TIME magazine created an uproar with its latest May 21 cover: a woman breastfeeding her nearly 4-year-old son. The controversial cover choice is the artwork for the mag's main feature titled "Are You Mom Enough?" about moms who nurse their children far past infancyAlong with the rest of the world, celebrities took to their social media platforms to sound off on the statement-making photo.
"Time, no! You missed the mark! You're supposed to be making it easier for breastfeeding moms. Your cover is exploitive & extreme," first-time mom Alyssa Milano, whose son Milo is nine months, wrote.
Countering the 39-year-old actress' take was another former child star Mayim Bialik, who expressed her own thoughts on her Facebook page.
"I was shocked how amazing her story was," the Blossom star, mom to Miles, 6, and Frederick, 3, wrote. "And she gave an educated and eloquent set of responses. I would not have done a photo shoot myself but I respect her and think she is a smart woman," Bialik continued about TIME's cover model, Jamie Lynne Grumet, who has two sons: her adopted 5-year-old and her biological son (featured on the cover) who turns 4 next month.
Meanwhile comic Dane Cook and political commentator Rush Limbaugh had snarkier remarks about the cover.
"Improving Time's cover: Replace the mother with a Statue of Liberty...and you've got the Obama platform," Limbaugh, who's a staunch Republican, posted.
As for Cook, he wrote, "Time Magazine's cover is pretty ballsy or t***tsy. The kid looks nourished. Wonder if they call that the yum yum chair."
And while Grumet, 26, is a real mom who was breast fed until she was six and whose nursing technique falls into the category of "attachment parenting," Hollywood has its own set of headline-making moms.
Back in March, Alicia Silverstone posted a video on her website, The Kind Life, in which she pre-chewed food and had her son, Bear, 10 months, eat it directly out of her mouth. The video sparked a huge controversy on the Web over whether or not the practice -- premastication, or pre-chewing solid food for an infant -- was hygienic.
In April, she defended her decision, telling Entertainment Tonight, "I can understand that it would make some people feel uncomfortable, possibly, because it's new to them. But I do want to let you know that this has been going on for thousands of years -- still going on all over the place -- and it's natural."
Bialik, 36, regularly speaks out on her parenting habits, admitting that she still nurses her 3-year-old (and was seen doing so on an NYC subway) in addition to co-sleeping with the tot.[usmagazine.com]
