Kathleen
Wow! I am still pondering all the implications
of this very powerful piece and your friend's
thoughts. Castration! I wonder if it would be OK
to share this with my English colleagues? We've
been discussing why our breastfeeding rates are
so very low, with special emphasis on how sexual
abuse survivors may be able to conceive a child,
but not to breastfeed, especially in the West vs
in the South where high rates of rape are
reported, yet breastfeeding is almost universal.
One of my more perceptive colleagues offered the
thought that survivors of sexual abuse in Western
societies aspire to be normal, and rehabilitate
themselves, in their later lives by engaging in
sex, but that they may get such mixed messages
from society about the normality, or indeed the
importance, of using the breasts for their
primary function, that the possibility of
breastfeeding even their own baby is completely
lost. It was a revelation to me. As these
thoughts are! I'd like to put them together - may I?
Pamela Morrison IBCLC
Rustington, England
------------------------------------------
At 16:51 21/04/2014, you wrote:
>Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 11:51:32 -0400
>From: Kathleen Bruce <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: From Jeliffe and Jeliffe, things to ponder
>
> A friend shared this with me and I felt that
> it was something worth reprinting for everyone
> to think about... As we think about research ,
> evidence-based research being the basis of
> policy in specific or in selective situations
> and why research is really not the basis of our practice at all .
>
>" I found the following description in Jelliffe
>& Jelliffe' s Human Milk in the Modern World to be explanatory for me.
>
>….. a functional castration of women has
>occurred. They have acquiiesced to a
>combination of forces, medical and cultural,
>which have eventuated in the use of the breast
>as the primary sex symbol and yardstick of
>feminine desirability, divorced from its
>nurturing role. Women in a critical period of
>their life cycle have become divorced from
>themselves and from the ability to confirm their
>identity fundamentally. In this instance, the
>degree of concern of the medical profession
>might be described as inversely proportional to
>the dimension of the problem. To draw an
>analogy, would the professional distance of
>physicians be maintained were it routinely
>recommended that all insemination be
>accomplished artificially? Would anybody
>suggest, seriously, that males abstain from
>intercourse, bind themselves, take drugs to
>relieve congestion, or be mechanically relieved
>routinely, and that it would be as good?
>
>The apparent absurdity of the analogy goes to
>the heart of the problem. If one sees lactation
>as part of a psychosexual continuum in women,
>the analogy can be taken seriously.
>Weichert , C (1975) Pediatrics 56.987. Breast-feeding: first thoughts.
>She is also of the opinion that: ‘To deal with
>anxieties that lactating women express
>concerning their ‘normality’, because of the
>sensual relationship they share with the infant,
>one must confront the relationship between
>lactation and sexuality, not deny it.’
>
>Sent from my iPhone
>Kathleen B. Bruce RN IBCLC
>Lactation Consultant RN, IBCLC
>802 578 6841 cell
>802 879 8854 home
>Inventor of Lactnet and Kbbspin.org
>Spinners, Weavers, Knitters Housecleaning pages
>
>(Apologies for typos. I find it difficult to get
>spelling correct when typing on small phone) kbb
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