Deborah writes:
>A colleague (a health educator) and I have been having lively (and
>friendly) discussions about breastfeeding promotion. She recently read
>"Milk, Money, and Madness" (Baumslag & Michels) and "Watch Your
>Language!" (Wiessinger) and admitted that *her buttons were pushed* by
>some of the information. She classifies herself as a feminist and feels
>that women should have a choice about whether or not to breastfeed
>(and not to be "pushed" to do so by anyone).
Ahem, one of my favorite soapboxes. Women should have a choice about
whether or not to breastfeed -- and in order to have a choice, you have to
have accurate information. If a woman knows all the risks of artificial
infant formula and all the benefits of breastfeeding, and is in a supportive
environment where she can breastfeed without being hassled (by husband --
"Those are MY breasts," or by her employer "You want a longer break in order
to do WHAT??!!") and she knows the health consequences for herself and her
child, and she decides not to breastfeed, then that's her decision. But to
deny women the information they need to make an informed choice, or to deny
them the support they need to choose breastfeeding, espcially in the name of
"feminism," is criminal. In my humble opinion. I think that many people
want to see women "fail" at breastfeeding because the empowerment of
successful breastfeeding is very scary for people who really don't think
women are capable of much, or that what they *are* capable of isn't really
very important. I highly recommend that Deborah suggest to her friend that
she read some of Penny Van Esterik's brilliant and eloquent writings, such as:
Van Esterik, Penny 1995
The Politics of Breastfeeding: An Advocacy Perspective. In
Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives, edited by Patricia Stuart-Macadam
and myself. Published by Aldine de Gruyter, New York. Pp. 145-165.
Van Esterik, Penny 1994
Breastfeeding: A Feminist Issue. WABA Activity Sheet #4. Penang,
Malaysia.
Van Esterik, Penny 1994
Lessons from our lives: Breastfeeding in a personal context.
Jounral of Human Lactation 10(2):71-74.
Van Esterik, Penny 1994
Breastfeeding and feminism. International Journal of Gynaecology
and Obstetrics Supplement 47:541-554.
Van Esterik, Penny 1995
Thank you breasts: Breastfeeding as a global feminist issue. In
Ethnographic Feminisms, edited by S. Cole and L. Phillips, pp. 75-91.
Ottawa, Canada: Carleton University Press.
Penny is currently at work on a full-length book about how breastfeeding
empowers women and is (or should be) a major focus of a feminist agenda.
You need to understand that there are many kinds of feminists. One *camp*
takes the approach that there are no significant biological differences
between men and women, and that women's biology should have no bearing on
her life. They accept the widespread cultural belief in the US that the
only work of value is paid work, outside the home. Anything that keeps
women from doing paid work outside the home must "tie women down" and
therefore be bad. They have accepted, lock-stock-and-barrel the dominant,
male-defined paradigm that only public lives are valuable, and that child
bearing and rearing are just drudgery, chores, that anyone can do, and of
little value in society. Another *camp* of feminists taking a different
approach, recognizes that there are vast biological differences between men
and women, centered in the role that women place in bearing and
breastfeeding and nurturing children, AND that this role is very important
and valuable and, in fact, essential, to society. That doesn't mean that
women should stay home barefoot and pregnant, or be denied opportunities for
education and fulfilling work outside the home. It does mean that
breastfeeding is IMPORTANT and should be supported in whatever ways we can
support it -- whether that means not working at all outside the home when
your children are little, or decent maternity leaves (in Norway, women get a
year off of PAID maternity leave, men get a month off of PAID paternity
leave!), having your child with you at work, or on-site child care, flexible
schedules, job sharing, a clean and nice place to pump and store EBM, etc.
etc. etc. Climbing down off my soapbox.....
>
>On Breastfeeding in public. Although it seems like a good thing, I believe
a womans right to breastfeed, anytime anywhere, should not be
>legislated......it is a 'natural' right given by her creator.
>
>REMEMBER: What the Gvernment Giveth, the GOvernment can taketh away!
Well, this is all well and good, but as long as there are laws on the books
defining exposure of the nipple or areola as illegal due to being indecent
exposure we will need laws to exempt breastfeeding women from the indecent
exposure laws!!
About Jeffrey and his "let-downs" -- I think Jeffrey is a very special sort
of fellow! Very empathetic. Very in tune to his feelings. I also think
that lots of men go "all googly" when they see babies, just like women do,
but they've learned that in our culture it's not appropriate for men to
express those feelings.
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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D. email: [log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX 77843-4352
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