Mik etc.......
I do not want to hear (see) the F word mis-used over and over and over. I am sick and tired of hearing that F word being used by those who do not know what they are talking about.!!

Oh, sorry, the word i am referring to is ......F A N A T I C ! !  (had you going there?)
I believe that anyone who uses that word to describe women whom they don't even know can only be fanatically against breastfeeding at large!! They, for some reason, feel a need to bash the unknown. I am a fanatic. I am a proud fanatically motivated volunteer who spends most of my waking hours fanatically trying to help moms solve breastfeeding problems. I have to be fanatically devoted to what I do or I wouldn't have ever been able to build a support network, keep in touch with as many professionals as I can, build a non-profit parenting center, a non-profit lactation clinic, write articles, write booklets, serve on bf forums on various websites, be an active LLL leader, and translations coordinator, and more, and THAT is nothing compared to most of you out there who do double what I manage to do.

Now, we can't get away from the fact that there are good fanatics and there are bad fanatics. From Collins Thesaurus here are the positive synonyms for fanatic:
activist - yes
addict - yes (to our work)
buff - yes (acc. to dictionary - informal expert on a given subject (in addition to formal experts!))
devotee - and how
enthusiast - yes
visionary - most definitely

negative connotations:
bigot - (well maybe against the abm companies that behave badly)
militant - (maybe politically, in order to bring about change?)
zealot - borderline between good and bad, depending on which dictionary.

So, I think it might be in place, when people challange us by using the F word, to point out to them proudly that the F word is not always a bad one.
If not for fanatics like us there would be no volunteerism, there would be no political change when so desperately needed and there would be no non-profit organizations to assist the various governments in doing their very difficult jobs. Grass roots organizations are the answer to many services that are offered that otherwise would not be available. I think I can safely say that we would find, at the helm of these varied organizations many personalities like ourselves, who are intent on making this world a better place to live.

So, Mik, when someone says that to you, I hope amongst these words and probably the others that will be posted, you will find the strength and confidence to address them as you see fit.

Ellen Shein, IBCLC in Tel Aviv 
whew, after attending the conferences - the fires are burning!!

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