Here are the highlights from tomorrow’s Canvas magazine. Get your premium glossy weekend magazine in tomorrow’s Weekend Herald.
No doubt we'll receive well-intentioned letters from those who think mothers just "need more support" on the back of Michelle Duff's personal and well-researched piece on what it is like when breastfeeding doesn't come easily. I'd argue it's not more support that mother's need; it's acceptance that, for whatever reason,
sometimes breastfeeding doesn't work - for either mother, baby, or both.
Despite - or oddly, sometimes even because of - feminism, we live in an era of ideological purity when it comes to motherhood. Births - naturally - should always be natural (even if it leaves women incontinent for the rest of their lives; one in three mothers have some form of incontinence after childbirth, in case you are curious).
Earlier this month, the US Center for Disease Control even recommended that if you are a sexually active woman who is not using birth control, you should abstain from ever drinking alcohol. That's right, any female who is an adult. And who has sex without birth control.
Perhaps we should just GPS the lot of us and call the cops if someone discovers that we are somewhere, somehow, living our lives and not thinking of our potential offspring at all times. Or we could apply a modicum of sophistication to our fears around birth and motherhood and focus our "support" on accepting that women are entitled to live their lives - yes, responsibly - but also with agency.
