I saw this hit the headlines and read just about all of the comments in the major news websites. I observed quite an interesting trend, it seems only in America, some moms were disturbed by this or very put out. While a good majority of American moms were completely supportive of this, saw nothing wrong and said more or less that the kid usually gets tired of breastfeeding and that's the end of that. Also in the American comments were pediatricians who too, felt completely supportive of the cover and commented that the child should decide when to stop breastfeeding, which can go up to 4 years old when they are ready for real food.
Next was, fascinating! shocker! oh my, never saw this coming! It appears in the UK, Australian and English speaking European news outlets, this cover was no big deal, viewed as completely normal for children. Europeans found nothing disturbing.
What's my take? I believe there is a something derailed in America when it comes to the female breast. American culture sexualizes the breast at every angle, you're not sexy unless you wear this bra, you're not sexy unless you have implants, flash your boobs to get a man, all of these cultural topics detract from purpose of the Time article. I couldn't believe what I was reading in some of the American comments, one mother on Yahoo totally flipped out citing that this cover was porn. And I kept thinking to myself this woman does not see a mother feeding her child, she's totally lost it and I'd be willing to bet there is no explaining to her the difference. She she's breasts, it's automatically porn. Insane.
I believe there is a time for breasts to be sexy, such as Rate My Melons and there is a time for breasts to feed children, it's not one blur. There is a very distinct difference and any normal person knows this.
I feel the same as most supportive moms and pediatricians, 1) there absolutely nothing wrong with this cover and 2) when a kid is ready to stop breastfeeding, the kid will naturally just stop on their own time. That's my say.
Couldn't agree with you more about the "porn" aspect. Seems absurd. I also agree that the kid will stop feeding when it's ready, but I just don't think that age is anywhere near 4 (or however old the boy in the article is). I'm not saying there's some sort of magic age or hard cut-off, but 4 seems high to me.
Anyway, that's just the opinion of a RMM noob. Take it with a grain of salt, or the whole shaker!