My last post focused on this week’s Time Magazine cover and its divisive headline “Are You Mom Enough?”
I kept reading, and I found a blog post by Jamie Lynne Grumet, the woman on the cover. And I like her, because while she’s made different choices than I have–and in at least one area, had different opportunities–it looks like we have common ground.
In “10 Things Breastfeeding Advocates Need to Stop Saying,” she highlights common statements and refutes them. She’s tolerant. She has a big picture. She’s making room for differences.
She talks about the difference between “best” and “natural.” She talks about wet nursing. She talks about not assuming everyone has the same options available to them. And I’d like to quote one of the points she makes (the “statement” is in bold; her reply is not, although it is much bolder):
I just think formula feeding moms are lazy. — And I just think you’re an asshole.
So let’s keep the criticism where it belongs: on the editors of Time, and on everyone else who thinks that there are benefits to dividing people. And let’s not give them the power to make that happen.