The romance and science of ‘breast is best’: Discursive contradictions and contexts of breast-feeding choices

We argue that a woman’s decision to breast-feed or not is overdetermined by two discursive complexes we label “the romance of the natural mother” and “the science of breast-feeding.” These complexes incorporate socio-historical articulations of motherhood, female sexuality, medicine, science, and advertising. Taken together, they dictate the performative possibilities of “normal” and “moral” breast-feeding. In problematizing normal, moral articulations, we offer alternative possibilities for conceiving and performing breast-feeding. © 1998 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC