so i guess what i wanted to say was...

i shouldn't have highlighted the entire blog post.  but rather just the article to which i was referring.  sorry if i confused you.

but what i should have said but was too flabergasted and annoyed to do so was this:

isn't it awful how we all hate our bodies these days?  i mean, if seeing a breast performing it's function in life is offensive to even other women, then what hope do we have?  it's sad to me.  we have products that stop our bodies from emitting the toxins we daily put into it.  named just so we feel shameful enough about our sweat that we go out and buy the brand that will keep others from knowing that our bodies do what they're supposed to do.  and they market to us products that tell us 'you're dirty! clean yourself up and throw it away'.  we'll have you smelling like chemicals in no time.  because you know, a wash cloth and water wouldn't clean you properly.  so let's pollute you and the earth!  they sell us stuff to supposedly clean our internal organs.  and then when they've given us yeast infections from trying to cleanse away our dirt, our sin, they sell us stuff to take away the itch. 

so throw into that a society that has so sexualized breasts that a photo of a non-breast that is performing it's original function on the cover of a magazine geared towards mothers (yeah, those people who HAVE breasts and use them to FEED babies), it's no wonder we react with shock and outrage and shred the magazine so our husbands don't accidentally see a boob do it's job and in turn educate society about these issues.  it's no wonder our daughters grow up with eating disorders.  it's no wonder girls are sexually active earlier in life.  when we do such a good job of sexualizing the body and making it shameful all at once. 

i was always the skinny girl.  i've been 5'2" for the past ten years.  i was the little girl who all of my tall friends would carry around like a baby and treat like a child.  my father called me bones because i was so skinny that my bones were visible all over my body.  i was just a small kid.  i still had body image issues, though.   i remember them so well - that tense feeling i got when walking down the hall for fear that someone was looking at me. 

today i think i'm finally getting over my body issues.  yes, i have cellulite on my thighs.  i wear a size ten pants and have an enormous booty for my frame and a husband that loves it.  my boobs are now overflowing a size D cup.  i have a pudgy belly.  i don't want to have body issues anymore so i'm making myself get over them (though i'm sure they'll always be there in some form or another). 

and when i'm nursing our next child, i'm not going to hide in a corner and cover myself just so my kid can eat what's healthiest for him while protecting the sensitive eyes of the people at the next table.  if my veiny boob is exposed, tough.  hopefully my kids will grow up knowing that bodies are just bodies and breasts just breasts. 

Comments

[Meredith]

Yes! Bravo to you for your great pumping picture and your great (great since I agree with them, of course) thoughts on breasts and breastfeeding and bodies and their purposes.

[Kateri]

Great points, espceially about the self-serving commercialism of the beauty industry. Hmmm. I feel a post brewing...

[Julie]

What is more beautiful than a child at their mother's breast? It amazes me the level of ignorance in our "wonderful and modern" country.

[Julie]

AMEN!

[Briana]

thank you for this.

[Lisa]

Great post, especially worth mentioning how difficult it is to relax enough for letdown in public. I've been nursing babies for about eight years now (no, not the same one, lol!), and I'll tell ya, I've been everywhere. EXCEPT the public bathroom, like a friend of mine. Like my dearest hubby says, "who the ____ eats in the bathroom??" Heck, I'm so desensitized to it all, I spent my initial gawk at the mag cover wondering if the baby's beautiful blue eyes were colorized!

Seriously, good for you. I'm glad I'm not the only one disgusted by the outrage.

[Cheryle Cerezo]

Thank you so much for this. I breastfed my first child in 1970, and his brothers in '71 and '80. I am appalled that there was so much controversy surrounding this magazine cover! What ever happened to women? My two daughters-in-law and my foster daughter proudly nurse their babies; they are mature enough and secure enough to know what their bodies are supposed to do, and their husbands support them in this. How in the world can we expect men to respect our bodies when we don't even respect them ourselves?

Thank you so much for your post.

[supersugarstar]

i *heart* you, s.

[kenya]

my pic is posted. hopefully, one day, WE WILL BE THE MAJORITY AND THE OTHER VOICES OF OPPOSITION WONT MATTER!!!!

[PBfish]

I loved the picture!! And I love your stand against body image issues. I'm currently battling a few myself...

[Martina]

About the products mentioned: hey, that is the perfect market loop: Create a problem, solve the problem!
How about a cream against Penis smells and secretion? Don't Penises deserve to be summer-fresh?

About the breastfeeding: I have stopped caring about what other people think about it! I did it and I liked it!!

Body Issues: I am a size 16 with perfect colesterol and I am only on a cleanse, eh diet, because my thighs are chaffing (again!).

[Lilian]

BRAVO!! I love your picture and the post too... I also posted pictures (a grand total of 7!), after I saw Kateri's post. My husband had emailed me the CNN article on Friday, so I had already read about it. Your post is excellent, though, I should link to it.

[sedie]

Girlfriend! How good of you to say what it is, like it is. Living in SoCal I find that I'm confronted with body issues more here than I ever was growing up. I spent lots of time with family so they didn't focus on body but on brains. . . I too was always a small skinny girl, but the only time that bothered me was when I needed to put on a bathing suit. . . I just want you to know, that I think you are on point with all this stuff. I don't enjoy the pharmacy stores as much as I did in the past, because there isn't much there I use or think I need, Thank goodness!

P.S. Thanks for stopping by the blog, the baby blog is http://growmaruskafamily.blogspot.com, let me know if you have any trouble getting on.

P.P.S. Keep on thinking! Love the diaper pants, would you mind sharing how you make them? I've got a few t-shirts I could recycle that way.

[Shetha]

Yay for boobies! And YAY For big booties too! My son, for one, knows what breasts are for. He's just sad he can't use his LOL. We're raising the next gen... and hopefully when it's their turn to teach their kids... there won't be much teaching left to do. One can hope, right???

[erinberry]

I was stunned by the people freaking out over that magazine cover as well. Get a life, boob-o-phobes!

[Adeline]

I think before I went through the whole breastfeeding thing for 7 months I would have been a little wierded out by pictures of boobs with pumps on them, or babies nursing in graphic detail. But wierded out doesn't mean I would be offended. It is something that one never sees.

And I never could have anticipated how much my life would revolve around my breasts for those 7 months. It was ridiculous really, and it was like something that one was just not supposed to talk about.

And it because crystal clear to me why men like big breasts, it is totally instinctive thing...big breasts can feed a child. Well my tiny breasts managed pretty well, but honestly, why would it be breasts and not a well turned ankle or the nape of a neck? or earlobes or whatever? It is breasts because of the whole feeding thing, and bootie for fat storage and hips for child carrying...and even my husband thinks I am a lil nutty. To me it's clear.

And so the breastfeeding thing...pumping 5 times a day, being more than a little uncomfortable on a regular basis, having to take fenugreek to increase my supply, storage of the milk and proper heating of it, leakage and let down and ALL that stuff...to say nothing of the initial pain of the whole process which was awful (and I was lucky as I never even got mastitis or any infections)...but none of this stuff could I talk about.

Thank God for the lactation consultant!

So yeah, I think that if someone wants to shine a little light on the utilitarian aspect of breasts, that is probably a good idea. There is so much discussion of menstruation, but it seems like this stuff is at least as big a deal...being that we are feeding babies and all.

[GW]

AMEN! I can't even begin to comprehend why people found this cover "offensive". As a formerly nursing mom, I am *OFFENDED* that anyone would be offended by this. Does that make sense? Their offense offends my sense of what is right and wrong!

Gretchen
Adopting number 2 from Vietnam

[Webcam girl]

Breast feeding is something natural and nothing to be a shamed for.....