Someone posted me privately to ask how I could support using lactation
pornography to promote bfg.  I am baffled. Not only would that be a terrible
and stupid idea, that is NOT what I have been saying.

 What I HAVE been saying is that some of the cultural barriers to bfg stem
from sexuality and gender power issues that we would do well to discuss and
analyze.  I think it is clear that bfg is felt by some men to decreases a
woman's sexual 'availability'.  This concept has been 'institutionalized' in
cultures  (a New Guinea tribe, for one) where there are taboos in place
prohibiting intercourse during lactation.  We don't ritualize this to such
an extent in the developed world.  But I have been continually aware during
my 20+ yrs of work that bfg is seen as an undesirable activity to some men.
They see their social and sexual self-interest as being threatened by the
woman's intimate (but not sexual!) involvement with the baby.  On the other
hand, there appear to be men who are turned on by the activity and want to
appropriate it for themselves.  In neither situation are they concerned
about the baby -- only the woman, whom they seek to control.  I've never
understood why so many men have commented to me that they are concerned that
someone will "see" their wives exposed breasts. Thinking about why anyone
would find this a problem (the association with porn) is the part I think we
want to try to understand.

 Data are more than clear that the influence of male partners, physicians,
employers is crucial to a woman's bfg success.  So that tells me that it is
still about power and asking permission, or following orders.  Yeah, like
women in their heart of hearts want a little more of THAT.

Barbara Wilson-Clay BSEd, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
http://www.lactnews.com

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html