306 F. Giles
Canada’s ‘Julyna’ campaign, or men growing a moustache for Australia’s
‘Movember’ prostate cancer awareness campaign. Although Robert cri-
tiques campaigns of this kind for potentially reinforcing ‘hyper-individ-
ualistic’, self-fashioning opportunities for identity building, she also sees
their potential for more altruistically motivated, pro-social behaviour.
Donating breastmilk to others provides a good example of embodied
philanthropy that brings pleasure and benefits to both donor and recipi-
ent. Drawing from research by Ferguson, Farrell, and Lawrence into
blood donors’ ‘feel good’ response, Gribble agrees that this amounts to
a shift from altruism to benevolence, since a reward beyond the satisfac-
tions of duty is received in return for the donation ( 2014 : 254). Robert
concludes that, ‘The modification and play with and on the body and
its surfaces accordingly arises as a driving force in this emerging kind of
philanthropy’ ( 2013 : 272). The campaigns Robert uses in her case study
illustrate willingness to contribute physical and psychological resources,
rather than just money, echoing the more traditional voluntarism that
Putnam argues is in decline. The concept of embodied philanthropy
also allows for physical engagement that is health enhancing or empow-
ering (such as the alcohol abstinence campaign, ‘Dry July’).
Ironically, the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding has fuelled the
motivations of mothers to pump or hand-express additional milk, either
to build their supply or as back-up in case of separation or illness down
the track, or to enable a partner to feed their baby (Gribble 2014 : 253).
It has also resulted in knowledge of other pleasures of the body atten-
dant on breastfeeding, separate from babies or bonding, and purely
for the benefit of the mother. As one of MacDonald’s donors, Linda,
explains, ‘I like pumping, you know, to see how much I can get. It’s fun’
( 2016 : 243). Like other physical achievements—whether athletic or aes-
thetic—successful lactation, and making visible its results, can contrib-
ute to a sense of accomplishment and power.
Gift-giving milk also provides safeguards, since the parties are more
likely to have communicated directly if not having met in person, and
there is no incentive for a provider to maximise profit by diluting the
milk or handling it without due care. Direct personal contact builds a
reputational disincentive to cause harm. Additionally, as MacDonald
found, donors were open about their lifestyle and diet, and about their
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