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130 10 Public Mothers and Private Practices Breastfeeding as Transgression Jennifer A. Reich Emily Gillette, a twenty-seven-year-old mother, was flying from Vermont to New York with her family. As the plane sat at the gate, Gillette sat in the window seat in the second-to-last row, discreetly breastfeeding her twenty-two-month-old daughter; her husband was seated next to her. According to Gillette, a flight attendant tried to hand her a blanket and told her to cover up, even though none of her breast was showing. Gillette declined, explaining she was within her legal rights. Moments later, a ticket agent approached and said the flight attendant had asked that the family be removed from the flight. Gillette said she didn’t want to make a scene and complied (Associated Press 2006). Gillette’s story is not uncommon: elsewhere, a mall security guard told a woman she was being “indecent” while nursing in the food court; a woman was denied entrance to a public zoo because she intended to breastfeed and the attendant feared that “children might see”; another woman was asked to stop breastfeeding at a public pool because the staff claimed breastfeeding violated public health codes and constituted indecent exposure and nudity and, later, told her that they were afraid her breast milk “might infect the pool water” (Solomon 2002). “Exposed breasts. They are all over the media: in movies, magazines, even television,” Solomon points out, summarizing the American cultural contradictions about breasts. “But put a nursing infant anywhere near those breasts and suddenly some people are offended.” In 1997 the American Academy of Pediatrics officially recommended that babies be exclusively breastfed (providing no other food or water) for the first six months of life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Both babies and mothers gain many benefits from breastfeeding. Breast milk is easy to digest and contains antibodies that can protect infants from bacterial and viral infections. Research indicates that women who breastfeed may have lower rates of certain breast and ovarian cancers.”1 Similarly, the U.S. Surgeon General recommends employer support for nursing mothers (Galson 2008), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lists the many benefits of breastfeeding for society as a whole, as well as for babies and mothers. Among the collective benefits, breastfeeding saves on health care costs, contributes to a more productive workforce, and is “better for our environment because there is less trash and plastic waste compared to that produced by formula Breastfeeding as Transgression 131 cans and bottle supplies.”2 Although experts tout breastfeeding as ideal, breast milk is expected to be delivered in normative ways—from a birth mother to her biological child, discreetly, and for an expert-defined amount of time. While there is broad consensus that babies should be breastfed for up to a year, mothers who continue beyond that time face disapproval. And while women are expected to breastfeed young children , it is assumed they will do so without exposing their breasts in public. As Avishai (2007, 138–39) argues, “The lactating body simultaneously involves the feminine body, the maternal body, and the achievement of a standard of good mothering that happens to be measured in ounces produced per day.” Breastfeeding defines the body, through personal interactions and the social meanings that are inscribed onto it. As the preceding examples indicate, it also can potentially mark suspect mothering. In short, breastfeeding represents the best of maternal care, as long as it is delivered according to narrowly defined norms. This chapter analyzes interviews with twenty women who define themselves as participating in non-normative mothering practices, including extended breastfeeding , that is, breastfeeding past a baby’s first birthday, and public breastfeeding. (Although some public breastfeeding occurs in spaces specially marked for maternal use, such as a mothers’ lounge or a nursing room, public breastfeeding here means nursing babies and children in spaces not usually designated as appropriate for nursing.) Mothers described negative responses to non-normative breastfeeding from family members (particularly extended family members and in-laws), health providers, and the public. Despite their awareness of others’ condemnation, these mothers remain committed to nursing their children on their own terms. In the following sections, I show the criticism mothers face and some of the discursive strategies mothers use to manage those criticisms and justify their practices. In doing so, I suggest that mothers are not just defending themselves but also resisting pressures of normalization. Normalization , as...

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