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Breastfeeding, ‘tainted’ love, and femmephobia: containing the ‘dirty’ performances of embodied femininity
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posted on 2023-06-10, 06:14 authored by Lilith WhileyLilith Whiley, Sarah Stutterheim, Gina GrandyIn this conceptual analysis, we theorise breastfeeding as an embodied ‘dirty’ performance of femininity and draw on Hoskin’s (2019a) work on femme theory to propose that women who breastfeed in public, who do so for an ‘extended’ time, and who enjoy it are subject to femmephobic attacks. We integrate three streams of literature to unsettle the ‘taint’ of breastfeeding. We first theorise breastfeeding as an act of femininity where women perform gender trouble in line with Butler's work. We also draw on Douglas’ work on ‘dirt’ and Rivera’s work on emotional ‘dirty’ work to theorise that ‘taint’ is one way in which society stigmatises the phenomenon of breastfeeding. Specifically, we propose that embodied breastfeeding evokes ‘tainted’ emotions. We then draw on Schippers’ work on ‘containing’ pariah forms of femininity (lest they ‘contaminate’ patriarchy) by showing how femmephobic stigmatisation limits breastfeeding women’s corporeality and presence in shared spaces.
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Publication status
- Published
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- Accepted version
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RoutledgeExternal DOI
Page range
101-114Pages
142.0Book title
Critical FemininitiesPlace of publication
LondonISBN
9781003329657Department affiliated with
- Management Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2023-02-16First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2023-02-16Usage metrics
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