In an earlier post I said something like, "I hope we *don't end up with a
'culture supportive of breastfeeding.'  If we do, we still have a big
problem.  Imagine a 'culture supportive of brunettes.'"

My husband didn't get it, either, until I explained it.  Sorry.  I have a
thing about language.

A "culture supportive of..." is a culture that still hasn't integrated
that somethingorother into everyday life.  We ignore brunettes.  We don't
have special places for them to sit, or special laws protecting them, or
special clothes for them to wear.  Brunettes are simply fully integrated
into everyday life.  There's no *reason* to be supportive of them.
There's no reason even to notice them.

My friend envisions a "culture supportive of breastfeeding" as a culture in
which there are places at every mall to nurse a baby, nursing clothes
available in all the catalogs, not just the high priced ones, and so on.
I envision a *breastfeeding culture* as one in which babies are nursed
everywhere, and clothes in which one can't nurse a baby are the exception.

I think we're already close to being a "culture supportive of
breastfeeding."  But we are most definitely a bottle-feeding culture.

E-mail me if you want to talk more about it.  I love this kind of stuff!

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL  Ithaca, NY  [log in to unmask]