Fresh Milk: The Secret Life of Breasts - smh.com.au

By Rebecca J. Davies
April 18 2003

Fresh Milk:The Secret Life of Breasts, By Fiona Giles, Allen & Unwin , 268 pp, $24.95

There can be few processes so intrinsic to the feminine psyche that have been so publicly ignored as breastfeeding. Yet no other part of the female anatomy has received as much attention, nor been so celebrated, scrutinised, reviled and eulogised as the breast. It is from this glaring contradiction that Fiona Giles's eclectic collection of oral history, biography and poetry draws its compass. A scholar and feminist, she has sought to straddle the gap between academic works and popular appeal.