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Mother's Milk examines why nursing a baby is an ideologically charged experience in contemporary culture. Drawing upon medical studies, feminist scholarship, anthropological literature, and an intimate knowledge of breastfeeding itself, Bernice Hausman demonstrates what is at stake in mothers' infant feeding choices--economically, socially, and in terms of women's rights. Breastfeeding controversies, she argues, reveal social tensions around the meaning of women's bodies, the authority of science, and the value of maternity in American culture. A provocative and multi-faceted work, Mother's Milk will be of interest to anyone concerned with the politics of women's embodiment.
List of contents
Preface Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Dead Babies 2. Rational Management 3. Breast Is Best 4. Stone Age Mothering 5. Womanly Arts 6. Breastfeeding, Feminism, Activism Epilogue: Lactation and Sexual Difference Notes Works Cited Index
About the author
Bernice L. Hausman is Professor of English at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where she also teaches for the Women's Studies Program. She is the author of
Changing Sex: Transsexualism, Technology, and the Idea of Gender and writes about medicine, gender theory, and the body. She lives in Blacksburg, VA.
Summary
This study examines how nursing a baby - the breast or bottle debate - has become such a complex experience in contemporary culture. By looking at medical, popular and scholarly materials, it demonstrates what is at stake in this debate - economically, socially and in terms of women's rights.
