Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Social Science Women's Studies

Lactivism

How Feminists and Fundamentalists, Hippies and Yuppies, and Physicians and Politicians Made Breastfeeding Big Business and Bad Policy

by (author) Courtney Jung

Publisher
Basic Books
Initial publish date
Nov 2015
Category
Women's Studies
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780465039692
    Publish Date
    Nov 2015
    List Price
    $33.99

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

Is breast really best? Breastfeeding is widely assumed to be the healthiest choice, yet growing evidence suggests that its benefits have been greatly exaggerated. New moms are pressured by doctors, health officials, and friends to avoid the bottle at all costs?often at the expense of their jobs, their pocketbooks, and their well-being.

InLactivism, political scientist Courtney Jung offers the most deeply researched and far-reaching critique of breastfeeding advocacy to date. Drawing on her own experience as a devoted mother who breastfed her two children and her expertise as a social scientist, Jung investigates the benefits of breastfeeding and asks why so many people across the political spectrum are passionately invested in promoting it, even as its health benefits have been persuasively challenged. What emerges is an eye-openingstory about class and race in America, the big business of breastfeeding, and the fraught politics of contemporary motherhood.

About the author

Contributor Notes

Courtney Jung is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.