By Heidi Coglon
In this day and age where breastfeeding mothers already seem to have judgements thrown at them from every angle, I tend to get a little incensed when the media adds fuel to the fire.
Yesterday on CNN’s Showbiz Tonight, SBT’s correspondent AJ Hammer was having a discussion with SBT producers Joan Yeam and Sarah Moon about an incident involving Kim Kardashian and some “boob bronzing” that had occurred on the reality show ” Keeping up with the Kardashians”.
Here is a copy of the transcript
“Welcome back. Thank you for tuning in. I am A.J. Hammer. We`re now at number five on our countdown of today`s top ten must-see, must-share stories. It`s the Kardashians in crisis. In the raw. The new season of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” just debut and we really get to see everything including Kris and Bruce dealing with their split as Khloe`s marriage to Lamar crumbles. But that`s not all the attention — that got all the attention of the “SBT” producers, Joan Yeam and Sarah Moon. They watched every single minute. They had their popcorn in one hand, their iPhones in the other. I mean forget about those breakups for a moment. Sarah was taken aback by some boob bronzing.”
MOON: No. Basically I get that she is in the car and everything. And she is very comfortable showing off her breasts. They`re very large and everything. But still, it`s almost like public breastfeeding, you know, not acceptable.
HAMMER: Except she was feeding the breasts.
MOON: Right.
Now I know that there is a little something called “freedom of speech” but doesn’t the media also have a responsibility to the public, and in particular to breast feeding mothers out there, to exercise some decorum and sensitivity when making judgmental comments regarding parenting choices?
It is a sad day when public breastfeeding is compared to Kim Kardashian bronzing her breasts, one being a natural loving and healthy choice for a child while the other a choice could be argued as problematic and perpetuating unrealistic ideals of beauty in a patriarchal society. (Of course, that was never mentioned on the show.)
If even one breastfeeding mother out there heard those words and felt judged, or worse yet decided against breastfeeding for fear of it being judged “not acceptable” in the eyes of the media then some damage has been done. One should never underestimate how much power the media actually has.
CNN should be issuing an apology to the public for Ms. Moon’s remark about public breast feeding being “unacceptable” and let everyone know that they have an unbiased opinion on the subject.
