The August cover of babytalk magazine was a riot of orbs: baby’s round head and round cheeks, and oh, the very round, very prominent boob to which baby’s mouth was firmly latched.

I have to say, I thought nothing of the picture when I saw it three months ago. Turns out quite a few others did. The magazine got 8,500 letters to the editor, about 99 percent congratulatory. Many thanked the magazine for running what some still see as a taboo image. One grateful reader confessed she spent a lot of time holed up in her apartment because disapproving looks in public often made her feel “breastfeeding is a crime.” But a few readers, well….here are three excerpts from less enraptured readers, as published in the November issue.

“Eww, eww, eww!!”

“I was shocked to see this pornography in my mailbox and would like to see this kind of picture usage discontinued.”

“Anyone doing it in public should be arrested for indecent exposure. Why can’t they put in bottles or something?”

An Associated Press story in July about the brouhaha quoted a Texan mother who said she shredded the cover so her 13-year-old son wouldn’t see it. The article also taught me a new word - “lactivist,” refering to mothers who feel they have the right to whip it out anywhere and anytime to feed a baby.

Lactivist? Sounds like common sense to me.

What do you think?

This entry was posted on Monday, November 6th, 2006 at 7:23 pm and is filed under Main, Nursing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.