Is Breast Best?: Taking on the Breastfeeding Experts and the New High Stakes of Motherhood

Front Matter

Is Breast Best? Biopolitics Medicine, Technoscience, and Health in the 21st Century General Editors: Monica J. Casper and Lisa Jean Moore Missing Bodies: The Politics of Visibility Monica J. Casper and Lisa Jean Moore Against Health: How Health Became the New Morality Edited by Jonathan M. Metzl and Anna Kirkland Is Breast Best? Taking on the Breastfeeding Experts and the New High Stakes of Motherhood Joan B. Wolf Is Breast Best? Taking on the Breastfeeding Experts and the New High Stakes of Motherhood Joan B. Wolf a N EW YO R K UN IVER SITY PR E S S New York and London NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York and London www.nyupress.org© 2011 by New York University All rights reserved References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wolf, Joan B. (Joan Beth) Is breast best? : taking on the breastfeeding experts and the new high stakes of motherhood / Joan B. Wolf. p. ; cm. — (Biopolitics : medicine, technoscience, and health in the 21st century) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–8147–9481–4 (cl : alk. paper) ISBN 978–0–8147–9525–5 (ebook) 1. Breastfeeding. 2. Breastfeeding—Government policy—United States. 3. Breastfeeding—Social aspects. I. Title. II. Series: Biopolitics (New York, N.Y.) [DNLM: 1. Breast Feeding. 2. Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice. 3. Politics. 4. Public Opinion. WS 125] RJ216.W7193 2010 649’.33—dc22 2010026254 New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books. Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Bobby and Aaron Current truths are nothing of the sort; they are merely the best contemporary insight into a situation. And no matter how logical such insights might seem, they exist only for as long as it takes new research to prove them wrong. As a science, biology need have little concern for these mistakes; the mistakes of the past are simply stepping stones to the truths of the future. But to everybody else—all those who depend on biological advice to organize their lives and safeguard their health and future—such mistakes do matter. —Robin Baker, Fragile Science: The Truth behind the Headlines, 2001 Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. —Albert Einstein ...