food, I did not wear my babies in hip trendy slings (for one thing Caitlin was so damn fat I would have crippled myself), I use disposable diapers, and I did not co-sleep with my girls, but I did breastfeed. (Caitlin for six months, and Amelia for 9.) Long before there was formula (which, yes, I used) and bottles there were boobs. Like it or not, they serve a purpose other than flashing or piercing or amplifying with silicone implants. And honestly, you’ll see more boob flashing if you just watch the coverage of Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson’s nuptials. I mean seriously…the woman’s going to put someone’s eye out with those things. They’re dangerous!
So get over the breastfeeding photos people. And if you’re checking out Baby Talk magazine for sexay photos you’ve got a serious problem any way. And if you are a mom who prefers formula feeding over breastfeeding, that is fine, too. Just toss this month’s freebie copy you picked up at your OBGYN office. There are also plenty of things for breastfeeding advocates to take issue with, such as formula samples being handed out at labor and delivery wards. But I know one thing is for sure…babies and boobs are here to stay.
You took the words right out of my mouth! People can find anything to get in an uproar about these days. Geez..
I just heard a speaker at my in-service this morning talk about how you can’t make everyone happy all the time, and in fact your critics are always going to find SOMETHING to slam you over – no matter what. How appropriate for this post! I say to each their own…what works for some can’t work for others (like me, I couldn’t nurse Chase, but could Claire). It’s an ageless debate that is equal to beating a dead horse.
You know me, I don’t even know where to begin on this topic!
You’re so right… I just stopped nursing and I DARED anyone to harass me when I whipped ‘em out in public to feed a hungry kid. Never happened, thank goodness.
Now: Did you see the picture of Melanie Griffith lighting a cigarette for her teenage daughter?!
Well said. The picture was tasteful (no pun intended), and right after I saw it I saw a picture of a naked Britney Spears posed on a mag cover in a coy pose showing off her pregnant self. Neither pic offends me, but how can there be so much fuss over the one, and not a word over the other, which can be found at grocery checkouts and newstands everywhere? I don’t always get it.
Personally, I always covered up when I nursed in public (of course, that was 21 years ago), but that picture seems perfectly appropriate for the magazine it’s on. Get over it, people!
I have to admit to ya’ll that I wasn’t a big breastfeeding in public mama. I would usually pump and take a bottle “to go” or have powdered formula in case of emergency. But I definitely don’t have a problem with the Baby Talk cover. It just seems like there is much more offensive “stuff” out there to worry about!
Jamie
p.s. Mayberry Mom, YES I saw the photo of Melanie Griffith helping her teenage daughter light a cig. GAH
Such a fussy issue with VERY strong opinions. As I tell gals at work all the time (on the maternity floor), you just make a choice. Both choices have pros and cons. Do what works best for you.
But I still adore that cover
I had something on this as well – you’re absolutely right that Pam is flashing more boob than that cover image!
You put into words what I haven’t been able to.
Reading some of the comments people have made about this cover just make me sick. Somebody said she didn’t want her HUSBAND or her kids to see that, and they shouldn’t be subjected to it. She’s afraid it would make her husband UNCOMFORTABLE. And where was that husband when your kids were born and the whole time they were growing up? In the waiting room with cigars and then “at work”? Did he make those babies without seeing any boob? If so, his sex life sucks. If I ever met that woman, I’d smack her on principle.
Its cause boobies are a mans plaything, NOT a vessel for feeding our children! Didn’t you know that??
JAG: “If I ever met that woman, I’d smack her on principle.”
LMAO
I’d be right behind you.
Because heaven forbid that “other people” be uncomfortable by breastfeeding.
Husbands with wives like these are simply very adept at hiding the porn or the computer. Poor man
Well said I couldn’t agree more! The picture of mom and child I think is something beautiful natural and completely real.
Unlike the picture with Pamela Anderson I am guessing that there is not a real part on that woman’s body!
Jamie,
It seems to me that some in our society have forgotten what breasts were really meant for. I guess with all the near naked women on the front of magazines, breasts have become sexualized. I find nothing offensive about that picture, and I did not breastfeed any of my kids. People need to get over it.
Sing it, sister! I totally agree.
Isn’t that the truth. Geez! I was totally ununderstanding to it. If you don’t like it, don’t look. Is it all that hard?
I think it is the SWEETEST picture-it makes me regret not breastfeeding. How I wish my little ones were that young again.
You’ve got to check out Girl from Florida. She just posted about this.
http://www.girlfromflorida.blogspot.com
Blogging WBW 2006
Here are some blogs who are sharing thoughts on breastfeeding, in support of World Breastfeeding Week 2006. August 3: MereMortal Mom Mountain Mama Angelic Momma Out of Cute This Classical Life PonderFool SweetPea Green Goddess Celebrity Baby Blog Mary …
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That’s a terrific title, ma’am!
bill’s last blog post..Progress and Gingerbread
It’s interesting some would be so upset by it. I have an exact picture of myself with my 1 day old baby doing the same. I put it in the photo album that I scrapbooked for them. It’s just a boob!
people are just getting to paranoid nowadays. it’s getting bad.
Jenny’s last blog post..Just Too Cute
Anyone who gets turned on by a picture of a woman breast feeding is probably a border line paedophile and to say that the photo is inappropriate is simply wrong. Breast feeding a child is the most natural thing in the world and a thing of wonder.
What gets me is that the boob on the cover doesn’t even look like a boob at first glance. Seriously, mine have so many stretch marks and there’s no areola in sight. It could be a shoulder for all we know.
I lament the lack of modesty in general too:
read my blog.. ;P
MomIzs last blog post..Where has modesty gone?
I thought it was a great article personally.
Email me: carpenterz {at} tamu(.)edu
For me it’s picture of the world and goods. All magazines and TV has given breasts too much sex. And people forgot that breast give something very healthy for babies. Children for many became a problem, the main idea sex. Awfully!
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Ok. I stumbled upon this article. Now I will have to look for Baby Talk under my sons bed and get rid of them! Oh please. Some people really do need to get a life. Nothing revealed, nothing vulgar just a picture. Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition makes this look like the cartoon network.
In my personal openion being a brest fed baby myself that it is a tribute to motherhood and extreamly fitting to show a mother feeding her baby on the cover of Baby Talk mag.
even if I am just a single older man.
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