When I wrote my PhD one of the hardest bits (although it turned out only to 
be about a page or so) of the 'ontology' chapter was the section on 
feminism.  I found Mother's Milk: Breastfeeding Controversies in American 
Culture by Bernice L. Hausman really helpful and useful.  She discusses a 
number of other authors and helped me come to a critique and understanding 
of Pam Carter, who I don't like all that much, but who has some interesting 
and useful things to say.  She also has a useful critique which helped me 
with my struggles with Linda Blum's book.  Although this is about N America, 
much is universal for the western type English speaking cultures. 

I remember in my mock viva, the professor doing it asked me about my 
feminist stance, and I had to explain that I am a feminist but I wasn't 
doing a feminist piece of research (which would have involved a different 
consideration of ontological and epistomological and methodological issues, 
phew).  He then moved on to saying that he wondered why, in such an 
obviously Marxist piece of work, I hadn't been more explict about Marxist 
criticim, ontology, etc.  This was *even more flabbergasting*, since, as I 
pointed out to him, I went to King's College Cambridge and did a history 
degree in the 1970's, and boy oh boy do I know I am not a real Marxist (in 
the analytical sense), but obviously the ethos of the place rubbed off.  The 
prof said that in nursing research I would qualify as a pretty heavy-duty 
Marxist as well as a staunch feminist.  (It was pretty funny, he was 
actually really nice about it, and nothing quite as freaky as this came up 
in my real viva!)  I think it is interesting that nursing and midwifery 
research (the latter is where a large amount of breastfeeding research in 
the UK is done) should be so 'feminist lite'. 

And speaking of male people keeping you on your toes, I remember when my 
kids were small, I was feeding my daughter (aged 2+) and told her 'you've 
had a lot today, I don't think there's anything left'.  My son's head lifted 
up from his Duplo and he said 'Mummy, the more she feeds, the more you will 
make'.  So I really had to sit and let her have milk, didn't I? 

Magda Sachs, PhD. 

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