320 R.M. Shaw and M. Morgan
are often waylaid by moral panic around the exteriorisation of bodily
fluids and the sharing of such fluids with unknown or non-related oth-
ers. Moreover, as breastmilk flows from female apertures and body parts
identified as sexual, psycho-social anxiety about sharing breastmilk is com-
pounded by moral evaluations of women’s bodies and the perceived prop-
erties of the breastmilk of particular mothers.^1
Breastmilk and lactation are often associated with abject bodily
zones. The movement of breastmilk from the inside to the outside of
the body challenges social norms that are integral to Western thinking
about our physiological separation from the bodies of others. In this
regard, bodily fluids such as breastmilk may evoke feelings of abjec-
tion because they remind us of the body’s fundamental instability. The
cultural aversion to breastmilk is amplified when it is interpreted as a
‘viral fluid’ or ‘vector of disease’ (Hausman 2003 , 2011 ), resulting in the
public regulation and vigilant micro-management of bodily fluids. This
is particularly the case where breastmilk flows beyond the normative
direction of the biological mother-child dyad.
This chapter examines how competing discourses position donated
breastmilk as both a cure, in terms of its life-giving properties, and a
potential poison when construed as a contaminant. First, we discuss the
phenomenon of peer-to-peer breastmilk sharing over the Internet (here-
after, peer-milk sharing) and public health protestations about the risks
associated with this burgeoning practice. We then document the trans-
mission and social management of donated breastmilk in the context
of a New Zealand Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), where donor
breastmilk occupies an ambiguous place due to the non-availability of
pasteurised donor milk banking facilities. We suggest that the value
attributed to breastmilk as a biological substance and bodily product
depends on its classification as either suspect or precious, the way it is
shared, and the actors involved throughout the course of its exchange.
In this chapter, we discuss accounts of online peer-milk sharing in the
literature, alongside observational research that documents the views of
healthcare professionals, donors, and recipients in a NICU at Wellington
Hospital in New Zealand. The empirical data from the NICU, for which
informal consent has been given, outline the ethical and safety issues
involved during the distribution and exchange of donated breastmilk in the
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