Blurring the boundaries : breastfeeding and maternal subjectivity

The present chapter contributes to a sociological and feminist understanding of breastfeeding in three ways. First, we overview some of the sociological and related anthropological and feminist literature that moves understandings of infant feeding decisions and practices away from the biomedical and health promotional discourses that dominate current debates on infant feeding. Second, the discussion draws upon our own Australian research using qualitative methods to explore women’s lived experiences of breastfeeding and the discourses upon which they draw when articulating and making sense of these experiences. Third, we argue that understandings of the breastfeeding experience can be strengthened by incorporating phenomenological and symbolic perspectives on women’s embodiment, particularly those offered in the work of feminist philosophers such as Julia Kristeva, Iris Marion Young and Elizabeth Grosz.