Soured

[alivemagdolene]

I'm finding myself disappointed in this article. I'm aware I'm not a mother so therefore I lack that insight. I realize that Valenti does, however fleetingly, point out a few of the injustices nursing mothers face.

But she fails to address the institutionalized misogyny that existed (and in some circles continues to exist) surrounding breast-feeding. For years, generations of women were told (almost always by male doctors in a male-dominated medical establishment) what their bodies produced naturally for their babies was inferior to one of any of the commercial formulas available. Breast-milk is still perceived by many as something disgusting and/or unhygienic and the idea of breast-feeding in public equal to masturbating in public.

Of course making the choice not to breast-feed shouldn't be treated as tantamount to child abuse. But the idea that the shaming of mothers who don't breastfeed is not only equal to but greater than the shaming of the act of breast-feeding in general is ridiculous. At least to me.

Comments

[meaculpa-g.livejournal.com]

WHATISTHISIDONTEVEN

Feminists in general need to stop disappointing me, especially Valenti and rape apologist extraordinaire, Naomi Wolf.

Valenti needs to take her cis-gendered, middle-class, thin white lady view of Feminism and, errr, shove it. It's difficult for me to even type that, but it still needs to be said.

I will admit to this though. I had a student in one of my first Creative Writing classes, a young, gorgeous girl with killer pipes, who began the semester very pregnant, and ended it by taking a single day off from school to have the baby. I had the gall to ask her if she intended to breast feed, and when she said, "No, I don't want saggy tits," I gave her a hard time about it. I told her what a wonderful bonding experience it can be, and she just rolled her eyes at me. I found myself feeling sorry for her, that she wouldn't have the opportunity to connect with her child the way I did with mine.

None of this, of course, was any of my business. And since that time, I've tried to, not so much check my privilege at the door (because it's always there, whether I choose to acknowledge it or not), but realize that privilege and prejudice exist side by side, one informing the other.

[acerc.livejournal.com]

My mom breast fed me, my brother and my sister. There was no question of my mom NOT breastfeeding. This was in the days of Benjamin Spock's guide to infant upbringing. I suspect the American experience maybe up till the early 70s was similar, with breast feeding being the norm.

It kinda figures doctors would push sponsor's products.

You also have to consider social mores of the time. 50 years ago, what was deemed acceptable in public is radically different to what is acceptable now.

The action of breastfeeding also provides the infant with the necessary antibodies to ward off infection, at least for the initial six months. Breastfed babies are more intelligent and stronger as well.