12 Towards Social Maternity: Where’s the Mother? ... 311As with MacDonald’s experience, and those of other parents online,
the choice has shifted from one between the biological parent’s breast-
milk and the use of formula, to a consideration of trusted alternative
sources of breastmilk. In turn, this broadens our understanding of what
constitutes a ‘maternal body’, which recognises everyone’s responsibil-
ity to feed others. As Robyn Lee states, the de-gendering of the person
who ‘feeds’ others in Levinas’ sense means that all humans can be con-
structed as ‘being like a maternal body’ ( 2016 : 262). From Caravaggio’s
Seven Acts of Mercy (1607) to Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath (1939), a
woman who breastfeeds another in crisis illustrates how the basis for
human morality lies in embodied care (Hamington 2004 ). Likewise, all
of us can play a part in assisting parents to obtain optimal nutrition for
their families.
It has been an accident of history that the promotion of ‘exclusive
breastfeeding’ and its meaning ‘to feed only breastmilk’ has gained wide-
spread legitimacy at the same time that ‘exclusionary mothering’ has
also become a normative practice, with the promotion of attachment
parenting under neo-liberalism. To adjust the terms to ‘inclusive breast-
feeding’, ‘inclusive mothering’ and ‘social maternity’ offers an alterna-
tive conceptualisation, where the biological parent’s breastmilk is still
the most desirable form of nutrition for babies, and breastfeeding the
most desirable way to provide it, but donor milk, whether paid for or
donated, and breast-sharing with informed consent, can be supported as
next best options.
Notes
- I will be using the terms human milk and breastmilk interchangeably,
depending on the context, and will also refer to both breastfeeding and
chestfeeding. - Catharina Svanborg’s research into the use of human alpha lactalbu-
min made lethal to tumour cells (HAMLET), derived from breastmilk
for cancer treatment has also resulted in the formation of the company
Hamlet Pharma in Lund, Sweden. For more information, see http://
hamletpharma.com/en/ (accessed 5 September 2016).