Others' Milk
The Potential of Exceptional Breastfeeding
Kristin J. Wilson (Author)
9780813593845
Hardback, published 27 August 2018
296 pages, 1 b-w image
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.029 kg
— KHSU "Through the Eyes of Women"
— Radio Health Journal "Exceptional Breastfeeding" show
— Jefferson Public Radio, "Jefferson Exchange"
"Beautifully written, historically informed, and full of surprising stories about breastfeeding from the margins of mainstream, this book nurtures a more diverse set of breastfeeding practices and a language to speak them. It is a riveting read."
— Alison Bartlett, author of Breastwork: Rethinking Breastfeeding
"With rich detail, Others' Milk demonstrates how breastfeeding is a process, an identity, and a performance that is not simply about nourishing children, but one that reveals larger meanings of gender, sexuality, race, inequality—and the limiting ways we imagine bodies can and should be used."
— Jennifer Reich, author of Fixing Families: Parents, Power, and the Child Welfare System and Calling the Shots: Why P
"Breast-feeding is a 5.5 year old isn't creepy, it's hilarious," by Liz Monroy
— Washington Post
Breastfeeding rarely conforms to the idealized Madonna-and-baby image seen in old artwork, now re-cast in celebrity breastfeeding photo spreads and pro-breastfeeding ad campaigns. The personal accounts in Others' Milk illustrate just how messy and challenging and unpredictable it can be—an uncomfortable reality in the contemporary context of high-stakes motherhood in which "successful" breastfeeding proves one's maternal mettle.
Exceptional breastfeeders find creative ways to feed and care for their children—such as by inducing lactation, sharing milk, or exclusively pumping. They want to adhere to the societal ideal of giving them "the best" but sometimes have to face off with dogmatic authorities in order to do so. Kristin J. Wilson argues that while breastfeeding is never going to be the feasible choice for everyone, it should be accessible to anyone.
1
Nursing in Public
2
Cleavages: Negotiating Challenges
3
The Mother of Invention: Persisting with Exceptional Breastfeeding
4
Milking the System: Expressing the Politics of Breastfeeding
5
Busting Binaries: Embodying Otherhood and Motherhood
6
Fluidity of the family: Making Kin
7
"Outpouring of support": Embodied solidarity
Acknowledgements
Appendix
References
About the Author
