If breastfeeding boobies are too much for Facebook, how about the front page of the Spectator? Last week I wrote an article on milk sharing. It ran on the front page with this picture:
By newspaper standards this photo is daring. I can guarantee you many papers wouldn’t have run it or certainly not on the front page. I was thrilled when our editor Paul Berton personally selected the picture for the cover. The night before publication we all wondered what the reader reaction would be and expected our phones would be ringing in the morning.
The next day it was surprisingly quiet. Less than a dozen readers called to complain. I received a few emails, some congratulating the Spec on running the picture on front and a couple saying it was offensive. The same discussion has been playing out on our letters page.
There also been debate within the newsroom. Some of my colleagues were thrilled to see us run the photo, while others felt we pushed the boundaries of taste too far. I heard words like degrading and inappropriate used. Several people said they don’t have a problem with showing breastfeeding, but felt this photo showed too much.
Observers of the Facebook leaky boob controversy have suggested the problem lies in society’s sexualization of the breast. Popular mom blogger Dagmar Bleasdale offered these thoughts: “It’s ridiculous and such a sad commentary on our society in America that there is porn all over the Internet, we see breasts all over TV and in movies, but God forbid we see a little nipple in pictures of a child nursing, the most natural thing in the world! Get with it people, breasts are there to nourish babies!”
Do you agree? How did you feel about the Spectator front page?
Hamilton Spectator reporter and mother to the world's worst sleeper
Good for them (and for you)- We have had the same debate about our website and magazines - My boss is also supportive and we have plenty of breastfeeding images (we even slip the odd one on facebook) The more people see the more it will seem normal - that's my theory anyway.
Posted by: Michelle | 01/06/2011 at 06:37 PM
Yawn, this has been going on since the dawn of time and humanity.
Posted by: Mark-Alan Whittle | 01/06/2011 at 06:44 PM
The problem with society today is that they have convinced people two things. Breasts are either for nutrition OR sexual pleasure. They have totally turned the dual functionality of breasts into two separate categories.
Society and media is so hopped up on sex that when they see a breast being used in it's most natural and innocent form, they get uncomfortable. People are uncomfortable with the innocence linked to breastfeeding while looking at something that the media and society has told them is for sexual purposes. People are uncomfortable if things have nothing to do with sex.
I am so happy this ran on the front page. I'm glad it wasn't put in another section, as I would have missed the article, even if I had seen the picture.
If ever a reason to continue a subscription to a newspaper nowadays - this is certainly it. Not everything has to be doom, gloom, or heart wrenching stories. An informative story with a picture such as that definitely belongs on the front page and if anyone has an issue with it, they need to remind themselves that no matter what - at one point or another, we all saw breasts as a food source (for the most of us, at least)
Posted by: Emmalene Pruden | 01/06/2011 at 06:45 PM
Mark-Alan, you sir, are a troll. I am going to call you on it. You see the word through jaded glasses. I only ever see you post negative comments.
You obviously have no idea how important a decision to run this picture on the front page of a newspaper is. It is a very controversial issue.
My mother once said that it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Posted by: Emmalene Pruden | 01/06/2011 at 09:34 PM
I think the picture was beautifully done and not offensive at all.
Posted by: Jen | 01/06/2011 at 11:41 PM
What about the HSR buses running around the city streets with lingerie ads on them. Full HSR bus covered with the posters of girls in the minimum they can be.
What are we talking about? We play a 10-13 sec warning about viewer discretion for rated programs but we never think about the 24/7 running billboards and signs all over the city. How can you say to a child or a parent to avoid this bus or board, it may contain mature theme that may not be suitable for everyone.
What about the Tanning places and so on...
I mean we must have some code of conduct for materials posted publicly.
I don't think any body should be objecting this as they might have never objected to much more happening around.
Hope you get my point.
Posted by: W Azeem | 01/07/2011 at 12:21 AM
I believe breastfeeding in linked in people's minds with "the animal side" of our existence. Sometimes it's hard for people to imagine themselves as natural. It's hard to swallow images of suckling children because it somehow unconsciously degrades the image we have in our heads of being civilized. I love nursing. I think it helped/helps me connect with my children in a way that I could not duplicate. It is instinctual, and beautifully feral.
Posted by: Elisha Stam | 01/07/2011 at 11:09 PM