Relying on a descriptive, sociological approach, the author surveys
attitudes toward breastfeeding across time periods (from the 18th
to the end of the 20th centuries) and social groups, focusing in
turn on white middle-class, white working-class, and black mothers.
Although her analysis of biological phenomena as shaped by race,
gender, and class superficially resembles various trendy works of
contemporary academic discourse, Blum (Sociology and Women's
Studies/Univ. of New Hampshire; Between Feminism and Labor, 19TK)
eschews a militant ideological agenda and is reluctant to moralize
or advocate any pattern of prescribed behavior. Using ample
evidence gleaned from her field research interviewing women within
each of the target groups, as well as authoritative sources
(medical practitioners, psychiatrists, and psychologists), she
discovers that in the contemporary world such an ancient and
seemingly natural procedure as breastfeeding is embedded in a
plethora of historical, political, racial, and economic contexts.
For instance, prior to this century, wealthy white women were
encouraged to employ wet nurses, usually women of color; this
legacy that accounts to a large extent for the fact that nowadays
black mothers often reject breastfeeding even though the modern
medical establishment exhorts women to breastfeed. White
middle-class women, on the other hand, opt for breastfeeding, which
they equate with "moral motherhood." As for working white mothers,
they breastfeed less - due to such factors as lack of privacy, the
need to earn a living, and health concerns - but are frequently
anguished by these impediments to the fulfillment of their
"maternal duty." While most previous studies of this sort
considered primarily the benefits to the infant of maternal milk,
Blum emphasizes the mother's side. She concludes that breastfeeding
is a complex issue, which can potentially lead either to
self-realization or to self-sacrifice and stress. For the modern
feminist, Blum concludes, the choice between the bottle or the
breast should proceed from a careful assessment of the woman's own
needs and desires. (Kirkus Reviews)
"I can't recommend this book highly enough " -Katha Pollitt In our
ironic, "postfeminist" age few experiences inspire the kind of
passions that breastfeeding does. For advocates, breastfeeding is
both the only way to supply babies with proper nutrition and the
"bond" that cements the mother/child relationship. Mother's milk
remains "natural" in a world of genetically modified produce and
corporate health care. But is it a realistic option for all women?
And can a well-intentioned insistence on the necessity of
breastfeeding become just another way to cast some women as bad
mothers? "At the Breast is feminist research of the highest order,
setting a standard for how the work ought to be done. . . What is
striking and admirable about Blum's] analysis is that in a
discussion that has been almost entirely subsumed in concerns about
what is best for babies, Blum focuses unwaveringly on mothers, on
women as minded social beings." -Barbara Katz Rothman, American
Journal of Sociology " Blum] discovers that in the contemporary
world such an ancient and seemingly natural procedure as
breastfeeding is embedded in a plethora of historical, political,
racial, and economic contexts. . . . For the modern feminist, Blum
concludes, the choice between the bottle or the breast should
proceed from a careful assessment of the woman's own needs and
desires." -Kirkus Reviews "In the hands of Linda Blum,
breastfeeding is a locus for conversations between women in
different race and class locations about the female body,
children's needs, and the legitimizing role of fathers." -Ellen
Ross, author of Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London,
1870-1918 "At the Breast is sociology at its best-we think of
breastfeeding as 'natural' but of course it is social and cultural
too. Blum's discussion of how race and class shape women's
attitudes toward breastfeeding-and their chances of success with
it-was a revelation to me." -Katha Pollitt, columnist, The Nation
Linda M. Blum is author of Between Feminism and Labor: The
Significance of the Comparable Worth Movement. She teaches
sociology and women's studies at the University of New Hampshire,
and wrote this book while a Bunting Fellow at the Radcliffe
Institute for Advanced Study.
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