Breastwork: Rethinking Breastfeeding
Breastwork: Rethinking Breastfeeding
216 pages | University of New South Wales Press (September 1, 2005) | 0868409693 | PDF | 1 Mb
Breastwork is a beautifully written and accessible guide to the many unexplored cultural meanings of breastfeeding in contemporary society. Of all our bodily functions, lactation is perhaps the most mysterious and least understood. Promoted primarily in terms of its nutritional benefits to babies, its place – or lack of it – in Western culture remains virtually unexplored. Bartlett’s travels through this neglected maternal terrain are both intriguing and inspiring, as she shows how breastfeeding can be a transformative act, rather than a moral duty.
Looking at breastfeeding in relation to medicine, the media, sexuality, maternity, and race, Bartlett provides a uniquely comprehensive overview of the ways in which we represent breastfeeding to ourselves and the many arbitrary limits we place around it.