TY - JOUR
T1 - Blurring the boundaries
T2 - breastfeeding and maternal subjectivity
AU - Schmied, Virginia
AU - Lupton, Deborah
N1 - Imported on 12 Apr 2017 - DigiTool details were: Journal title (773t) = Sociology of Health and Illness: a journal of medical sociology. ISSNs: 0141-9889;
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - Contemporary medical and public health discourses represent breastfeeding as vital to infant development and the mother'infant bond. Little research from a medical or sociological perspective has sought to investigate the qualitative breastfeeding experiences of women. This article draws on a range of feminist perspectives on the body and subjectivity, together with empirical data from a series of interviews with 25 Australian first'time mothers, to theorise the experience of breastfeeding. These women's accounts revealed that, although nearly all of them subscribed vehemently to the dominant discourse of 'breast is best', the experience of breastfeeding differed markedly among them. Some of the women experienced breastfeeding as a connected, harmonious and intimate relationship between themselves and their baby. For others, however, the breastfeeding relationship between mother and infant was difficult to reconcile with notions of identity that value autonomy, independence and control. We use insights from feminist philosophy on subjectivity and embodiment to explain why the latter response predominated among our interviewees.
AB - Contemporary medical and public health discourses represent breastfeeding as vital to infant development and the mother'infant bond. Little research from a medical or sociological perspective has sought to investigate the qualitative breastfeeding experiences of women. This article draws on a range of feminist perspectives on the body and subjectivity, together with empirical data from a series of interviews with 25 Australian first'time mothers, to theorise the experience of breastfeeding. These women's accounts revealed that, although nearly all of them subscribed vehemently to the dominant discourse of 'breast is best', the experience of breastfeeding differed markedly among them. Some of the women experienced breastfeeding as a connected, harmonious and intimate relationship between themselves and their baby. For others, however, the breastfeeding relationship between mother and infant was difficult to reconcile with notions of identity that value autonomy, independence and control. We use insights from feminist philosophy on subjectivity and embodiment to explain why the latter response predominated among our interviewees.
U2 - 10.1111/1467-9566.00249
DO - 10.1111/1467-9566.00249
M3 - Article
VL - 23
SP - 234
EP - 250
JO - Sociology of Health and Illness
JF - Sociology of Health and Illness
SN - 0141-9889
IS - 2
ER -