I wasn’t going to write about corrosive nature of breastfeeding “support” again today, but then I read a new paper that brilliantly explains how the lactation professionals who claim to be providing information and support abuse their position as health providers to shame and blame. The paper Getting the Green Light: Experiences of Icelandic Mothers […]
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Lactivist-splainin’ is not support, no matter how much lactivists insist that it is
Yesterday I wrote about lactivist-splainin’ and compared it to mansplainin’. Lactivist-splainin’ occurs when a lactivist explains to formula feeders why they choose not to breastfeed. The fundamental problem is the same as in mansplainin’: a group of people so enamoured of their own opinions that they never listen to anyone else. [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” […]
Lactivist-splainin’
I’ve written before about mansplainin’. Mansplainin’ occurs when a man condescendingly explains something to a woman assuming he has a superior understanding since he is a man. The founders of the natural childbirth movements were mansplainers, assuming that as male physicians they had a better understanding of what women feel during childbirth than women themselves. […]
Is PMS real? It’s every bit as real as erectile dysfunction.
Let’s try a thought experiment. Imagine if I asked if erectile dysfunction is real or is it socially constructed. I might write something like this: [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Bures exemplifies a culturally mediated response that has existed since time out of mind: ignoring women’s symptoms.[/pullquote] Erectile dysfunction is widely accepted to be […]
Good mothering is about emotional choices, not physical choices
The not so hidden subtext of natural parenting is that physical choices make a mother, not emotional choices. Specifically, natural parenting fetishizes physical proximity of mother and child. The child must spend hours trying to pass through the mother’s body (short cuts by C-section not allowed); skin to skin contact in the first hour is […]
Homeopathy: it takes mega stupidity to believe in the power of nano doses
The hallmark of homeopathy is the belief that tiny doses of medicinal substances have big effects. It’s like insisting that the less salt you put in water, the more salty the water will taste. In other words, it defies common sense, is scientifically unfounded, and has been thoroughly debunked. Even more inane than the concept […]
The bizarre assumptions behind natural parenting
Last week I explained that, contrary to the conceit of its advocates, contemporary natural parenting harks back NOT to nature, but rather a Victorian era romanticization of motherhood. I quoted extensively from Petra Buskens’ The Impossibility of “Natural Parenting” for Modern Mothers Today I’d like to flesh out that romanticization so we can see how […]
Fake news is not new; anti-vaccine advocates were among its pioneers
The mainstream media has suddenly discovered fake news. According to PBS: [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The mainstream media served for a decade as purveyors of fake news on vaccines and children have died as a result. [/pullquote] A new analysis by BuzzFeed found that false election stories from hoax sites and hyperpartisan blogs […]
Natural parenting is unnatural
The biggest irony of natural parenting is that it is entirely unnatural. As Petra Buskins explains in The Impossibility of “Natural Parenting for Modern Mothers: [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Natural parenting is not a return to nature, but a return to “traditional” values.[/pullquote] Numerous histories of “the family” show us that intensive, romanticized […]
The striking parallels between the birth world and Trumpworld
I’ve been blogging for over a decade now, but it’s only been in recent months that I’ve started writing political posts. Not surprisingly regular readers who are Trump fans are wondering why. [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Homebirth midwives are buffoons. Donald Trump is King of Buffoons.[/pullquote] First and foremost, it’s because I love […]
Amy Tuteur, MD
Dr. Amy Tuteur is an obstetrician gynecologist. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard College in 1979 and her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine in 1984. Dr. Tuteur is a former clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School. She left the practice of medicine to raise her four children. Her book, Push Back: Guilt in the Age of Natural Parenting (HarperCollins) was published in 2016. She can be reached at DrAmy5 at aol dot com... More
