Feminism, breasts and breast-feeding

Using a feminist perspective this book examines the vast amount of writing and talking about breast-feeding. Drawing on women's own accounts the author shows that most texts considerably oversimplify the picture by suggesting baby-milk manufacturers as the only villains of the piece in the decline of breast-feeding during the twentieth century. A more complex understanding takes account of the sexualisation of breasts, the working conditions under which infant-feeding takes place, professional interventions into mothering, and women's experiences of their bodies. Class and race are also significant: middle-class women to follow professional advice; black women particularly disappoint Western policy-makers in not living up to expectations that they will be natural breast-feeders. Policies, professional guidelines and popular breast-feeding books, shown to be preoccupied with getting women to do what they deem is natural, fail to address women's real needs. Finally, ideas for a feminist practice in infant-feeding are explored.

First sentence: Although breast-feeding is a uniquely female activity, and all literature and practices concerned with infant feeding are by definition about women, it has held little interest for feminists.

Year

1995

Language

English

Publisher

Palgrave Macmillan

Editions

1

Pages

240

ISBN

9780312126254

Data source: Wikidata