I just today got a glimpse of the New Yorker cover, and I have to say I can't
see it as either pro- or anti-breastfeeding.  I have to agree with the person
who posted on Art Spiegelman's work.  One aspect of this that I haven't seen
mentioned: I think in recent years there has been an increase in images of
breastfeeding just as a part of life, of the breast performing its true
function rather than as a sex symbol.  Whereas 20 or 30 years ago, in a movie
or TV show, if there was a baby involved, more often than not bottlefeeding
was assumed; now it's more likely that the baby will be shown being
breastfed.  Now there have certainly been egregious instances of negative,
grossly inaccurate portrayals of breastfeeding, some of which are probably
sponsored at least in part by ABM companies.  And we certainly need to
respond to those.  But overall, the fact that breastfeeding as a normal part
of life, as an expected activity, is more commonly portrayed, can only be
positive.  The way breastfeeding will become the norm is to repeat over and
over, in as many ways as possible at as many levels of society as possible,
that breastfeeding is the normal, expected way to feed babies.
This is also, sadly, a message that needs to be repeated over and over to
some health care professionals, who sometimes seem to see lactation as an
exceptional, perhaps even pathological state rather than the physiological
norm.  Thus the recommendation to wean at the drop of a hat.  Miriam Levitt
RN, IBCLC

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