One thing about breastfeeding care is that women often feel that it's more
"face-to-face" than getting OB/Gyn-type care.  Docs are good at avoiding eye
contact while they do vaginal exams and deliver babies.  There used to be,
and sometimes still is, a sheet draped over the woman's raised legs, that
gave the doc a hiding place...er, provided a visual barrier.

The descriptions that Lactnetters have sent of how good, sensitive, male
nurses work should apply to female practitioners too!  Sit down with the mom,
eyes at the level of her eyes, demonstrate with your hands or a doll or a
model or your body, ask permission before you touch, guide her hands with
yours, make a family member welcome to stay in the room (and learn how they
can help, too).

Another difficulty with women's feelings about their breasts (in US culture,
anyway) is that breasts are so often the target of unwanted male attention,
anything from leering and objectionable remarks by passers-by to fondling by
abusers.  Do women in other cultures have to contend with the "Show us your
breasts!" phenomenon, in which young women are expected to display on command
to please random half-drunk male onlookers?  How about the recent stage play,
"How I learned to drive," in which the "kindly" uncle teaches his niece to
drive by sitting her on his lap at the wheel of a car, so that her hands were
occupied with steering while his had free play on her body.

It sometimes amazes me that anyone manages to breastfeed in the USA!

Hanging out our cultural dirty laundry in eastern USA,
Chris Mulford

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