>Hi Pam,
>I agree with what you're saying. My point in being careful about
>language is not to obscure the truth but to maximise the chances
>that the listener will actually hear what is intended.
Absoutely - we can be honest, factual, scientific, and it's essential
that we are, otherwise the honesty, the facts and the science of the
debate get forgotten in arguments ahout whether we are being
'ideological' and 'emotional'....and we end up defending our language
and not breastfeeding!
I see and hear this all the time - literally, every day. I follow
mothers' forums on the internet, and Twitter and facebook, and in
addition to this there is an ongoing debate in the UK media about
whether NCT (my own organisation for which I work and volunteer) and
other agencies 'make mothers feel guilty' because of their
breastfeeding advocacy. Someone defending breastfeeding will make an
unfortunate analogy - maybe suggesting that mothers who choose to
formula feed are making a decision akin to driving without strappng
their babies into car seats - and the ensuing storm of bitterness
(far, far more poisonous than the original analogy) stops people
hearing the honest, factual science. Mothers get most of their
information about infant care and infant feeding from the web these
days, and social media is enormously influential.
>To be honest, the woman responding to my article is intent on seeing
>what she wants to see (even to the point of misrepresenting results
>of studies that she chose to use in her argument- quite astounding
>really)
Indeed . Your article - scientific, honest, factual, and advocating
for women's informed choice - was still something that presses your
respndent's buttons. Many sensible, educated people have a deep
emtional response to infant feeding topics (why would they not? It's
human to care about babies!) and a deep sensitivity to any suggestion
that as a culture, we may have got this whole thing wrong.
It's nothing to do with being tactful, or politically correct, or
polite (though I think in personal dealings with mothers, of course
we should be kind and understanding, and recognise that individual
mothers do take all this stuff personally and as a judgment). It's do
with being effective, and having a voice that is listened to.
Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK
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