Fresh Milk: The Secret Life of Breasts [Paperback]

Fiona Giles (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2003

While countless breastfeeding guides crowd bookshelves, not one of them speaks to women with anything approaching bestselling author Fiona Giles's level of intimacy and vitality. In Fresh Milk, through a provocative collection of stories, memories, and personal accounts, Giles uncovers the myths and truths of the lactating breast.

From the young mother grappling with the bewildering trappings of maternity wear to the woman who finds herself surprisingly aroused by new sensations, and the modern dad who learns the ins and outs of breastfeeding, the portraits in Giles's eye-opening book offer a funny, wise, and comforting resource for women -- and even their friends and partners who have had, or expect, intimate experiences with the pleasures and pain of lactation.

By turns poignant and informative, sexy and witty, empathic and empowering, Fresh Milk delivers everything we wanted to know about breastfeeding that our mothers never told us.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Australian scholar and feminist Giles (Dick for a Day) shows the personal is political (and vice versa) in this collection of accounts with commentaries, a look at the pleasures, difficulties and cultural attitudes about breastfeeding. She intersperses comforting images of Madonna-like mother-infant bonding with more disturbing and unexpected scenes: pus- and blood-oozing nipples, the sexuality of breastfeeding, "milkmaid" porn, nipples as technological fetish and a recipe for breast milk ice cream. Giles impressively argues that our culture's mixed message to women-breastfeed for the health of the child, but don't practice that disgusting act in public-reveals a squeamishness about the pure animality of breastfeeding, as well as an unwillingness to come to terms with its inherent sexuality. As Giles comments, "The stories in this book reach toward a wider, and a wilder, space in which breastfeeding might more freely ebb and flow." Drawn from historical research, conversations, questionnaire responses and Giles's own experience, some stories are presented straight from their sources; others are combined and fictionalized. The accompanying remarks are often as long as the stories, and readers may get confused about the identity of the narrator at any given moment. But this collection is sure to provoke deep thought and strong reactions, both visceral and emotional, from revulsion to longing, sometimes both at once.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This is not your typical book on breast-feeding. Giles, author of Dick for a Day, which asked a group of female writers the question, What would you do if you had a dick for a day? turns her attention here to the lactating breast. Ranging in subject from nursing bras to breast-milk banks, the collection includes personal essays, short fiction, and responses to questionnaires. Notable selections include an essay in which a woman expresses indignation over the discovery that her baby was breast-fed by another woman at day care. Despite the ubiquity of images of (nonlactating) female breasts in the media, Giles argues that the topic remains somewhat taboo--at least in circles beyond baby showers and new-mother discussion groups. Even those venues may shy away from such topics as sexual arousal during breast-feeding, or at least be a bit shocked by the essay from an adult-film producer who specializes in "lactation porn" and whose best-sellers include The Battle of the Ultra Milkmaids and Lactation Nation. A fascinating look at breast-feeding as a personal and social phenomenon. Beth Leistensnider
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Original edition (March 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743211472
• ISBN-13: 978-0743211475
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #302,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lactivist Speaks Up, May 1, 2003

By 

Fiercemama (Toronto ON) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fresh Milk: The Secret Life of Breasts (Paperback)

I love it! I am a very proud "lactivist" with a beautiful healthy 13 month old moo. This book is really a breath of fresh air, with some really thought provoking ideas. Since our culture almost let breastfeeding become a "lost art", I think that we really need ideas like those from Fiona Giles that blast open people's ideas of what breastfeeding is and can be. I've already started asking other nursing mothers some of the questions posed in the book. This has really started me thinking about things in a whole new light.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mother's Milk, April 28, 2003

By 

Dean (Melbourne) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fresh Milk: The Secret Life of Breasts (Paperback)

It is a sad society that finds silicone-filled breasts more alluring than milk-filled breasts.

The female breast symbolically reflects the long-established and tiresome male classification of woman as either Madonna or whore. According to men, and sadly some women, the female breast exists to be eroticised, fetishised, morphed, manipulated, enhanced and exploited UNTIL it begins to function. As soon as breasts start to express themselves they are immediately sanctified, purified, hidden and forbidden. Too sad.

In one interview Kimberley Hefner boasted that she never breastfed her children, not once. Her prerogative, of course, but it is ironic that ex-husband Hugh's Playboy fortune, and therefore hers, was built entirely on male worship of the female breast. But when it came to employing her own breasts for their true and original purpose, she baulked. While Kimberley feared the assumed domestication of her breasts, staunch breastfeeding advocates do the opposite by denying the lactating breast any hint of its inherent sensuality and sexuality. No, no, do not touch, do not admire.

In "Fresh Milk" Fiona Giles and her contributors reveal that nurture and pleasure do not negate each other; you can have both. As a book "Fresh Milk" ignores the protocols of easy classification and booksellers may be uncertain as to which shelf it belongs. It does break the conventional mould by embracing academia and anecdote, mirth and mythology, fact and fantasy. So much I never knew before about breasts, breast-feeding, lactation, and mothers' milk I discovered in this remarkable book. It is an inspiring, positive, and dare I say `uplifting' journey.

"Fresh Milk" is refreshingly original, amusing and liberating. Oh yes, and it's also erotic.

Dean

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful and thought provoking, July 13, 2005

By 

R. Charleson (Rocky Mountains USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fresh Milk: The Secret Life of Breasts (Paperback)

If you've ever pondered the contradictions about breasts in our society, this is an engaging book. It is based on the author's research and questionnaires about breastfeeding, and has stories from mothers, husbands, lovers, and adults who recall their own experiences being breastfed. Breasts are highly politicized (e.g. the controversy over Janet Jackson's momentary exposure). The topic of breastfeeding adds heat to the fire, as it blurs the boundary between motherhood and sexuality in a society of ideologues -- from Puritan prudes who think public breastfeeding is disgusting, or too sexy, to some breastfeeding activists who advocate a totally non-sexual role for breasts. Thus, almost anything said by the author would be taboo for someone. Given that many of the author's accounts are anonymous, the coverage is more diverse than one might expect in the public discourse. I liked the story of twin boys who had successful breastfeeding experiences as young children. Later in adolescence they revealed to their mother their attraction to Pamela Anderson's breasts -- just the opposite predicted by some Freudians who believe that sexual interest in prominent breasts is the result of inadequate breastfeeding. Thus, this book has much to invoke a more thoughtful discourse, and to comfort mothers and couples who want to raise their children naturally in our society that is so uptight about breasts.