I used to watch my babies' faces while they were eating. I was struck by how beautiful the curve of their ceeks were next to the curve of my breast. In those moments I really wished I had some artistic ability so I could draw or paint that beautiful moment.

That photo was done tastefully. I've seen more breast in Jane magazine, honestly.

I don't see the problem. It's a magazine about mothers and babies, isn't it?

And I agree that it's beautifully done - very tender.

Cian,

No, I'm pointing out that breast enlargement is a natural consequence of having a baby.

Yodrak





stina&suj,

I wish you'd used this phrasing in your previous post.

As for the look on the baby's face - my first though when I saw the picture was not about the size of the breast, it was about the baby's face. I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't a 'simulated' picture, taken at that angle to disquise the fact that the baby is not feeding at all but is simply being held in position that makes for a good photo. Those cheeks do not appear to be sucking.

Yodrak

And, I guess there is no need for women to "show" the public their boobies when breastfeeding in public. I don't think I'll deny my baby food regardless what some people would consider indecent.

Christine

It's up to three now.

They're either blind or they're on a text-only browser

maybe they are blind and need the braille version??

I just saw a preview for the upcoming news hour and they are going to do a story on this

like people have said you can't even tell it is a boob....

I think the picture is beautiful.

I do not have a problem with women breast-feeding in public, however I think they should cover themselves. Not necessarily cover the baby even, but a sweater draped over the shoulders or something so that they remain clothed while doing so.

Forcing a woman to breast-feed in the restroom is gross. Or at least in a fair number of restrooms it is. Not to mention--you want her to go sit in the bathroom for forty minutes?!

Emailed photo to hubby, since I can't get him here. Ask him if he found it offensive. His reply on voice, "what is offensive about it? It is one of the most natural things a mother can do for her infant", mans opinion. He also made the statement "anyone who finds it offensive is looking to closely in the first place".

You want the full list?

Nah, baby's don't suck like that on elbows, dude.

It would have a whole different character if it were an adult man or teenager sucking at the teat - even if the shot were frame identically

I was breastfed until I was 2. To me, there's nothing more beautiful and I don't see a problem with breastfeeding in public if you have to... since I'll have babies in America and a lot of people there dn't have the same opinion as me, I'll look for quiet and private places to do it... but i'll never say no to my baby because of what other people think. And that magazine doesn't offend me at all.... I think it's a great pic!

It's on the cover of a magazine aimed at nursing mothers, right? So I doubt nursing mothers are gonna be wildly offended by it.

What's the issue?

This issue came up on another forum though, and the counter-argument was made to all the people that were saying "Breast feeding is natural, it's other people's problem if they get upset at it in public" by saying, "So if I take a piss in the middle of a public place, it should be other people's problem if they take offense, because that's a natural act too, right?"

From the original article:

Yet in a poll of more than 4,000 readers, a quarter of responses to the cover were negative, calling the photo — a baby and part of a woman's breast, in profile — inappropriate.

Oh, wow. Ok.

It's definitely not a thing of beauty for a lot of people; mothers too it seems.

You can't cover your boobs while breastfeeding in public?

I'm of the opinion that it's just common courtesy to cover while breastfeeding in public. I don't have any problem with it, but I was always aware that it could make people uncomfortable. I never put off feeding my kids, but I'd find a quiet place a little out of the way to do it, and out would come the blanket. It doesn't have to be a "hey world! Here's my BOOBIES!" kind of thing. Like I said: common courtesy.

Doesn't offend me at all, and it's on the cover of a BABY magazin, so I found it appropriate. The breast is subtle (it doesn't show the whole complete picture of breast hanging from a woman's body) and it focuses on the baby's expression during breastfeeding. Will it make any differences if the boob is flatter ? I don't think so, they just show a breast that has been "touched up" with computer program to make it more artistic in non-vulgar-non-pornographic way. Why don't they show the baby slobbering all over or with disturbing expression (to make it more natural for some people) ? Because it's journalism and marketing, in marketing we always show (or at least try to show) something that is aesthetically pleasing.

I don't mind seeing a mother breastfeeding in public as long as she keeps it subtle.

Oh, and America is not as modest as some people think...

I'm offended by people who are offended by breastfeeding in public. I mean, as was said earlier in the thread, that is what they are for! And the "pissing is natural too" comment.... hey, people going to the bathroom in public is taboo. People having sex in public is taboo. EATING in public is not taboo. Breastfeeding is EATING, people.



Try eating YOUR dinner in a restroom.

And anyway, I think I have seen more boob on a Cosmopolitan cover. So it's OK in a fashion magazine to show mega-cleavage, but it's not OK to show the same amount of boob with a baby?

It's a baby... and it's not like you can even see anything to positively identify it as (shock horror) a BREAST! It could be sucking on an elbow or a knee or a bottom or some other rounded body part, or even a flesh-coloured blob of silicone rubber, for all the audience knows.
Besides, there's nothing gross about breastfeeding a baby... some people need to grow up!

oh gosh brother dean.

your killing me

If my "dinner" were alive and carrying me around, it would be VERY easy to eat my dinner in a restroom, in a car, in a locked refrigerator, in a sand pit, etc. It wouldn't matter WHERE I was eating.

My point is, this is America. Boobs are not normally exposed in public. I'm not offended by that, I merely said that it would be a distraction; and it would. Honestly, I'd have more issue with the noises than the sight of a boob. This is just me, though.... I have OCD and can't stand noise; water dripping, people talking outside my house, birds (when I'm trying to sleep), yelling kids, or "feeding on boobie" noises. Yes, I know I'm weird.

Well, maybe fair enough in your case. Does bottlefeeding sound gross you out equally as much??
I hear that argument from plenty of people though (the bathroom one). And which is preferable, hearing a baby scream from hunger in a restaurant (or wherever) because they are hungry, or hearing a baby feeding? It doesn't seem right to force a woman to bring their child into the restroom during her dinner just because the baby decided to be hungry right then.

Yes.



Well, I can't stand screaming... But, since I'm being honest, the sound of slurping and gurgling - whether bottle or boob - would make me sick and possibly lose my lunch. Applies to people who slurp their soup, too.

i think since it's a baby magazine, it's not offensive in the least. if it were on the cover of, say, TV Guide...that's a different story.

if he/she is old enough and able to open the shirt and whip out the boob, then his/her butt needs to be weaned!

A baby, I have no problem with...but a 3 year old kid breast feeding? Nope!

On the same token:
If a kid comes up to you with the diaper, wipes and powder needing to be changed...it is time to potty train their butts!

There is nothing wrong with this picture, on the cover of a baby magazine

I agree, nothing wrong with this picture with a baby. An older kid...then maybe...see my post above

Not sure what THAT comment has to do with having a baby....the cover doesn't offend me in the least. It shows a baby up against what one can assume is Mom...and yes, I happen to agree with G...it IS beautiful. Not at all sexual or tasteless. After all it IS a baby magazine. How would that not be appropriate since there are so many breastfeeding advocates here? But hey...we are all entitled to our own opinions.

Nothing wrong with it as i think has been said its natural.

bring a new meaning to the term

GOT MILK?

Bingo.

When I was in high school, they made the social education class watch a video of some chronically hairy, fat woman giving birth. I don't think there was a single person in the class that didn't look entirely disgusted.

A LOT of natural acts are just straight up nasty to witness; I mean if someone picks thier nose while they're talking to you, it's disgusting, right?

It's not anal or juvenile to dislike the sight of a baby breastfeeding, some people ARE offended by it (whoever said they're offended by someone being offended by it is a fu**ing cretin), like luvalimey said, common courtesy, some people find it anything but beautiful, have some respect for them.

I think it's appropriate. The picture shows something natural and it's very beautiful.


About breastfeeding in public, I have no problem with women doing such, as long as they do like aussie mentioned above. If you're aware breastfeeding will offend people, why not just put a cloth diaper over your shoulder? After all there's no need at all for you to show your boobs to everybody in the mall, or whatever public place you are, right? That way you can still breastfeed and you avoid offending people.

ihatevj,

I suspect that the School Board had ulterior motives in showing child birth as something disgusting to a group of teenagers - they can be a hard group to discourage.

In my wife's country one should cover their mouth when using a toothpik after a meal in public, but picking one's nose is a public spectacle open to the viewing enjoyment of all. The concept of what is 'common courtesy' isn't necessarily common.

If everything that was offensive to someone was to be kept hidden from public view, no form of public communication display would exist - there'd be nothing suitable to show.

Yodrak

no it is natural

post boosting

I live near the Navajo Indian Nation of northern Arizona and the mothers of baby's in this culture think nothing of nursing their babies right in front of anyone. So for me it has become somethng as natural as seeing somone kissing their wife.. You just keep your eyes on your own business and let her take care of her child.

Rob

I think it's beautiful, and depending on how artsy the photo was I would think it's beautiful even if it was a frontal shot of a mother breastfeeding her baby....

I'm not sure I would feel comfortable just sitting down in the middle of the mall and breastfeeding my own munchkin, but those bathrooms are nasty, so unpersonal... going in there would feel like some sort of punishment, so I don't know....


As much as I think breastfeeding is completely natural, I do think it is a bit tacky to just start breastfeeding your baby in the middle of a restaurant with people trying to eat their dinner all around you.

I know if I was flying somewhere, there is no way I would go into those tiny bathrooms to breastfeed- I would just stay in my seat and do it....

So, I don't know- depends a lot on the situation I guess....

but the cover is still beautiful, how can you even notice the boob next to those big eyes

what eyes? what baby? all i saw was boobie

My thoughts exactly ...

I don't see anything wrong with the picture. I think it is really beautiful, and is apppropiate for the audience that it is meant for. It's a baby magazine for goodness sake.


As for breast feeding in public: I plan to put something over to cover, just as a courtesy to others. However, if in any case my baby is hungry and I cannot accomodate the feelings of the public...too bad because my baby comes first.

i am THE furthest thing from having any kind of mothering instinct or baby-fever/love etc... lol... but i think the cover is cuuute.

OMG!

Who voted 'Offensive/Pornagraphic?'...raise your hand...sheesh... ok..you can put your hand down... you're a Goofball...

~Rant

It's funny that something like that can beso offensive to some people. I think motherhood needs to regain it's lofty status as it once held. This time around motherhood should not immediatly imply that being a babies mother is the only valid thing in a womans life. Being able to breast feed in public is one good way to ensure that women will not be put back behind closed doors never to come out again until after the child has gone to college. (see June Cleaver, see Mrs. Robinson)
Womans body parts should cease to be such a horror for people. We have them ...OMG!!!
As for the picture, I think it's done very tastefully, no nipple. That even pacifies the censors!
Living in Grenada, the bus system is a very organized chaos. People get crammed into passenger vans that pass as busses and get shuttled from one part of the island to the next. I can't count how many times a woman sitting next to me quelled a crying baby by feeding on the bus. No passenger has ever complained. Generally we are all pretty happy the baby stopped crying. And I have never seen any of these women shelter us by covering over the baby while feeding. (I would not think any less of anyone who chose to cover up, they re sensible to react to the situation they are in) Breast feeding is just part of life and no one thinks twice about it.
Sue

Since this was bumped, I just now saw it and voted....beautiful pic, IMO. It's silly to think otherwise when no nipple or anything else sexual is even showing. Sheesh. M.

nope...its natural...no nipple showing...