Teresa wrote:
"But if nobody ever shows pictures of older babies nursing, of various
mothers nursing, how will we change the culture? As long as we accept that
these things are "unacceptable" it will keep on being that way.
Years ago I worked in an agency with many young women (social workers). Many
were having babies, and most bottlefed or breastfed for a short time. I
bought the first set of INFACT posters (showing photos of breastfeeding
babies, and of bare breasts, with funny captions) and put them all around my
office. I got some comments at first. But people got used to them, over
time. " <snip>
"I think it's okay if people are shocked or put off at first. It's often how
we react to something new. But if we keep seeing those kind of images, keep
hearing people talk about this, we get used to it. It starts to seem
almost... normal."
Exactly!! We are getting nowhere from here. We need to create where we want to be and move towards it.
When I read the posts in this thread, I was expecting something much more controversial than what I saw--
ordinary mothers loving their children--and they happened to (mostly) be feeding at breast at the same time.
I think it is time we stopped allowing a narrow, vanilla image of women who breastfeed to represent mothering
at breast. When I think about the mothers I have worked with over the years, this calendar comes much closer
to representing them than does your average trite product.
One of my favorite things about the calendar is that the photos are well-done. Industry has lots and lots of
money for excellent advertising and marketing and of course folks in the breastfeeding community have close
to none. Even so, one of the serious mistakes that our organizations tend to make is in poor marketing materials--
less user-friendly websites, poor quality graphics and photography and failure to utilize the expertise of marketing/ad
people (failed US breastfeeding campaign as the perfect example). Successful industries don't make such poor
decisions. As a graphic designer/photographer, this has always concerned me immensely. No AIM executive would
ever think to design his own brochure, ad or calendar. He would hire someone who knew what he was doing. One
of the things I have always disliked about many pro-breastfeeding materials (LLL is the perfect example) is exactly
that--often poor quality, poor designs, (even tacky) appealing to a very narrow audience. IMO, someone with an eye
for design and beauty managed the production of this product. I love it!!
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
Intuitive Parenting Network LLC
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