>Do you think breastfeeding can be
>both of these things; a symbolic action/ performance *and* a health
>behaviour?

Yes, I do:  Of course!!!  and I suppose this question suggests another, 
interesting one, what the heck is a 'health behaviour' anyway?  I suppose 
most health behaviours are deeply culturally influenced and have personal 
meaning.  (This was something brought deeply home to me in the 9th grade, in 
Berkeley High School, when a teacher, himself from Africa, got our social 
studies class to read 'Body Rituals Among the Nacirema' by Howard Miner.  
This blew my mind and stayed with me, and wsa cited in my PhD!)

I was setting up a false dichotomy, really, to make my point -- I think that 
the 'healthiness' of breastfeeding is very important for many women, and that 
breastfeeding can be PARTIALLY influenced by knowledge and information 
about its health implications.  Probably we couldn't protect, promote or 
support women adequately with breastfeeding simply by appealing to the 
emotional resonances -- but my point is, we can't do it by SIMPLY focussing 
on the health aspects either.

Magda Sachs

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