Expressing yourself: A feminist analysis of talk around expressing breast milk

Abstract

Recent feminist analyses, particularly from those working within a poststructuralist framework, have highlighted a number of historically located and contradictory socio-cultural constructions and practices which women are faced with when negotiating infant feeding, especially breastfeeding, within contemporary western contexts. However, there has been little explicit analysis of the practice of expressing breast milk. The aim of this article is to explore the embodied practice of expressing breast milk. This is done by analysing, from a feminist poststructuralist perspective, discourse surrounding expressing breast milk in sixteen first time mothers' accounts of early infant feeding. Participants were recruited from a hospital in the South Midlands of England. The data are drawn from the first phase of a larger longitudinal study, during which mothers kept an audio diary about their breastfeeding experiences for seven days following discharge from hospital, and then took part in a follow-up interview. Key themes identified are expressing breast milk as (i) a way of managing pain whilst still feeding breast milk; (ii) a solution to the inefficiencies of the maternal body; (iii) enhancing or disrupting the 'bonding process'; (iv) a way of managing feeding in public; and (v) a way to negotiate some independence and manage the demands of breastfeeding. Links between these and broader historical and socio-cultural constructions and practices are discussed. This analysis expands current feminist theorising around how women actively create the 'good maternal 2 body'. As constructed by the participants, expressing breast milk appears to be largely a way of aligning subjectivity with cultural ideologies of motherhood.Moreover, breastfeeding discourses and practices available to mothers are not limitless and processes of power restrict the possibilities for women in relation to infant feeding.

‘Please don’t put the whole dang thing out there!’: A discursive analysis of internet discussions around infant feeding

“…Within these online debates, the construction of the good maternal body (Stearns, 1999;Johnson et al, 2009) and the way that it functions in relation to women's feeding practices are clearly in evidence. However to fully comprehend this social construction, it is necessary to engage with the parallel construction of its denigrated 'other'.…”

“…Further, Bowes and Domokos (1998), in their analysis of the experiences of Pakistani and white women suggest that breastfeeding is best understood as a 'negotiated project', heavily influenced by the power hierarchy of the hospital, by the social isolation experienced by many in the home environment during early experiences of motherhood, and shaped by class and ethnic concerns. To breastfeed 'successfully', women must deal with complex representations of the public and the private, negotiating the demand that good mothers 'should' breastfeed with the public taboo that continues to operate around breastfeeding in public (Stearns, 1999;Johnson et al, 2009). from cultural accounts of sexuality.…”

Breastfeeding as a Specific Value in Women's Lives: The Experiences and Decisions of Breastfeeding Women

“…[6][7][8][9] The tension between a woman's reproductive role and her struggle for gender equality has been shown to influence the decision to breastfeed. [10][11][12] Health care may support a mother's decision to continue breastfeeding when problems arise, [13][14][15][16][17] but trends in societies in the rates of breastfeeding result from decisions made by large numbers of women involved in apparently ordinary breastfeeding. External influences interact with an individual woman's reality in very concrete ways when a mother arrives home to introduce breastfeeding.…”

Evaluating the audio-diary method in qualitative research

“…Our aim here is to discuss participants' reported experiences of keeping the diaries rather than to explore the findings regarding experiences of breastfeeding which are reported elsewhere (e.g. Johnson et al, 2009;Leeming et al, 2013;Williamson et al, 2012).…”