that is great sam......however as a black woman, that lives in the USA, and breastfed, and currently breastfeeding the journey was long and hard. i am in the process of breaking the barriers to make breastfeeding in my community normal. only in America do we force women to go back to work at 6 weeks and expect breastfeeding to continue. only in America when a women breastfeeds in public and causes an up roar and is viewed as sexual. in America we look at women from Africa, India, Asia, and beyond as out dated because they actually breastfeed their babies and don't know what bottle feeding is. lets remember it was an American woman told she could not breastfeed on a plane or throw out her expressed breast milk. i don't know first hand on women's rights in other counties, but i do know that it should not be difficult to a LC or woman helping mothers and babies with breastfeeding, to understand that a woman from any walk of life cant breastfeed in
public. i have breastfed 4 children and still do not breastfeed in public due to my own personal choices. i never meant to offend any one that is from the USA or any where Else, but if you are not from the USA, and if you were breastfeeding you would just BREASTFEED because there was no other option, or someone Else breastfed your baby for you. i am not America bashing. but i live and work her. and we still have to write policies on why and how a mother can do skin to skin with her baby. that's crazy. i knew this would open up a discussion with other people, but understand that i was speaking from a different place.
--- On Fri, 6/26/09, Sam <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Sam <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: FTC Complaints and African Women
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Friday, June 26, 2009, 9:32 AM
Perhaps it's not a "black" thing, or a "Chinese" thing, or in my case, an
"Appalachian" thing, but if it is our experience with the culture around us,
it becomes that "whatever" thing. It's like the risk of something may be
only 1%, but it if happens to us, it's 100%.
I have found the cultural differences and similarities to be very
interesting. I like to dissect ideas and ideals, and see from where they
originated. My own family of origin has a wide base, from recently
immigrated Irish and Swedish (I'm a 3rd gen American on my Mom's side) to
Mayflower immigrants on my Dad's side, there are amazing
motherhood/breastfeeding stories.
I hesitate to "blame America" on all of the mothering evils, including
breastfeeding problems. My immigrant grandmothers were "unable" to
breastfeed, despite their mothers having no problems. Was it becoming
American, or was it the conflict between the new society and the old
society? The old society, breastfeeding worked. The new society, well, there
were options that seemed to be better. In Appalachia, the "Appalachian
thing" is to not breastfeed, because it's what grandmothers did, it's for
poor people, old poor people sitting on a rickety front porch, nursing a
baby.
I'm sure there are other societies where something seemed newer, better,
flashier. Look at the Standard American Diet. It's not like Americans came
together and decided on a high fat, low protein diet. It's the influence of
many communities coming from around the world, and trying to figure out a
way to live together, work together. As a young nation, she is still trying
to figure out boundaries with a continuing influx of the unfamiliar.
While America has her own faults, we should remember that America is the sum
of all parts of the world, a unique combination of peoples. I'm not sure I
could go into a grocery store in another country and find as generous
selection of foods, or people, from around the world, as I do here. Some of
it works, and works well, and some of it doesn't work.
Best wishes,
Sam Doak
An Irish/Swedish/German/English American
We're going to Candy Mountain, Charlie!
<<
this is not a black or African thing. women from Mexico who come to America
feel the same way. i am so tired of African Americans being the center of
someones static tics and pools of "why black women or men don't do ...., or
black women don:t.... is it because of poverty black communities...." now
the problems that seemed to only effect the black community have leaked to
ALL communities. you can ask any immigrant why they don't bf in America and
you will that same answer you got from that African woman. America is messed
up....STOP making it a Black thing!
SORRY FOR THE DRAMA THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!>>
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