Barbara--
Bravo, a masterful post that nicely lays out the issues of how ILCA needs to
define itself while still ensuring that non-IBCLCs understand how important
and valuable they are to the breastfeeding world.

On the other aspect of your post,  and using your new acronym, crude though
it may be : - )  "NOSHIT" --No Support or Hurt InTended), I want to say I
agree so strongly on getting rid of personality issues. It was many years
ago when I went to a course in the US that I, a naive Canadian isolated from
such things, realized what a strong cult of personality  there was in the US
lactation world, and it disturbed me in a BIG way. It still disturbs me,
particularly when it intrudes on Lactnet.

Do women tend to personalize things a lot more than men? It seems to me we
do, and I don't find it a pretty characteristic. How can we be critical
listeners or readers if WHO said it dictates how we respond to what is said?
Should the fact that I like or dislike a person mean I'm uncritical or
hypercritical? That's not particularly professional, IMO.

Like Barbara, I am a sometimes "bossy" woman, although I prefer the word
"assertive" myself : - )  In fact, this profession is FULL of strong,
assertive women. We wouldn't be where we are if there weren't!  We need to
learn how to keep to the issues and leave the personal out, IMO. Women often
berate men for being "unemotional" about many things, but this is an area
where we could learn much from the male world. The bylaws discussion would
have taken a much different tone if we'd stuck to the issues.
Leslie Ayre-Jaschke, BEd, IBCLC
Peace River, Alberta, Canada