Breast practice
BBC History UK|February 2023
Joanna Wolfarth's new book is a love letter to all women who have cradled an infant close to their breasts.
H Joanna Bourke
Breast practice

 It is a tender story of her own nervousness about breastfeeding, and her dawning awareness that she is not alone: women throughout history have shared the anxieties, dreariness, wonder and delight that accompany breastfeeding.

Central to Wolfarth's reflections is her recognition that there is nothing "natural" about breastfeeding. Human milk-production is a social skill and a political phenomenon as much as it is a physiological experience. To make her arguments, she turns to art and artefacts as well as myths, memoirs, advice manuals and scientific texts.

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