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This May, 2012, TIME Magazine cover, features 26 year old Jamie Lynne Grumet and her 3 year old son. The photo was intended to illustrate the concept of Attachment Parenting. According to Yahoo Shine, Dr. William Sears, the author of "The Baby Book" is an authority on attachment parenting.
In addition to extended breastfeeding, attachment parenting includes other practices such as, co-sleeping. Critics of attachment parenting claim it is a form of enabling.
I am not a parent and I do not want children of my own. I don't know enough about Attachment Parenting to say whether it is healthy or unhealthy.
I do however, feel comfortable commenting on the photo above.
I am comfortable with this photo. More than comfortable; I embrace this image. The media hurls images of breasts in our faces whether we like it or not. We are surrounded by images of women in revealing clothing or in nothing at all.
A woman breast feeding her child is suddenly deemed obscene or inappropriate? Women who breast feed are well aware of this argument.
It's frightening to know that so many have been conditioned to think that breasts can only be viewed in one light. Breasts are functional and not meant for decoration (unless a woman intends it).
The photo was meant to be controversial and meant to open up a dialogue. I'd say, mission accomplished. Some Yahoo commentors have expressed a frustration not in the act of breast feeding but in the way it is portrayed.
According to Yahoo Shine, one woman commented: "This picture set breast feeding back decades by sexualizing it!"
I was floored being that this woman is essentially accusing this woman of an incestuous relationship with her son.
Another stated that Grumet is obscuring the nurturing aspect of breast feeding being that she is positioned in a way that does not cradle her son.
I believe that the photo tells us very clearly that breast feeding is a wonderful thing and it needn't be a deemed inappropriate. I applaud Grumet.
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