Extended bf pic

[VictorianSqualor]

Don't know if this has been linked before but isn't the picture in this article lovely?

You see, she's confused. I think I'd best leave her to it

vvvqv - really, is this what you think of as reasoned debate? This is like being the 'out of the gang' girl at school, and really horrible to engage with.

OK, who's been taking pictures of me in my bed first thing in the morning? (cause I sleep in tight jeans!!LOL)

Any way, I showed it to DP and he didn't see anything provocative or sexual about it, but then, he sees something very similar every morning, with my pj top undone and a 2 year old on one and a nearly 5 year old on the other. My hair looks a little like a birds nest than hers but hey.....

I think people have a problem with it because she's not being "discrete", she's not shy and she is nursing toddlers, not tiny babies. She's clearly very comfortable with her body, and, seeing as she's currently pregant again, she's obviously sexually active, and she has her legs open, the hussy. So many taboos!!

People expect to see pretty, calm, gentle nurturing pictures of mothers nursing small babies, to see a confident, sexy, toddler feeding Hot Mama cleary unnerves some people.

Monkies

Reasoned debate is very difficult to have when the other side is wilfully misinterpreting whats being said.

I've resorted back to flippancy again because this really is tedious, as far from reasoned debate as you could get and quite frankly getting nowhere.

You are refusing to accept that my point isnt as black and white as you perceive it to be. That's fine. But, if thats what you think - what's to discuss?

Lets leave it as we both agree with what slur said. I think that's most sensible, dont you?

well, hm, could you take a look at your zoo comment from my perspective, and really imagine, esp in the light of the rest of the debate, whether it's definitely clear that you were being funny.

i asked dh whether it was a provocative or sexualised pic too, he said 'only if you fancy doing it with children hanging off' [such a refined chap]

v good point gm.

Like Franny, I'm not sure what to make of the image. I can really see both sides to this argument. Harpsi in particular made some xcellent points - particularly in relation to what we culturally find appropriate for mothers -, and so did PW.

In the context of the thread?

I'm not sure I follow?

If I've upset you, I'm sorry - it was surely a fleeting thing, since I explained right away what I did mean - and I did think that the way I worded it was clearly lighthearted - and yes, on rereading it, I still think that.

What did you think I meant?

"
You are refusing to accept that my point isnt as black and white as you perceive it to be. "

No - I'm not - I'm just refusing to be told that if I don't like it I've got a problem.

There is a huge amount to discuss. But only if you can bear to do so without implying that those who disagree with you are uptight/lentilweaving(so?)/embarrassed about thier bodies.

I've said, quite clearly, what my position is on the image and how it has been constructed. If you'll engage with that, then we can continue.

My favourite bf picture of myself is of me tandem feeding, a few hours after ds2's birth, and looking straight into the camera. It's not madonna-like, I look exhausted from labour but that is part of the appeal for me, I think, it's very - here I am, this is what I do, I'm proud. I think that's why I like it so much. It's on my profile (atm).

I can see how that aspect of this image appeals. It's quite an interesting clash with the sexualised aspects of the image. I'm not sure the pic is saying 'here I am, I might be bf but I'm available anyway'.

It's a lovely picture berolina- I love the way your DS is looking at the baby while he feeds. I'm that you looked like that a few hours after giving birth.

Berolina you look so happy in tht picture Really beautiful!!

i like the pic.i was unable to bf over 5 or 6 weeks(but im so proud of those few weeks)and i think its beutiful.

Green Monkies, that is not a fair reading of the objections to the picture on this thread. Most of the objections have come from fellow extended breastfeeders, and are to do with the fact that the photograph's visual language self-consciously echoes the image of the sexually available woman with which we've all become depressingly familiar. As policywonk put it with her usual pith: "it's a bit of a shame to use an image that unquestioningly reproduces so many aspects of female objectification."

And another thing. Can anyone explain why so many people on here are deferring to their menfolk on the question of whether or not it is a sexual image? Can we not see for ourselves? Not to mention that I suspect many men would regard this question coming from their wives and girlfriends as a question demanding the answer "no".

Berolina, your bf picture is truly lovely and has made me a bit teary.

OBM, please read my previous posts

Bero, I've always loved that picture. You look totally elated.

I love that pic, Bero (hello!).

okay vvvqv .

right, done that. and I stand by my earlier comments.

If your position is a valid one (which it is), insulting those who don't agree with you doesn't make it more valid. It makes it less valid.

But if you would like to continue the discussion about the extent to which the image sits within the 'acceptable' bounds of what womanhood should be, then let's do so.

There's nothing available about her expression.

It is a sexy pose, but the expression on her face, the fact she has two children breastfeeding - it is an image that challenges our expectation of what a woman is.

I don't particularly warm to it, not like the one of Bero. But that's why it would work better as part of a series of images, not as a standalone one.

There's a term for 'question expecting the answer 'no'', isn't there? Maybe it's a French grammatical thing. Anyway that's another bit of my brain I'll never get back.

I thik we can ALL agree that bero takes a perfectly lovely picture.

Did you see my post, OBM?

What kind of images would you like to see portrayed on a poster campaign for b/feeding?

Berolina's!

HM - which post? the one about being light-hearted about me taking my body-image issues to the zoo? where you say that your lightheartedness was perfectly clear?

yes, I saw that one.