A Time cover photo will appear in the next magazine that is beyond shameful. It shows a woman, looking defiantly at the camera, one breast being suckled by her son standing on a chair. (I won’t add to his injury by posting the photo here. If you want to see it, hit the link.) But it sure shows where we are as a culture. From the ABC story:
Should a mom continue nursing her child even after he’s too big to be held in her arms? For mothers who practice what’s known as “attachment parenting,” the answer is an emphatic “yes” — and some are more than happy to demonstrate. This week’s cover of Time Magazine shows Los Angeles mother Jamie Lynne Grumet nursing her 3-year-old son, who reaches her breast with the help of a chair. “When you think of breast-feeding, you think of mothers holding their children, which was impossible with some of these older kids,” photographer Martin Schoeller said in a Time Magazine online story explaining the cover photo. “I liked the idea of having the kids standing up to underline the point that this was an uncommon situation.”
I’ll bet you did, Creep.
I had a child custody case when I was practicing law. The father sought (and won, as I recall forty years later) custody because his wife wouldn’t stop breastfeeding her 4-year-old son. The woman was very disturbed. So was the kid.
Now, such things appear voyeuristically on the cover of one of the world’s most famous news magazines. That poor boy was exploited and used by both his mother and Time. Beyond belief—except it isn’t anymore. That boy will have to live with that photo for the rest of his life. This is what Oprah Culture hath wrought.
