V magazine might be obsessed with breastfeeding … or perhaps they just revealed themselves to be a La Leche League donor. Most recently they featured a photoshoot that included a woman squirting breastmilk at a naked man on all fours and a few months ago, they featured this image.
A beyond hot, how-did-she-get-those-legs woman blowing bubbles, her long hair flowing in the wind, nursing her baby in public.
Yes, it’s a fake baby, possibly not even a real mama, and the authenticity of those breasts are questionable, but do you think an image like this in a fashion magazine sends a good message?
Some could argue that it’s bad — that it sexualizes a woman, a woman who is nursing. If you believe that, doesn’t it also expose breastfeeding to some who maybe have never been exposed to it before, making it more accepted by the general public?
I know a lot of hot mamas, but none of them have ever looked as overtly sexual while nursing as the woman in this image. And if she was a real breastfeeding mom, I would stop and stare because I would be in awe of her invisible belly and thighs the size of arms.
But I would also applaud her. I can be jealous that her body looks that amazing so quickly. But I can’t hate. She didn’t choose to be born beautiful. But she did choose to breastfeed.
What do you think of this fashion image depicting a sexy nursing mom?
Image from V Magazine
Obviously fake, but let me say, if *I* had that body, I would NIP like craaaazy!
I love it! Fashion magazines are NOT reality. They never have been. Do most nursing moms look like this? Nope. In general, most women don’t look like the models on the pages of magazines. I do think it’s a good thing that breastfeeding is making its way in to other facets of our culture. The more visible it is, the more normalized it becomes. (Not that breastfeeding isn’t normal…but you know what I mean.)
I have mixed feelings about this photo. i certainly don’t think breast feeding is something to be ashamed of, but I still feel that it is a personal connection between mom & baby. Breast feeding in public is fine, but I think it should be done discreetly . The model in the photo is very sexy , we are bombarded enough in our society with sex, lets leave that out of this equation. As they say sex sells, so what exactly are they trying to sell in this ad.
I would have LOVED this photo if they had used a model that actually had a baby and was actually breastfeeding!
Joann, I agree with you 1000%! How can we keep trying to say it’s not sexual, and then see photos like this? It is a very personal thing, not something to be shared with random passers-by. Like any human being, especially a male, could pass this image on the park bench and not see it as sexual.
Twitter: RanaAurora
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I think the ONLY issue is the fact that she has a coat — no shirt or bra — totally open. I do think that if this were a real woman, that would be a little unnecessary and do more harm to the cause of normalizing breastfeeding.
HOWEVER — other than that, like Melanie said, yeah… I probably wouldn’t be very discrete if I looked like that either. After all, what I usually am hiding is my flab — not my baby!
For this to be in a magazine makes me happy. It’s obvious the woman is freaking HOT. And the fact that people actually recognize that while acknowledging that she’s also nursing is a step in the RIGHT direction — that breasts and women can be very sexual and still be used to nurse babies.
For a man to pass this woman and get turned on, that’s because SHE is HOT. If I were doing it at my lovely blobby 200 pounds right now (thank you PCOS), people would probably be disgusted. The woman should not be punished because she is incredibly attractive. And if a man finds her sexual, SO WHAT? It’s not breastfeeding here that’s sexual, again, it’s the bombshell of a woman. It actually, like I said, has a POSITIVE message about breastfeeding if men look at her as sexy when she still has a baby attached to her breast, because so many men AND women think that’s impossible when it’s clearly not.
“that breasts and women can be very sexual and still be used to nurse babies.”
YES!!!! Thank you!
My problem with her being so indiscreet is that NO ONE should be so expositional while nursing, good-looking or not. It’s a beautiful, wonderful, personal thing between you and your child, not you and the world.
I realize it’s because she’s hot that men might get turned on by her, and her being exposed this way makes it worse…now there’s a lot more of her to see, including a sexual area that would be illegal to expose for any other reason. It’s not okay for men (aside from her husband, obviously) to see her breasts in another context, so why should they seem them for this reason? It’s not NECESSARY for her to expose herself in order to nurse. I used a cover from a young age so my daughter would be used to it, or if I didn’t want to use it and couldn’t find a private area, I often nursed her in the car…I had a more comfortable seat than, say, bleachers or a restaurant chair, and I could listen to music, etc.
The posts on this article have rightfully acknowledged that our breasts don’t become asexual when they’re used to nurse, which is a WONDERFUL thing for our husbands to realize, but we need to be conscious of that fact when in public because OTHER men don’t need to be seeing us that way (especially if they’re married men, too!). A lot of people, though they’d never phrase it this way, sadly seem to have the mindset, “If I was more fit/hot, I would use nursing as an excuse to flaunt my body publicly (nursing being the only way to not get arrested for doing so).” It’s just totally missing the point of nursing, and won’t get modest and conservative women to nurse their children.
You know, as vain as it may sound, I think nursing could use a beauty makeover. Most of the morons I see on Twitter bashing breastfeeding often claim that the woman doing it is “ugly” with “huge nasty boobs”. Now, those people can go ef themselves, but the point is that I think the women they’re talking about probably AREN’T all that unattractive, its just that society is programmed to see breastfeeding as matronly – something only huge Italian women in paintings did. Maybe if we swing the pendulum in the other direction and show super models breastfeeding whereever they want (and you’d be hard pressed to find a man who’d complain about this particular picture) then perhaps the normal-looking women won’t be given such a hard time. We need radical deprogramming.
I dunno – all I know is that whatever we’re doing now isn’t working, so why not try something new?
Twitter: RanaAurora
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Totally agreed. Maybe if women stop seeing it as “gross” and “taking boobs away from their husband” they might actually realize you can be sexy WHILE nursing.
This reminds me of myself. I wish I looked that good but honestly I love my body the way it is. While I don’t try too hard to be an exhibitionist, I do go out of my way to nurse in public. The more people see it the easier and more accepted it will be for moms whom discretion is really important.
As a nursing mother and as someone who is completely secure with her body I have openly nursed in sundresses with no bra, shorts and tank tops, again with no bra. I’m not as open about shoeing my breast as the woman in the picture because I hold Naomi up while she nurses instead of letting her hang down.
While I can see how this picture may offend some, I applaud the efforts of some to normalise the breastfeeding relationship, because really aren’t sex and boobs the norm in the world we live in today?? I mean go to any mall and browse the display windows outside the stores, what do you see??? Yeah that’s what I thought.
If I saw a real mom looking like this while she nursed, I might be jealous!! but other than that I would be fine with it. If that’s how you look after having a baby, good for you, that’s awesome!
The problem I have with this picture though is the same problem I have with most of the ads/pictures in fashion magazines, it’s not real.I don’t own a single fashion mag, and I would really discourage my daughters from looking through them too. I think they paint an unrealistic picture of what women should look like, and I think that damages real woman’s self esteem.
I know what I looked like when my baby was that size, and had I seen this picture then, I probably would have felt even more self-conscious about my post baby body than I already did. It’s really more of an issue that I have with fashion mags as a whole, not just this picture relating to breastfeeding.
Well, I’m glad I could post that for you three times. Sorry, not sure what’s up with that.
Twitter: RanaAurora
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Don’t worry, I cleaned up your mess.
Hmmm, I personally don’t care for this picture, probably because it is SOOO FAKE!! What is the point?! I feel sorry for that “baby” since his mama seems like she couldn’t care less about what he/she is doing, or that they are nursing…she’s too busy trying to look hot, check her cell phone, blow bubbles, whatnot. Oh good grief!!
However, that doesn’t mean I don’t think this photo should be ‘out there.’ If this is what our lame mainstream society has come to, then so be it. Get breastfeeding accepted in the mainstream… and apparently this is how we do it. Fine with me.
I wonder photos like this would encourage young mothers to breastfeed, only for them to find deep disappointment in the fact that it’s not like this at all and want to quit. I don’t know, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch. As long as photos like this are not the norm for educating women about breastfeeding I could go along with it…
I find this photo kinda discouraging. You can certainly look this hot after having a baby but it doesn’t happen right away for 95% of women.
This picture says to me “If your gonna breastfeed in public, then you should look this good so we can enjoy the view.” It says “your a failure if you don’t look this hot after having a baby”.
Breastfeeding is about you and your baby and NO ONE else. I strictly breastfeed my daughter and if she’s hungry while I’m out then I’m going to feed her. I don’t care if I look hot while I’m doing it and neither should you. Shame on anyone that says it needs a “beauty makeover”. Its beautiful just the way it is.
I’m not sure what this photo will do for normalizing public breastfeeding but it does zero for women who just sacrificed their body for nine months to grow a tiny human being and didn’t turn out looking this good afterwards.