The Politics of Breastfeeding

Is breast always best? Conservative cultural mores are clashing with generational shifts in attitudes towards mothering.

When Barbara Walters recently commented that being seated near a breastfeeding mother on a flight had made her "very nervous," the remark set off a torrent of so-called "lactivist" events around the country, at which breastfeeding mothers, their babies, and their supporters staged public "nurse-ins."

Their view is that breastfeeding is a natural, honorable act and should be no more controversial than sipping a latte or noshing on a sandwich in a café. After all, they argued, babies need to eat, and breast milk is one of the healthiest choices mothers can make for their infants.

Walters' comment landed her in a political hornet's nest, where increasingly conservative cultural mores butt up against generational shifts in attitudes toward mothering and women's roles, resulting in a new front of the culture wars.



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