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

[alivemagdolene.livejournal.com]

Actually (I'm going by not only accounts I've read, but what I was told by women in my family), apparently in at least the '30s, '40s, '50s, and '60s over here, women were taught that breastfeeding was "un-sterile". My father's mother bore babies from the early 'thirties to the mid 'forties and was told that breastmilk was "unhygienic" and even a danger to the baby. My grandmother, out of economics (five children, poor immigrants raising first generation Americans) and what she was taught, breastfed her five children for as long as she could, which in those days meant until they were able to chew anything, in which case they were quickly transferred to baby food.

My mother's mother raised children from the late '40s to the late '50s and got the same bs about "hygiene" except she bought it and even believed it up until my own mother started having children in the mid-70's and joined the La Leche League.

As for my father's sister who bore children from the early '50s to the mid '70s, she
heard the same garbage about breastmilk being "unhygienic" (despite the vast medical advances between the '50s and the '70s ) that my grandmothers heard before her and suffered through eight pregnancies worth of formula (in the case of my older cousins, the doctors and nurses actually refused to let her nurse the babies-- as a dad, I'm especially sure you can appreciate the need to placate a screaming, hungry kid). And I've had plenty of friends growing up that had new brothers and sisters and parroted their mothers' stances on breastfeeding: "Formula's better for the baby", "Breastmilk is gross", and other such enlightened stances (and we're talking the early to mid '90s here).

I'm aware that doctors are so frequently in the pocket of drug companies, but I'm comforted by the fact that there are a few that acknowledge breastmilk is flat-out best.

I guess it's my frustration that we haven't come further as a society in fifty years in many arenas, but particularly this one. It was considered scandalous to show a woman pregnant on television-- showing a woman breastfeeding (and not having it be part of a joke) on network TV now seems as though it has the same effect (with those not "disgusted" quick to claim that it would somehow be "pressuring" women to breastfeed).

Fully and wholeheartedly agree with your last statement! Too bad more people don't realize that/refuse to acknowledge it. :^\

[acerc.livejournal.com]

As you noted, things were a lot different in America. I cannot speak with authority about the situation in the UK, only from personal recollection however.

There is a definite bond formed when the mother is able to spend time with the baby, including breast feeding, instead of handing off that role to a Grandparent or Nanny.

I believe society develops taboos about certain parts of the human body. They range from one extreme of the burka to nudism. I guess if women could walk around topless like men do on hot days it would certainly change stereotypical opinion.

[alivemagdolene.livejournal.com]

Heh, funny story about the last bit-- when I was maybe 13, I was playing tennis with my older brother and my dad and being summer outside Baltimore, it was hot as hell. So my brother took off his shirt to play and without thinking, I said "Wish I could do that!"
My brother felt bad, so he put his shirt back on. Were I older/smarter, I would've said he didn't have to, I understand that it's just the way it is, but I still think it's sweet (particularly coming from a 21-year-old, which he was at the time).

My father, of course, being an Italian-American and quite hefty, was required by law to keep his shirt on. ;^)