Jamie Reidy criticizes Jamie Lynn Grumet, the mom on this week’s cover of Time with her 3-year old son’s mouth clamped on her nipple.
(Note: there is no truth to the rumor that had it been Jamie Lynn Sigler, a.k.a. Meadoe Soprano, on the cover I would not be objecting.)
CNN’s Erin Burnett interviewed the cover girl:
For starters, I should say that I am not at all criticizing breast feeding. I am criticizing exposing the boy to a lifetime of ridicule by appearing on the cover of a national magazine.
Allow me to explain what that poor kid is gonna hear every day until he a) legally changes his name or b) moves to a different country where they don’t have the internet:
“Dude, I saw you sucking your mom’s tit!”
Erin Burnett shares a viewer’s request re: Jamie Lynn’s son, “When he is 15, ask him if he likes this picture.”
Mom of The Year says, “Um, I mean, I think that’s a great thing to talk about…the repercussions of what this will do to my child when he’s older, but…” AND THEN SHE NEVER TALKS ABOUT THOSE “REPERCUSSIONS” AGAIN!!!
Sorry, JLG, there is no other way for you to selfishly spin this. “We didn’t do this for the media.” I couldn’t swallow that stream of shit if it was flowing from Salma Hayek’s breast.
What do you think: was Jamie Lynne Grumet’s posing with her son like this on the cover of Time a good parenting move?
PS- Nice work on the title. Made me laugh out loud.
My guess is most of his buddies will be teasing about what a MILF his mom is.
I just don’t care about the photo. I think the caption is divisive and stupid. Lastly, the fact that breast feeding even has shock value is asinine.
I think it’s cool. But I’m way oedipal.
I am pretty ambivalent about the whole thing. I agree with Carlos tho that the only thing that is kinda “creepy” is the kid looking directly into the camera. Just seems voyeuristic. Beyond that I don’t have a strong opinion either way. Magazines tend to try and have provocative covers from time to time (no pun intended).
And since everyone else seems to be overlooking this, it’s not the fact that he’s sucking her titty that’s so weird, it’s the fact that he’s fucking three years old and sucking her titty.
That is pretty weird, feed the kid normal food.
Man any time I got teased as a little kid I just kicked the shit out of people. That’s what out schools are missing today, some kid gets teased and beats up his assailants and all of a sudden it’s WWIII, and you wonder why they bottle it up until bringing a gun to school sounds like a good idea. And you’re wrong, kids won’t say “I saw you sucking your mom’s tit!” they’ll say “dude your mom is so hot I wish I could suck her tit!” Not any better but I thought it was important to point out.… Read more »
Really? Violence is the answer? And keep in mind, a lot of kids who get teased are not always the best physical fighters. I was a skinny, dorky girl in school. I’m supposed to protect myself from teasing by a pack of cheerleaders by picking a fight with 5 girls against one? Or to pick a fight with a guy who much bigger than I am and teasing me? And even if that were the policy (that it’s OK to hit when you get teased), how do you prove that they were teasing and that you didn’t just get bored… Read more »
Is it coincidence that she’s a slim, blonde, attractive white female? Would they have published it if it was an overweight, “unattractive” lady with sagging breasts? What is this really about?
PS-the picture would probably be less “creepy” if the kid wasn’t looking directly into the camera. Turn his head the other way and all of this is moot.
Kid will be known as a “titty baby” from Middle school to graduation. I feel bad for him
Anything goes these days. This is an example of the proverbial “slippery slope.” Breast feeding, how wonderful. My kids were breast fed but it was kept respectful in that my wife was very discrete about it and once they were drinking out of a sippy cup, the breast milk ended.
Nonetheless, this young boy will have to live with this …. I hope momma doesn’t run for political office 30 years from now, this may come back to bite her … you know, like Romney?
I agree that this image went way too far, particularly in the fact that it will embarrass the kid in years to come (the same thing goes for the kids featured in a lot of reality shows–it gets cringe-worthy at times). I don’t understand the need to be ‘discreet’ when breastfeeding (I don’t have any children myself, but if I ever do, I plan on breastfeeding when and where they’re hungry). The images you see on a magazine stand feature women wearing far less clothing than any woman I’ve ever seen breastfeeding in public. We can eat in public, why… Read more »
I’m sorry for the kid but not for being on the cover. I’m sorry for him because of what people will say. Ignorant people who will scoff and judge. But this image pushes an envelope that needs to be pushed. So that Moms who breast feed in public can do so in peace.
Mark, I agree with you in theory. I nursed all of my kids for a year-ish and got plenty of gawks and rude comments. Where I disagree with this cover is that the caption makes it divisive amongst women, which negates the purpose of advocating breast feeding rights.
For once you see a picture of a breast doing what a breast is designed to do…feed a child and it’s an uproar. We use images of breasts to SELL everything in this culture. The breast is a SEX thing for you.
The outrage is really a branding issue. WOT? people can feed a child with those things? What about my “right” to be sexually stimulated by any woman’s “rack”.
What a sham controversy.
Wow. Poor kid. Oh well, that’s the price of fame today – shock and awe.
I think it’s odd that people get so upset over breastfeeding. We are mammals, we produce milk for our offspring. I would guess that some of the objection to the image comes from the idea that people shouldn’t be nursed at an age at which they would remember it because breasts are bad and should be hidden from public view. (Despite any healthy benefits to the mom or the kid.) If the kid gets teased later in life I think it’s more a reflection upon a society with unhealthy values than it is upon the mom’s intention (whatever that might… Read more »
Yeah, it’s amazing what people will do for their’Fifteen minutes of fame’ (Of course , for that poor boy, the teasing , bullying,and verbal torture will last for years). But what’s truely amazing are all the ‘Respectable and Distinguished’ news outlets ready to enable these fame seakers in order to generate a ‘shock inspired’ leap in sales!
She is a narcissist.
I was told by an old classmate that another fellow classmate breastfed her big kids (ages 5 and 6!) at a lunch with her friend and her friend’s mother….He proclaimed her ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!…
I personally cringe at kids with TEETH who breastfeed (YOWWCCHHH!)….but hey, it’s free country, isn’t it?
Wow, I see this picture and just…don’t care. I feel sad that people would tease the kid about it though, why? because he’s breastfeeding?
I’m not saying it is right, but do you remember junior high?
No junior high here, just primary and secondary/high school:P But I guess kids will find any reason to hate on each other huh?
Time Life should know better! Shame on you & your Editors. 24 yr old mom breast feeding a 3/4 year old dressed in US troop like clothes? Your team @ time Life has earned the LOST OF INTEGERITY AWARD
FOR THE YEAR 2012. Congradulations on you sales.
You may own a good part of the media , however it is a shame that greed seems to taken a priority over worthy news.
This was about as exploitive as it gets.
I’m definitely of the opinion that plastering a photo like that on Time is going to totally screw up her kid’s life. And, you know, good job Time editors for publishing it in the first place. I’d say writing articles about it and so on is just making it worse, but really Time is widely enough read that the damage is done. That is a can of worms that isn’t going anywhere.
I think it’s mostly fine. Yeah, it might seem a little rash, thoughtless perhaps, but even if he got teased for being seen “sucking his mom’s tit,” why should he be ashamed of that? The only way such bullying can be effective is if we affirm the notion that being seen in such a way is indeed shameful, which it isn’t. If breastfeeding a child should be defended and not be considered a shameful thing, then it follows that being breastfed should be defended as a thing that is not shameful. Why would it be any other way? I think… Read more »
Like I said here, sometimes it’s the act of shaming itself that becomes the source. By allowing this photo to go onto Time she’s opened her kid’s life up to ridicule. It’s another issue entirely about whether that ridicule is justified or not…she could still try to work toward making breast feeding older children a non-issue without that Time cover.
I totally agree.
The woman ought to have her son taken away from her.