Angelina Jolie shown breastfeeding on magazine cover

Angelina Jolie appears on the cover of W’s November issue, while breastfeeding.  Good for her, she looks beautiful.

After strolling through many blogs I came upon a lot of negative feedback. I truly can’t believe in this day and age there could be such negative responses to something as simple as a mother shown breastfeeding on a cover of a magazine, that something so innocent and natural could be misconstrued as anything other than a sign of love. That adults could be so immature they find it disgusting, or distasteful.

Unless you’re a new mother the thought of breastfeeding can be all of those things I suppose. I remember when I was younger I had an Aunt who openly breasfed her child at every family gathering. I thought it was in poor taste and just plain weird.. especially when the child grew past the age of 2 and had already developed teeth. But, I was a child at that time also. No one had ever taken me aside and explained anything to me. I had seen my own mother try to breastfeed my younger siblings but she would hide in the bedroom to do it. I also remember the comments she received after her breasts grew (she is small busted) “Oh you should keep them that way” and things along that line. Of course at the time I thought it was funny and maybe a little true and didn’t see any harm in someone commenting on the fact they thought she looked better. Nowadays, now that I am an adult I don’t think I would tolerate such rudeness.

Let me get back on topic.. The fact that I had no experience with breastfeeding really made me clueless to what all the hubbub was about. Now that I’ve grown and had my own child and have breastfed myself I wonder one thing.. When did it become ok for people to be sickened by the thought of a mother feeding her child? What kind of country is this that breasts are only viewed as sexual objects? And yes, I say “this country”. I’m married to a Scandinavian and believe me there is no fuss about this sort of thing over there. When I walked into the supermarket in Norway I was appauled to see women naked from the waist up on covers sitting at the check-out. Of course thats a whole other thing if you ask me.. we can discern between the two things as adults and we can teach our children to do the same. We don’t need to pretend to be so puritanical that something as wonderful as a mother bonding and feeding her child is considered in poor taste. I know that evolution is inevitable, but some things are meant to be. Please teach your children that this is natural and that it’s what breasts were originally intended for. If you do this, maybe in the future we won’t lose complete touch with human nature.

If you’d like to read the original article, you can do so here on CNN

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