I have been chewing on the question I first heard on this list "Why don't
women who have been undermined in their breastfeeding (by the formula
industry marketing practices, by misguided health workers, by family
members, by employers, etc) rise up and protest?"

Well, why don't they?   Why
did it take so long for others oppressed by the system to rise up?
Because they felt oppressed?  Because they needed validation?  Because,
in part, they were oppressed in the first place due to their lack of power
and voice?

How have others found their voices? I don't know the answer, because I
spent the 60s and 70s being a conformist (go figure).  How did MADD get
started? How about the civil rights movement? La Leche League? Cesarean
Prevention Movement?  Does all of this wait for
a charismatic leader?   Is there a way to cultivate this leader?  Weren't
consciousness-raising groups a way for many to find their voices?

Is there a way to learn from these experiences and apply them to this
issue?

Any  ideas?
Elizabeth A. Peyton, MD,family physician, [log in to unmask]