Breastfeeding and Feminism

duh 'genitalia' of course.

starlight it may have been used as such by the particarchy but then again the fact we have vaginas has been used against us. It does not mean that we start denying our own gentialia.

starlight why has it been used to tie women down?

Certainly my response was intended from the feminist (albeit beginner feminist) perspective - that female bodies are intrinsically flawed and we must be improved. Also that any success we enjoy must be in defiance of our physiology and not parallel to it.

Of course bfing has been used by the patriarchy to control and keep women down.

Women have started to fight this by denying/refusing to be 'tied' to bfing.

It's the wrong way round IMO.

Agree Electricshock.

EM, I think that is quite a difficult question. The behaviour of formula companies in the UK does seem now to be well regulated by the government, so I don't think it is possible for Nestle to act particularly badly here. I would consider Nestle to be a feminist issue in the UK because we should be supporting women's well being in other parts of the world, and as consumers we can make a difference. It is a campaign that has been incredibly well supported by the public in developed countries (Canada particularly) at various times since it started up.

Surely there's a POV that buying formula (in the sense of being 'sold' it as a choice not as a necessity) is buying into the idea that your body is not good enough to feed your child and that something created by men is far better for that child than what you can produce? In the way that our bodies are not good enough because we sprout hair on our legs or have periods i.e. it is the controlling that is erotic not the actual physical feminine traits themselves. There is a power in BFing - not in the 'male' sense of getting pissed or being able to leave the home - but in that it is something that a man cannot do and which many get jealous over (not only because it takes the breasts away from him sexually but also because it makes him feel inadequate on some very deep level because he cannot provide).

This appears to be a bf v ff debate, not a feminist debate.

YBMS, I agree with you. There is a lot of pressure to conform to expectations that a certain type of women breast feeds and another type doesn't, and if you do breast feed, you are then assumed to do 1,001 other things that have nothing to do with your breasts and nursing at all.

Surely it is a feminist issue if breasts are only to be seen in sexual terms by the wider society to be gawped at on p.3?

Breastfeeding isn't tying women down. Lack of understanding and provision for breastfeeding mothers makes breastfeeding an add on rather than understood necessity for which society should properly provide for.

It was a phone typo, yes it can be restricting. I think all women should have a choice and be informed as to the pros and cons. I don't think it can be labelled a feminist issue. Or are you saying men force women to bf, from what I've seen in the uk, it's women who create the pressures on other women to breastfeeding. I honestly don't see bf as any different to carrying your unborn baby or giving birth, they all have their pros and cons but they are intrinsically part of motherhood. I feel Very blessed to be a woman and be able to be pregnant, give birth and bf. I'm sure some men would like to be able to have these amazing experiences.

Vashti yes I remember now. It would definitely be a feminist issue in that instance but would it be as obviously feminist in a developed country where newborns will generally thrive with either method of feeding?

Child rearing tsk, bloody iPad autocorrect.

I think it should be completely up to each individual woman but there's pressures on both side, your damned if you do your damned if you don't. You have people telling you your a bad mum who doesn't care about your baby's health if you don't bf and other people telling you that boobs are for sex and breast feeding is gross and something to be hidden if you do. It's all about controlling women's bodies,

WW I think it still comes down more to social / economic factors. You're right that if you're BFing but have the support / resources to get out and about, there's nothing about BFing per se that disempowers a woman. The whole ideological thing about what constitutes "good" mothering or parenting is more complicated than BF = good, formula = bad, but I've had too much shiraz to try and unravel them now

I feel a bit like legoballoon. Bf is what my breasts were made for, it makes me feel proud to use them for that rather than only for them to be decorative and sexual.

If anything bf should be a reminder of the power of women, I mean we can grow a human to 6 months!

I also think that yes, bf can lead to loss of freedom that ff might not but I think that if we did not live in such a patriarchal society them our lives would accommodate bf much more easily.

I found it very empowering as a woman, in a look at this thing I have grown completely on my own type way. It gave me a lot of confidence and regard for my own body. Especially after I had very shit births.

I don't find it ties me down at all, I see it part of the commitment, a lot of partners don't get up in the night even with ff, it is a complete fallacy that you can't have 50/50 child rearing from the start if you bf and not a very helpful one as it is yet another excuse for partners to not pull their weight.

And you don't have to buy into the attachment parenting thing to bf, I quite happily got both of mine into a loose routine early on as that was what felt right and useful for me, it enabled me to wfh for a start. I think part of the problem is that women are told what to by men ie dr sears or socalled experts without children and so feel that they have to do it all one way or another, to fit into one camp or the other in terms of childbearing, yet another way women are pitched against each other.

I can see that is something that could possibly happen WW, but I think we are a long way in the other direction at the moment.

Yes, there is a link about Nestle here:

boycottnestle.blogspot.co.uk/

It was the first feminist campaign I was involved with as a teenager.