Yes Pearl, here's someone else who HATES that term -- as though
breastfeeding were only a transfer of nutrients from mother to baby, and all
other sucking was unimportant, had no significance, etc.  Sort of like
non-procreative sex, except that everyone would agree the latter was important!

Jonathan Kramer -- get a clue, Jonathan.  The public world of work in the
United States was and still is in many many ways dominated by men and the
male culture of "professionalism" which treats people as automotons who have
no lives or family.  Why do you think it took so long to get a "Family Leave
Act" through Congress?  Why do you think women have had so many problems
getting ahead in the corporate world -- because men view having and raising
children as unrelated to the workplace -- the idea that your private life
should be totally separate from your work life.  You must be at work on
time, never take a day off for a sick kid, be willing to travel on a
moment's notice, work overtime on a moment's notice, and certainly not let a
pregnancy or childbirth interfere with WORK.  I was at an anthropology
conference at a hotel that was also having some sort of business conference.
The anthropologists were dressed in all sorts of casual and ethnic clothing
(hardly a one in a suit) and many had babies in slings or backpacks (yes,
even the male anthropologists) and there were quite a few children around,
though not so many as at an LLL conference of course!  The business people
were all "dressed for success" in their dark suits and ties, the women in
fancy business suits too, with those little blouses with the ties at the
throat, everyone had a briefcase, and there were NO children in evidence.
Several times business people were overheard commenting on the
"unprofessionalism" of the anthropologists at the same hotel -- especially
the presence of the children.  Don't get me started -- it is definitely a
MALE view of the world that separates private from public domains, and for
many years in the US (and still among some groups, such as Eagle Forum) a
woman's place was ONLY in the home with her children, and a man's place was
out in public, and women and especially children were not allowed/tolerated
in the workplace.  My mentor at A&M, an English professor in her late 50s,
tells of how she was told in no uncertain terms to remove the PICTURES of
her children on her desk at her first university position, because anything
that drew attention to the fact that she was a woman, and had a family, was
considered detrimental.  She was supposed to act as though work was the only
thing that counted -- as men are still expected to act in much of the
corporate world.


Kathy D., who has many pet peeves, she realizes