An Ideological Analysis of Breastfeeding in Contemporary America

This book explores the breast-is-best discursive formation of hegemonic motherhood that limits possibilities and polices parents. Scholars of feminism, motherhood, gender, and discursive and/or narrative methodologies will find this book useful in exploring the complex systems that control the meanings of motherhood, family, and society.

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An Ideological Analysis of Breastfeeding in Contemporary America: Disciplining the Maternal Body analyzes the discourses involved in the pro-breastfeeding, “breast is best” paradigm, highlighting how such politically charged rhetoric restrains women’s ability to make the choices that are best for them and their families. Loreen Olson and Jenni M. Simon combat the idea that is so often espoused by medical professionals, researchers, and society at large: to be a good parent, one must provide breast milk to the infant in order for the baby to grow into a healthy, productive citizen. By exposing the biases present, Olson and Simon advocate for the need to make discursive space for all parents and all feeding choices. Scholars of communication, rhetoric, gender and women’s studies, and feminism will find this book particularly useful.