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.
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
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Review
Hope Edelman author of Motherless Daughters and Mother of My Mother Provocative and insightful, surprising and occasionally irreverent, Fresh Milk is a lactation primer for the twenty-first century.
Marilyn Yalom author of A History of the Breast and A History of the Wife This is NOT your everyday breastfeeding manual. It is a fascinating, quirky... funny collection of stories about breastfeeding that should be read by all women who are nursing or intend to nurse."
Noelle Oxenhandler author of The Eros of Parenthood Fresh Milk provides a witty, moving, and compassionate reservoir of honest and intimate experiences....I have no doubt that it will provide a rich and comforting sustenance for mothers and their broods for generations to come.
Bernice L. Hausman author of Mother's Milk Fresh Milk is precisely the kind of book that I wish I had had while breastfeeding my own kids. Off-beat, even raunchy at times, the accounts presented by Giles remind us that nursing narratives aren't limited to stories between mothers and infants, that breastfeeding is already present in our lives in ways that we don't even fully realize.
About the Author
Fiona Giles is an Australian scholar, writer, and feminist. A graduate of Oxford University, she lives in Sydney with her partner and two sons.
