[Download] "Donor Breast Milk is a Product from the Hospital, Not Somebody': Disassociation in Contemporary Breast Milk Banking (Report)" by Outskirts: feminisms along the edge " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Donor Breast Milk is a Product from the Hospital, Not Somebody': Disassociation in Contemporary Breast Milk Banking (Report)
- Author : Outskirts: feminisms along the edge
- Release Date : January 01, 2011
- Genre: Social Science,Books,Nonfiction,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 243 KB
Description
Introduction When bodily substances and fluids appear or are used outside of widely accepted margins they have the potential to be read as contaminable or threatening. Contemporary breast milk banking is a process which utilises breast milk outside of its (socially constructed) 'natural' framework which privileges the exclusive mother child dyad, so it has the potential to be read as dangerous and threatening particularly to bodily, social and cultural boundaries. This perceived threat is mostly why traditional breast milk sharing practices including shared breastfeeding and milk pooling disappeared during the twentieth century. Yet, in the last decade the trend for sharing breast milk has been (re)established through formalised, contemporary breast milk banks (BMBs) which facilitate the impersonal exchange of pasteurised human milk. In these facilities, the ongoing threat to mother-child exclusivity and potential 'danger' associated with the exchange of a bodily fluid means it is necessary to eliminate the threat of potential contamination. Consequently, along with stringent treatment and testing procedures, contemporary BMBs also incorporate methods of 'disassociation' to remove any undesirable meanings from breast milk so it appears impersonal, thus 'safer' and more acceptable for exchange. Here, I have used the term disassociation to mean the separation and depersonalisation of breast milk from an embodied substance to a consumerable product--which my research reveals, is a necessary condition of accepting donor breast milk (DBM). For the mothers involved in one of Australia's BMBs, this disassociation is actively sought out and participated in, but often results in the fragmentation and disembodiment of maternal roles. This fragmentation and disembodiment has the consequence of enabling an objectification and in a contemporary context, a potentially exploitive or empowering commodification of women's bodies and their breast milk.