I agree wholeheartedly with the statements Kathy Dettwyler made re: the
Disney/Nestle boycott thread. As it was my post that was quoted I feel that I
should respond. I DO believe that all women should feel able to breastfeed in
public but I also believe that at no time in the near future will ALL Western
women feel comfortable in doing so for a variety of reasons (it's a fact of
life). So, we do need more friendly spaces for these women to go to feed and
nurture their babies and Disney or whoever should have a space like this every
20 feet(not to be taken literally!)Normalizing breastfeeding is going to take
a long time.

Advertising of infant formula(SIN) and advertising by infant formula
companies(?SINNERS) is aimed at breastfeeding women and if they can catch you
in a moment of doubting your ability to breastfeed your baby they will. These
advertisers are not promoting goodwill and while you or I may not be
suceptible to their ploys there are far too many women who are. The whole(or
nearly whole) world of advertising is aimed at the female gender. So a poster
depicting a happy mother/baby pair, even with out showing a bottle being used,
but with the SIN company name at the bottom is still promoting the use of
their product and undermining breastfeeding.

I don't boycott Disney but I do boycott Nestle products so I have chosen a
battle. I don't wish to help this company dump any more SIN on Third World
countries which leads directly to the demise of thousands of babies a year.
One baby a year is too many.
There are some really good resources to tap into for more information on the
history of infant nutrition and the history of Nestle specifically. The INFACT
Canda web site is one such resource. Their address is:  www.io.org/~infacto
Another good resource is Gabrielle Palmer's book, "The Politics of
Breastfeeding". The new edition has just been released.

When I worked  as a Public Health Nurse we were always sure to remove SIN
company names from any posters. etc. that we used for the public. We did not
distribute any magazines, booklets, etc. which contained formula company
advertising in any form. We believed that this made a difference and I still
believe that it does.

Sorry for the long post which, I guess, is a rant of sorts.
Nola (North of 60)




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