Good morning.

 I found the following description in Jelliffe & Jelliffe' s Human Milk in
the Modern World to be explanatory for me.

" (Jelliffe and Jelliffe)….. a functional castration of women has occurred.
 They have acquiesced to a combination of forces, medical and cultural,
which have eventuated in the use of the breast as the primary sex symbol
and yardstick of feminine desirability, divorced from its nurturing role.
Women in a critical period of their life cycle have become divorced from
themselves and from the ability to confirm their identity fundamentally.
 In this instance, the degree of concern of the medical profession might be
described as inversely proportional to the dimension of the problem.  To
draw an analogy, would the professional distance of physicians be
maintained were it routinely recommended that all insemination  be
accomplished artificially?  Would anybody suggest, seriously, that males
abstain from intercourse, bind themselves, take drugs to relieve
congestion, or be mechanically relieved routinely, and that it would be as
good?"

(My physician friend) "The apparent absurdity of the analogy goes to the
heart of the problem.  If one sees lactation as part of a psychosexual
continuum in women, the analogy can be taken seriously."
(citation- Weichert , C (1975) Pediatrics 56.987.  Breast-feeding: first
thoughts.)

" (my physician friend) states "She (Weichert)  is also of the opinion
that: ‘To deal with anxieties that lactating women express concerning their
‘normality’, because of the sensual relationship they share with the
infant, one must confront the relationship between lactation and sexuality,
not deny it.’ "

I hope that helps. Kathleen Bruce RN IBCLC



Kathleen B. Bruce RN, BSN,  IBCLC


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