Food?

Publicity photo for The Lactation Station Breast Milk Bar, Jess Dobkin, 2006. Photo by David Hawe.

The image above can be seen as shocking but that is exactly the point Dobkin wanted to make in her Lactation Station Breast Milk Bar piece.  In this piece, Dobkin set up a bar that served pasteurized break milk and allowed people to taste the milk donated by six different women (Esterik 20).  Honestly, I am not sure if I would have tasted the break milk that was being provided.  The thought of drinking breast milk is weird but at the same time I would feel pressure and curious to know what breast milk taste.  When the words “breast milk” are brought up the typical thought that comes to mind is an infant.  Only infants can consume breast milk without any judgment placed on them.  Certain foods, like breast milk, are associated with a certain age group and consumption outside of that age group is considered weird. 

From what I understand there is a lot of standards that are set for women.  Women are almost expected to feed their newborn breast milk because of the health benefits and thus if a women does not do such she is often viewed as a bad mother.  But while there is a pressure to breastfeed there is also the pressure from our society to only perform breastfeeding at home or in a bathroom.   This pressure to stay hidden eventually causes mothers to turn to formula in order to get away from the shame of breastfeeding in public.  It’s bizarre to think that we shame women who breastfeed in public while breast can be accepted in various other situations.  It is also interesting that pregnancy is seen to be beautiful but feeding out in the open is considered disgusting in American culture.  Mothers in America typically do not breastfeed after the age of a year old.  This could be related to our culture making public breastfeeding shameful.  In other countries, breastfeeding in a public setting is considered normal along with breastfeeding past the age a one. 

In the end, mothers are often pressure by society to preform specific tasks.  In the Japanese culture, mothers are pressured to make obentos for the children and make their child’s life easier.  Women are expected to be good mothers and the society sets the standards to what a good mother is defined as.