At the Breast: Ideologies of Breastfeeding and Motherhood in the Contemporary United States - Hardcover

Blum, Linda M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807021407 ISBN 13: 9780807021408

Publisher: Beacon Press, 1999

Synopsis

In our irnoic, "post-feminist" age, few things inspire passion. Breastfeeding is one of them. For advocates, breastfeeding is empowering, the only way to supply babies proper nutrition, and the "bond" that cements the mother/child relationship. It is also deemed "natural" in a world of genetically modified product and mal-dominated 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 for some women to feel they have failed as mothers?

About this title

Review:

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

About the Author:

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 Univer sity of New Hampshire and lives in Belmont, Massachusetts.

About this edition

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0807021407
• ISBN 13: 9780807021408
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304