Running the Brooklyn Half today! (Taken with instagram)
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Geeky.
If she can endure Ironman with that winning smile, she must be the happiest person on Earth. #chrissiesmiles (Taken with instagram)
The newest controversy thrown out into the world by Time Magazine is one with a mother actively breastfeeding her 3-year-old son, who is standing on a chair to reach her breast.
Now, I’ve heard my fair share of unorthodox views on breastfeeding—some of which I admit I was quite judgmental about—but reading comments online that say things like “pervert” just isn’t okay. Our society has gotten to the point where same-sex marriage is rapidly becoming acceptable, but why are people still so squeamish about breastfeeding? Though the issue of breastfeeding a child beyond the age of..let’s just say..2 years old is much different than say, breastfeeding your child at Target, the question remains the same: what is so harmful about breastfeeding your child that makes people so angry?
The problem with our society is that women are objectified—via breasts and buttocks. Since breasts are considered sexual objects, older children who breastfeed would elicit the word “pervert” to the public. Breastfeeding in public, as an act in general, increases the chances that the breast may be exposed to a passerby in the process, or even just simply bring attention to or suggest. That is just too much for our society. Breasts are no longer to offer sustenance to children but objects of sex. Breastfeeding under this mentality, no matter how subconscious, is then a “dirty” act. Even the people who do not object to the act of breastfeeding for this extended amount of time voiced concerns about Time magazine printing such a controversial cover. People are just angry that they have to SEE IT!
Am I defending Jamie Lynn Grumet? A RESOUNDING YES. This is her child; this is her parenting style. Leave her alone. She is not harming her child. All I see from her interview is that she is offering her child Love. Do I think her children might be bullied in school in later years? Maybe. Hopefully our society will have changed drastically in the next few years, but doubtful that it will. But if we constantly yielded to social norms, we’d still have racial segregation. Do I think I would adopt that sort of parenting? Most likely not; teeth = bottle. All-in-all, people need to mind their own business if they cannot be encouraging and supportive.
Whatever happened to “if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it at all?”