Give me a fanatic any day if by fanatic you mean ”passionate and committed to increased knowledge and experience.” If my car is not working, if my garden is failing, if my house needs painting, my bathroom remodeling, my child’s broken arm repairing – by all means, recommend the most fanatic expert in the field! Since when did experience and passion become synonymous with fanatic? Since when did it become inappropriate to get the best help with a problem? To borrow from Rachael’s post: “It is also my theory and take this for what its worth, that any organization started by women, run by women, and for women is going to be threatening to some people, men and women alike. The fanatic reputation is applied to amny women's organizations, I think.” Absolutely. The undercurrent of many recent posts (to my ear) is a reaction to the continuing undervaluation of women’s need for medical help (i.e. breastfeeding), women as care providers (note the slow acceptance of straightforward breastfeeding roles for IBCLCs), and culturally female ways of providing that help (woman-to-woman, sensitive to time, relationships, and intuition). Use of the word fanatic to describe a woman helping a woman perform a biologically female function is misogyny. Is it any more palatable when that language comes from a woman? Think again. My own commitment to helping women and children nurse does not arise simply from a passion for breastfeeding. Rather, it is the politics that inspire me. Because breastfeeding is intrinsically female. Because breastfeeding is a choice (albeit cultural), a deliberate act on the part of the mother (even in the best of circumstances) drawing that baby to the breast again and again. It is precisely because breastfeeding is the one deliberate, exclusively female act that I find it to be the ultimate feminist issue. Unlike conception, pregnancy, and birth which women should “own” but sometimes “deny” and “endure,” breastfeeding requires deliberation. No one has yet to call me, through LLL or through my business name, to complain she is “accidentally” breastfeeding and doesn’t know how it happened….. Are the best neurosurgeons, car mechanics, grade school teachers, chefs, attorneys, house painters, landscape architects, and plumbers called fanatics in your area? Bet not. I’m guessing they’re simply called “the best.” Susan Johnson MFA, IBCLC __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html