The latest Time Magazine Cover controversy caused quite a stir in the Mom world yesterday. I think just about every mainstream media outlet, every blogger and much of the social media networks were all a buzz with a range of anger, shock, grossed out or just trying to get involved in the discussion of how dare Time start the next phase in the hot button 'Mommy Wars.'
Well nothing in advertising or well renown publications is ever accidental, and Time sure got their money's worth in controversy dollars or however much they paid the mom to stand weirdly in a way that no body really ever breastfeeds with her kid on the cover. Props to the mom. I'd probably do it too. That is unless I was trying to insist that extended breastfeeding was actually being portrayed accurately, then well, I wouldn't have let myself be talked into posing so suggestively. Maybe insisted on my kid dressed in pjs, sweetly snuggling, not looking like he just came home from a rock concert to get a sip from the nip. But well, we know that people can be convincing. And I did see the outtakes. The pictures that weren't used were different. Not as controversial at all. But they weren't about to sell a bunch of magazines either.
Time had us good and mad from the get go with their fighting words headline, "Are You Mom Enough." After seeing the title, I automatically went to defensive mode. Yes I do some of what they want to label as Attachment Parenting and I wasn't about to idly stand by when Time Magazine had the gall to start calling us 'extreme,' as if it was some sort of freakish method that people were all of a sudden participating in. As if breastfeeding and cosleeping and baby wearing were this new age extreme method. News flash people, this stuff is only extreme because we're sitting in comfort in the 21st century in a 1st world country where we've invented contraptions to do stuff for us. From the pricey baby gadgets to breast pumps, to yes, even hospital births are somewhat a modern invention. Having your baby close to you all the time isn't really extreme either. It's handy. I'm not bogged down as some tend to portray Attachment Parenting 24/7. It's nice not having to go far to stick a boob in baby's mouth and having him drift back to sleep quietly rather than standing outside a child's door and have them scream for hours in order to 'train' them into sleep submission. For me it's a no-brainier when I bring 3 kids to the zoo that I strap the youngest to my back and have my hands free to go on my way. It's not really that extreme. Although I do get looks and plenty of comments when I stroll through Wegmans with my son in a backpack, it's mostly because ew, the carts and the comments are mostly little old ladies telling me how cute he is. And who doesn't love that. And like I said, it's handy.
So back to Time Magazine. Just who were they taunting anyway with their 'Mom Enough' headline? Was this just another swing in the Mommy Wars, which is really just another extension of the War Against Women? We've barely swallowed and digested Rush Limbaugh's slut and feminazi comments and now this is thrown our way. So we're ready for a fight. Ready for the catchy one liners and the derogatory names, the accusations and the mud slinging.
But like any good controversy, this one barely had the shelf life of a bottle of pumped breast-milk. The nasty tone didn't really make it past the front cover like we were all expecting it to. A copy of the article trickled its way around my group of friends and elsewhere online. The ones who weren't swearing off the word Time till the end of time, and we all read basically a snooze of an article that probably was never originally going to make it past the back half of the magazine. Not without that cover shot anyway. I mean it's not like an article with a description about parenting is really hot off the presses type news. And to our further surprise, there really wasn't any further mudslinging, not really any more fighting headlines, it was basically a bio of Dr. Sears, the so-called Attachment Parenting Guru. I even had to skim some parts. It was dry. It was all about Sears and his wife and how they came to the conclusion that Attachment Parenting was the best way for them and his 30 books and oh how cute he wears scrubs with Dr. Bill on the pocket. Like I said, it was sort of a snooze and I'm actually interested in some of his methods. So that's pretty much all. And I don't know if it's surprise or disappointed or what, that we got all worked up over a mediocre article with a cover that seemed to taunt us more than actually put its dukes up and deliver.
Basically Time Magazine did what any profit seeking magazine would do when they come across that money shot sure to spark an echo of controversy across the nation. They throw the picture on the cover and hope its gonna catch fire. And that it did.
Between this and Amendment one (the anti-gay marriage amendment in North Carolina) getting passed on Tuesday and then President Obama 'coming out' on Wednesday in support of gay marriage, I'm all controversied out for the week. I would hope this whole thing would bring important discussions to the forefront. Like acceptance of a mother's choice of extended breastfeeding or for everyone to not get all boob- scratch that- public breastfeeding phobic. But I think the 15 minutes are just about up and I don't see that happening this time around.
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