Why I Just Dropped Out Of The University of North Carolina's Breastfeeding and Feminism Symposia

I'm not speaking at the University of North Carolina this month, after all. I was scheduled to present two discussion sessions at the 8th Breastfeeding and Feminism Symposia, but I canceled. I was literally in the middle of booking my plane ticket and making hotel reservations, when I saw an article from Clutch Magazine about a UNC Rape Victim [who] Faces Expulsion.

I read the article about Landem Gambill, who was being threatened for speaking publicly about her rapist -- an ex boyfriend, who is also a student at the university, and whose ostracism comes because they say she is being disruptive. The 'Honor Court' threatened to charger her with this violation:

"Disruptive or intimidating behavior that willfully abuses, disparages, or otherwise interferes with another (other than on the basis of protected classifications identified and addressed in the University’s Policy on Prohibited Harassment and Discrimination) so as to adversely affect their academic pursuits, opportunities for University employment, participation in University-sponsored extracurricular activities, or opportunities to benefit from other aspects of University Life."

I emailed the Symposia's planning Committee, and expressed my concern before I told them that I would do more research. While reading about Landem Gambill I saw that there had been numerous cases of the University's neglect in highlighting issues of sexual violence and various others who had launched complaints against the school for neglecting to do something. I received a reply from one of the committee members stating she was definitely concerned with violence against women at their campus as well as others, and sent me the link to the University's response, which after reading it did not feel is was a real reprimand on this behavior, on violence or on the perpetrator but felt instead as if they were issuing one that attempted to absolve themselves of the fact that this happened under their campus direction. Also, another committee member told me it was not the institution, but the students who run the high court.

I was really bothered by this story and all of this. I didn't know if I should continue with the presentations and change my content from speaking about breastfeeding and Black Feminism to speaking out against rape culture. After emailing back and forth over the past couple of days with these committee members this was my response:

"Thank you for replying to my email and going a step further in providing additional information on this recent headline that has seemed to highlight other issues within structure. Yes, violence on all campuses and non-campus environments concern me and others as well. I have done as much research as I can regarding the case of Landen Gambill once I initially heard of this recently, given the amount of time I have in order to either proceed or withdraw. Unfortunately I have not seen a great effort by the University of North Carolina to make a whole effort to eradicate the presence of rape culture on campus, or to even reprimand the actions of the perpetuator or the larger issue. And when we don't speak out against something, we are doing nothing more than stating our support. I cannot attend a session that underpins the principles of feminism in an environment I believe has not worked towards resolve in this issue or the many others who have also launched a complaint of sexual violence. What kind of feminist would that make me? The fact that expulsion is an option at all shows there is an underlying support of these kinds of crimes against women on campus and a willingness to accept it - and shame and blame the victim. I thank you for the opportunity, but please cancel my registration as well as refund my registration fee."

* Thank you to all who contributed towards the Breastfeeding and (BLACK) Feminism Chip In. The funding was to be used to offset the charges that I incur at this event, in order to continue doing this important work. Some of you have told me to keep the funds and use them for other breastfeeding promotions and advocacy, which I am thankful for and is what I will do. If this is what you'd like then let me know. Otherwise, I will begin processing the return of your donation.

Please sign the petition to help stop the impunity of the perpetrators of 'The Little Girl' who was raped, and have not been brought to justice. 

Soraya Chemaly: 50 Facts About Rape

Reblog - A Professor Walks Into A Classroom: Because I never thought I'd ever use my three most favorite terms IN THE WORLD – 'Anthropology', 'Feminism', 'Breastfeeding' in the same sentence as the word 'Fail'!

My friend sent this one to me -- the article below, but I've heard it's been all over the news and other places, too. A professor, who just so happens to be a mother, brought her sick baby to class and the baby, as babies tend to do, got fussy, so this mother and anthropology professor thought of a solution. Besides the fact no one uttered a word before the nursing, I can't think of a more ideal setting other than an anthropology course on feminism, and I've been trying to imagine the curriculum: cross-cultural comparisons on social stratification, male dominance and exploitation of women's bodies -- especially their breasts, against the biological norm and especially here in America, and various ways to counter this learned behavior. Now I'm not signed up for the course and never sat in on a class, but I'm willing to bet I'm not so far off.

An American University Professor Breast-Fed During Class. So What?

It's easy to forget the almighty power of the ordinary breast. If you have a couple yourself, most of your attention spent on them in a lifetime is focused on making sure they look right in clothes and aren't in your way, with occasional forays into sex and feeding infants. But breasts actually have a secret super power. When whipped out under the right circumstances, the ordinary mammary gland has the ability to expose a tremendous amount of cultural hypocrisy around gender and parenting.

Adrienne Pine, an assistant professor of anthropology at American University, unwittingly learned that lesson when she decided to shut up her fussy baby in the culturally prescribed way, especially for the highly educated middle class set:giving the baby her boob. Had she done so safely ensconced in her home, perhaps beatifically meditating on how this means so much more than any career ever could, she would have been held up as a moral paragon for all women. But since she did so in the middle of doing her job, in this case lecturing a class full of students taking a feminist anthropology course, she's instead become a national scandal, with the controversy detailed on the front page of today's Washington Post.

The world knows about Pine's transgressively feminine behavior in the traditionally masculine role of college professor because the student newspaper immediately pounced on the story, and Pine responded in a way that likely hurt her cause by coming across as pedantic and needlessly defensive. Still, her situation should draw sympathy from those who aren't inclined to immediately think the worst of women. She's a single mother, and her baby couldn't go to day care that day because she had a fever. Pine had to choose between missing the first day of class or bringing her sick baby along.

It seems that if it hadn't been for the breast-feeding, this entire situation would have gone unnoticed. But many students completely lost it when they saw an actual human breast. Such as Jake Carias, age 18 and interviewed by the Washington Post, who claims that he was fine with the presence of the baby, but not so much the boob: 

But when Pine started to breast-feed mid-class, Carias said, it crossed a line.

“I found it unprofessional,” he said. “I was kind of appalled.” 

Carias fired off a tweet: “midway through class breast feeding time.” He also posted a message on his Facebook page. He said he later dropped the class.

So, he spends his class time on Twitter and Facebook, but a woman who can continue a lecture while breast-feeding is an intolerable distraction? Personally, I remember college lectures as being most students' least favorite part of school, a necessary evil that one struggled not to fall asleep during. Anything to liven it up would have been welcome. So, unless college students have completely changed in the years since I graduated, the whole thing has little to do with some sort of assault on their education and more to do with underlying anxieties about sex and gender.

Pine offers garbled and unconvincing arguments for why she breast-feeds, but she really shouldn't have to offer an argument at all. Plus, regardless of how she frames it for herself, the reality is that for a woman of her class and age, choosing formula means having your peers act like you're dishing rat poison into your daughter's mouth. Funny how we live in a society that both expects women, especially highly educated and ambitious women, to breast feed, but forbids them to do so while pursuing their ambitions. If I didn't know any better, I'd think pushing women out of positions of prestige and power and back into the home was a feature and not a bug of this system. 

Original Article: Slate XX Factor

University of North Carolina's 8th Breastfeeding and Feminism Symposia

I didn't end up sending in an abstract to speak at last year's event, but someone just shared the Save The Date flyer with me for the UNC's Breastfeeding and Feminism Symposia for 2013. Next year's theme is: "It Takes A Village: The role of the greater community in inspiring and empowering women to breastfeed." I don't think I really have to go into much detail at all about this one – as far as if I'm interested or not. And if you know me or have kept up with this blog you'll know this is the undercurrent of all of my work – on inclusion and community, and getting more people involved. So of course I'd be thrilled to share my ideas.

I don't want to jump to conclusions and all, but I do wonder about the audience, though, and who'll be reviewing the submissions and picking and choosing – especially when I look on the website and middle-aged white women are representatives of the conference, and they along with older white men symbolize the institute. And feminism – the large-scale critique of the structure to eradicate domination directed at female populations, has always focused on the experiences of white women. That is undeniable. This is the same with the lot of so-called breastfeeding advocates who fail to put, especially race at the forefront. So it has me thinking. Breastfeeding advocacy needs more input from feminists of color. I am so there! Well, at least I'm responding to the Call for Papers this time.

A Woman's Choice: Feminism, and Empowerment Through Bottlefeeding

I am not an extreme breastfeeding advocate or a fundamentalist. What I mean by this is, even though I support breastfeeding as part of the natural reproductive cycle directly after pregnancy and would love if all babies were breastfed, that thought is idealistic at best. I won't ever accuse someone of not wanting the best for a baby if they do not breastfeed -- remind you of a recent post on Why Black Women Who Bottlefeed Matter. 

Not too long ago, I got into a conversation with a friend about breastfeeding. It was actually a conversation through email, when I first told her I had decided to become a Lactation Consultant in order to play a part in encouraging more Black women to breastfeed, and told her about our numbers and how they are the lowest of any group. Her response was that Black women, whether breastfeeding or not, should do whichever makes her feel empowered. 

Last week, The Crunk Feminist Collective posted an article on choice, using the new breastfeeding doll to introduce the subject. The article, Tough Titty: On Feminist Mothering and the Breastfeeding Doll, raised some very important points from a feminist perspective, and raised some other topics that had me scratching my head (such as breastfeeding as uncompensated body labor, but I won't go into that right now). It also asked a few questions at the end that really had me thinking. The last two are the ones that really stood out, and I was reminded of the conversation with my friend on empowerment, and thought these two were related. Here is a chance for me to expand a bit on how I feel about this especially among those of us who are considered to be out of the mainstream and in the margins.

1. What are your thoughts on breastfeeding?
2. Would you give your daughter this doll?
3. Can you be a good mother and admit you may not want to breastfeed?
4. And more to the point, though I never thought I’d have to ask this question, can you be a good feminist and admit you may not want to breastfeed?

Even with my very limited knowledge and research of infant feeding thus far, if there's one thing I've learned is this: infant feeding is not simply infant feeding. Instead, infant feeding is a highly charged ritual that is infused with politics and debate, where various and extreme points of view can be found inside and out. It is also an area that is reflective of so many other areas of society, which is part of the reasons I felt so strongly about the article from the Crunk Feminist Collective. Information on breastfeeding and access to information on infant feeding, are most often skewed, and who you are and where you are, usually determines your outlook, how you practice infant feeding, and inevitably how you feed your baby -- you know, your choice. When feminist ideas intersect with these it is necessary to look at what other factors play a part in this -- complicating the situation.   

Mainstream society and mainstream feminist ideas continue to play a large role in the way it portrays feminism and breastfeeding ideas, where poor, Women, and People Of Color are continuously excluded. Feminist Barbara Smith says that the 'invisibility of Black women [in society and in the feminist world] has meant our ways for creative expression are infinite' -- meaning  our ways of defining ourselves are varied. For example, I once did a presentation titled What Is Black Feminism, where my point was to not only show my audience why Black feminism erupted (from exclusion from white women, and Black men), but to also show those creative ways Black women practiced feminism in a society where ignoring us was the norm, and where resistance was often met with death. One of my examples was Angela Davis' story of enslaved mothers who would fake her illness in order to avoid being separated from her children during human selling and trading. Other women who call themselves feminists may not breastfeed or may not want to breastfeed because it is not part of their culture. The possibilities are endless. 

Other areas deal with access -- to education, to information that is able to empower and provide information where someone can make a informed decision on whether to breastfeed or not. Formula companies strategically target our communities through unethical marketing practices, and in many areas access to education is low, which means lower literacy rates that play a tremendous role in the way we obtain and process information and how we try to integrate into society, to opportunities in our employment or lack of, and the way our culture views breasts, and breastfeeding. I have a hard time believing when someone doesn't want to breastfeed it is simply because they don't want to breastfeed. 

Questions like those from the Crunk Feminist Collective assume everyone has experienced the same kind of ideas on mothering, on breastfeeding, on feminism. It also paints a picture that our society is one where equality looms large, and everyone has access to the same resources, and neither racism, capitalism, sexism, or any other isms or systems of inequality play a part in shaping our outlook. This is not the case. Infant feeding and feminist ideas are complex, which is why we need to go below the surface in order to understand the ideas and the debates surrounding breastmilk, breastfeeding and infant formula, and how they are infused with implications, complications, and politics that determine who does and does not breastfeed and why. 

So my friend and the ladies at the CFC are right when it comes to having a choice on how a woman feeds her baby, being empowered, and feminism. Black women, and all women should do whatever makes her feel empowered, of course! The only catch is, truly being empowered means having access to information, access to education, equality, employment and ability where every women can breastfeed if she wanted to, which leads to the ability to make truly informed decisions -- not ones based on misinformation -- that is just too rampant in our society. Also, instead of believing that all feminist ideas are linear, perhaps we need to remind ourselves "why feminism?" And replace the questions with a good starter -- maybe one such as "What does a feminist look like?"