The "Breast" in Breastfeedingby Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger 21 Aug 2006 06:14 AM Did you see this? It's the cover of Baby Talk Magazine full of breast and feeding. To be exact, only about 1/8th of the cover is full of breast. The rest of the cover is technically the infant suckling at the breast. But whatever. It caused outrage. People are grossed out by watching someone breastfeed. In case you are not familiar with Baby Talk magazine, it is a free magazine whose readership is mostly expecting mothers. This is one of the free information sources you get when you go to visit your obstetrician, go to have your sonogram or some other pre-natal test done. It is highly unlikely that you can go through a whole pregnancy in the United States without getting a copy of Baby Talk magazine. Once you get a free copy, if you're expecting, you can subscribe to it and get a year free. Despite Babytalk having chosen what seems to be an appropriate cover for an appropriate audience (after all they're not marketing to teenage boys), about 1,000 offended readers wrote in to comment about how inappropriate the cover was: "I was SHOCKED to see a giant breast on the cover of your magazine," one person wrote. "I immediately turned the magazine face down," wrote another. "Gross," said a third. The editor is quick to point out that really, the cover is just part of a larger debate: should women have the right to breastfeed in public? Many women wrote in to point out that a breast is a sexual object and therefore inappropriate for the cover. But the editor points out that most nursing women want to be discreet, they are not, "whipping them out with tassles on them for all to see." Furthering the heated debate over breastfeeding in public is a recent public ad campaign that likens not breastfeeding to putting your baby at serious risk for injury and illness. It shows the image of a woman who is very pregnant, riding on a mechanical bull. "You wouldn't put your fetus at risk, why put your baby at risk," asks the ad. I personally don't have a problem with it, although I do think it's a little insensitive. There are numerous countries where women just lift up their shirts, where breasts are seen for what they are: useful feeding tools. While I fully support breastfeeding, I doubt that advocates are going to win anyone over by the shock value of a breast. I would even point out that in most publications that promote breastfeeding (like La Leche League) breasts are only shown in the context of showing how to latch on. General promotional materials show a breastfeeding infant with the mother covered up. Maybe it's time for change. I have nursed my children everywhere and anywhere. If a baby is breastfed, well, you do what you have to do when you have to do it. However, I try to be discreet as possible. For those who would say that there should be laws against breastfeeding in public. . .well, I can buy that too. As long as there are laws against women dressing in short skirts in public. Or wearing shirts and tank tops that are too skimpy. I also find boys that wear their pants down so low that there underwear are showing, to make me uncomfortable as well. If as a society we decide that we want everyone to dress modestly all the time (and that we want a law to define modesty for us) well then, by all means I'll go hide every time I have to nurse one of my babies. What's your take on the cover? Does it offend you? Is it appropriate given its readership? Is it O.K. if they had maybe put it in the middle of the magazine instead of on the cover? Related Articles: Practices That Promote Breastfeeding Breastfeeding Ads vs. Formula Company Lobbies Breastfeeding: When People Just Don't Get It Learn more about Valorie Delp  Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line. Relevantbaby tags User Comments Brandie (1720) 21 Aug 2006 07:28 AMI personally loved the cover, and along with that there is also a commercial by pampers that shows a small clip of a mom nursing - I think it's great. I nurse in public all the time. I will only stop when moms using bottles are forced to hide in bathrooms and cars and cover up with blankets - even in the middle of summer.  jsab (40) 21 Aug 2006 11:02 AMEventually people will come to realize that there is nothing "wrong" with breastfeeding in public, or even breasts in general. If people see breasts as being sexual, it's because that's how they've CHOSEN to accept the situation, and it has absolutely nothing to do with how the situation actually is, which is a baby getting the nutrients it needs in order to live. It's the emotions, feelings, ideas, concepts, opinions, and beliefs that the individual attaches TO the thought of "breasts" that creates the problems for the individual. Therefore it's an issue that the INDIVIDUAL needs to overcome, not the masses of society. (So is everything else actually) It all comes down to overcoming our OWN individual negative limiting thought processes. With freedom, comes responsibility. If everybody realized and lived this, there would be no need for laws, rules, and regulations. Everything just IS, and it's only our individual minds that create negativities and problems.  Michele Cheplic (37339) 21 Aug 2006 11:53 AMDoes anyone remember (not to long ago) when Barbara Walters complained on The View about how she had to sit next to a mom breastfeeding her baby on a plane ride back to NYC. She went on and on about how uncomfortable it made her feel, yada, yada. The next (or a few days later) a bunch of La Leche moms protested outside ABC's studios--and Barbara (who didn't show up that day) called in to back pedal on her statement. It left a bad taste in my mouth. Not only b/c of what she said, but the fact that she tried to say she didn't say what she had said. I mean PLEASE, the show may be live, but it is archived on tape and therefor the statement can be easily checked! Just my two cents.  Valorie Delp (49340) 21 Aug 2006 02:17 PMYes! Barbara Walters totally irks me. I didn't here her comment but I think it was tacky of her anyhow. I wonder how she would've felt if the mother had left the child scream next to her all the way back to NYC? Would that have made her less uncomfortable?  L Robbins (18930) 21 Aug 2006 03:22 PMLook at that cute little baby! I love this cover! (Course, I'm a huge fan of nursing, too.)  Kelly K. (2277) 21 Aug 2006 05:48 PMBarbara Walters also recently referred to an African American child as a "creature." She's the one that makes me uncomfortable, if you ask me. She's absolutely ridiculous. Valorie Delp (49340) 21 Aug 2006 06:19 PMYeah Kelly--I have to agree with you. Was she calling him a creature because he was a child or because he was African American? She can't be winning any friends here. Misty (981) 21 Aug 2006 08:40 PMWhat bugs me is that no one complains about stars w/ their see-through clothes and barely there bikinis, but we're having a conniption about this? OK, breasts are sexualized-- and that's OK with people? Our kids can walk through the mall on any given day and see Victoria's Secrets models in their undies-- No Problem. A woman's butt cheeks hanging out? Cool. A thong on the beach? A-OK! But, a baby nursing at her mother's breast? Oh, my gosh! Cover that vile thing up!!! Yes, we have our priorities straight! Valorie Delp (49340) 22 Aug 2006 04:17 AMThis is exactly my point. Why do I have to look at cleavage, but someone else is offended by my hardly noticeable nursing? Why do I have to look at mid sections, piercings in odd places, boys underwear, etc. but me--using my breasts for what they're actually intended for is gross? I'm not one to publicly flaunt my breastfeeding--but I won't hesitate to nurse anywhere as needed.  Tristi Pinkston (10839) 22 Aug 2006 08:44 AMOkay, I'm ticked off! First of all, that picture is absolutely sweet. Look at the expression on the baby's face, looking up at Mommy. It brings tears to my eyes. Secondly, I vehemently object to the comment in the article that breasts are sexual objects. They are baby bottles. I agree with all the other comments that say if a breast is a sexual object, it's because society has labeled it that way. I've had a hard time nursing. (I know, too much information :) But I fully and completely support nursing mothers and feel that nursing is one of the most important things we can ever do to ensure our children's health. I'm not one of these "pull it out regardless" types; I do think that a blanket can be very useful in a lot of cases, but ... grrr! A law against it? Not hardly! And Barbara Walters called a child a creature? I may have to go eat some chocolate to get over this. Community Tags breastfeeding, current issues, media, mothering, nursing Discuss this article
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