Hi to all.  I again was invited to be a guest lecturer at a community college
psych class on human sexuality.  How wonderful this (male) teacher is
including birth and breastfeeding in the curriculum. That birth and
breastfeeding are part of human sexuality is frequently over-looked in our
culture -- esp. by teens and young adults.

I showed the Righert and Alade First Attachment video and some slides to get
the discussion going.  Then I asked them to write down questions to pass up
to me anonymously.  The last time I taught this class I just assumed they'd
ask questions, and they were much too shy.  Today their questions got right
down to it:  Does bfg hurt?  What does the milk taste like?  Does bfg make
breasts sag?  How long should babies nurse?  Can you have sex while
breastfeeding?  Can you get preg. while bfg?  How can fathers participate?
 Can you nurse after a [sic]" boob job"? What about nursing in public?  It is
so obvious that part of the problem with our bfg rates is that between having
bad information and NO information, bfg is just a huge mystery to most
people.

I need more un-paid work like a hole in the head, but it is so rewarding to
have contacts like this with young students -- especially young men -- and to
expose them to new ways of looking at women's bodies.  I drew a diagram of
the problem with nerve severing that results from breast implants inserted
periareolarly.  The class was uniformly horrified that breast implants might
permanently impair lactation function.

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BSE, IBCLC
priv. pract. Austin, Tx