Breastwork delivers an original and personal approach to a near-universal practice and doesnt shy from controversy or controversial topics, such as sexual desire and breastfeeding. It features a broad range of illustrations from Renaissance paintings of mother and child (Madonna del Latte) to Jerry Hall breastfeeding on the cover of Vanity Fair and Kate Langbroek breastfeeding on The Panel to a banned New Zealand health poster of a man breastfeeding at work.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Introduction; Chapter 1 Performing breastfeeding: rethinking nature; Chapter 2 Medicalising breastfeeding: headwork versus breastwork; Chapter 3 Publicising breastfeeding: scandal in the city; Chapter 4 Sexualising breastfeeding: science to kink; Chapter 5 Pictorialising breastfeeding: models of maternity; Chapter 6 Racialising breastfeeding: black breasts, white milk; Chapter 7 Advocating breastfeeding: choice, choice, choice.

About the Author

Alison Bartlett is the Director of the Centre for Women's Studies at the University of Western Australia. Her books include Jamming the Machinery: Contemporary Australian Women's Writing.

Reviews

"'Breastwork is a beautifully written and accessible guide to the many unexplored cultural meanings of breastfeeding in contemporary society. Of all our bodily functions, lactation is perhaps the most mysterious and least understood. Bartlett's travels through this neglected maternal terrain are both intriguing and inspiring as she shows how breastfeeding can be a transformative act, rather than a moral duty. It is essential reading for all students of the body, whether in the health professions, the social sciences, or gender and cultural studies - and for all mothers who have pondered the secrets of their own breastly intelligence.' - Flona Giles, author of Fresh Milk: The Secret Life of Breasts"