….. a functional castration of women has occurred. They have acquiesced to
a combination of forces, medical and cultural, which have eventuated in the
use of the breast as the primary sex symbol and yardstick of feminine
desirability, divorced from its nurturing role. Women in a critical period
of their life cycle have become divorced from themselves and from the
ability to confirm their identity fundamentally. In this instance, the
degree of concern of the medical profession might be described as inversely
proportional to the dimension of the problem. To draw an analogy, would the
professional distance of physicians be maintained were it routinely
recommended that all insemination be accomplished artificially? Would
anybody suggest, seriously, that males abstain from intercourse, bind
themselves, take drugs to relieve congestion, or be mechanically relieved
routinely, and that it would be as good? The apparent absurdity of the
analogy goes to the heart of the problem. If one sees lactation as part of
a psychosexual continuum in women, the analogy can be taken seriously.
Weichert , C (1975) Pediatrics 56.987. Breast-feeding: first thoughts. She
is also of the opinion that: ‘To deal with anxieties that lactating women
express concerning their ‘normality’, because of the sensual relationship
they share with the infant, one must confront the relationship between
lactation and sexuality, not deny it.

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