28/08/2017
In 1977 I lived for some months in Ghana; a decade later for some months in Lesotho. In both places, when schools let out, I saw kindergarten kids rush up to moms selling things on the streets to have a snack at the breast before running on to play.
I often refer to the tourist postcard below bought in Lesotho in 1987 when teaching about normalizing breastfeeding. (Virtually no college kids in Korea have ever seen someone breastfeed; it's done, but if out of home there are lots of breastfeeding huts one can hide in along the subways, in malls, etc.)
I mention that this photo was taken in a society where breastfeeding is the norm and ask if they can guess what the caption on the back says, typifying as it does community orientation toward breastfeeding in such places. Most guess "toddler breastfeeding" or "school girl breastfeeding" or something like "the benefits of long-term breastfeeding."
It says "Masotho woman weaving a basket." Where breastfeeding is the norm, it is uninteresting, invisible.
posted by Ted Greiner
