When breast is not best
Opposing dominant discourses on breastfeeding
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3254953 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sunna Símonardóttir (0000-0002-3049-3016, University of Iceland, Iceland, corresponding author), Ingólfur V Gíslason (0000-0001-8206-446X, University of Iceland, Iceland) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 66 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 665-681 |
| Publication date | 2018-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Sociological Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0038026117751342 |
| OpenAlex | W2784115353 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 21 |
| References cited | 48 |
Dominant discourses on breastfeeding as the optimal feeding method for infants and a way for mother and child to develop a strong bond are widely promoted and the message of 'breast is best' has been internalized by mothers around the world. Breastfeeding rates in Iceland and the other Nordic countries are among the highest in the world and the cultural and societal expectations for women to successfully breastfeed are therefore very high, as breastfeeding represents a strong moral and social norm. Iceland is considered a model for gender equality and feminism and this article thus examines the experiences of women who have struggled with breastfeeding, in a context which strongly promotes both breastfeeding and gender equality. By analysing the narratives of 77 Icelandic women, this article extends theorizing about rhetorical agency and resistance by demonstrating how they oppose and challenge dominant discourses on breastfeeding and good mothering and what counter-discourses they draw upon in order to make sense of their experiences. The findings indicate that feminism and feminist rhetoric have been unsuccessful in addressing and providing women with counter-discourses that challenge the highly gendered and oppressive elements of infant feeding and its link to idealized versions of motherhood
Agency (philosophy) · Breastfeeding · Context (archaeology) · Feminism · Narrative · Norm (philosophy) · Political science · Rhetoric · Rhetorical question · Social science · Sociology · Breastfeeding Practices and Influences · Child Welfare and Adoption · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · History · Law · Medicine
From “good mother” to a knowing body
Treading a fine line in equitable breastfeeding support
What's love got to do with it? Love-life gossip and migration intentions in rural Iceland
Psychosocial predictors of post‐natal anxiety and depression
Discourse and breastfeeding practice in urban communities in Indonesia
Governing breastfeeding and the making of the ‘good mother’
“Breast is best”… until they say so
Theorising child well-being
From progressiveness to perfection
This Fawning, Flirty Type”
The “good” epidural
You Don’t Want to Be One of Those stories” Gossip and Shame as Instruments of Social Control in Small Communities
Excluding the Involved Father
I Don’t Feel Like It’s Extra Work”
Cornering the Market on Maternal Affect
Experiences of Breastfeeding among Disabled Women
Label of shame - How formula-feeding mothers in Israel perceive the warning labels on infant formula packaging
Typologies of postnatal support and breastfeeding at two months in the UK
We at least say we are equal
My doctor just called me a good girl and I died a bit inside
Work-family conflict
Risk Society
Motherhood
The cultural contradictions of motherhood
Social Linguistics and Literacies
The Imperative of Health
Parenting Culture Studies
Intensive Parenting and the Expansion of Parenting
Social Constructionism and Revolutionary Socialism
Ethics and Ideology in Breastfeeding Advocacy Campaigns
Contextualising risk, constructing choice
Living with risk in the age of ‘intensive motherhood’
Prenatal Care Use Among Women of Low Income
The Ann Oakley reader
Considering Counter-Narratives
Measuring mothering
It should be the most natural thing in the world’
Constructing the Deviant Other
Breastfeeding as a Moral Imperative
For Shame
Gendered Solutions to the Care Gap Issue in Iceland
The Rhetoric of Inequality
Giving Guilt the Flick”
Constructing the attached mother in the “world's most feminist country”
Mothers' experiences with intensive parenting and brain development discourse
Risk society
At the Margins? Discourse Analysis and Qualitative Research
I wanted to do a good job
Moral work in women's narratives of breastfeeding
Medicalized Mothering
Getting the Green Light
To be or not to be a mother
Gender Equality or Primacy of the Mother? Ambivalent Descriptions of Good Parents
| Unique citing works | 21 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,5 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 18 |