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liberty and humanity home / elizabeth's blog

elizabeth's blog

elizabeth willmott harrop Blog large

A world informed by liberty and humanity, not too much to ask.

Welcome to my blog which discusses social justice, the politics of gender and parenting, and the rights of women and children.

Follow this blog via my facebook page Motherhood Denied and on twitter @libertyhumanity.


mouth

PIP Implants, labiaplasty & the myth of choice in a culture of pornography

6 February 2012: In the PIP breast implant debate, where was the analysis of the social backdrop which encourages women to have surgery. Just as having regular breasts is no longer a feminine benchmark, having a vagina is likewise irrelevant, unless it is a certain kind, hense the rise of labiaplasty.


too much doubt

Troy Davis: a likely innocent man murdered, but his killer walks free

25 September 2011: By a balance of probabilities the killer of Mark MacPhail remains unpunished. As does the killer of Troy Davis. 'Not knowing' is intolerable compared to making a potentially innocent man a murderer, because the latter allows us to make sense of the world with far less effort. We have to learn to live with doubt. To learn that convicted criminals are not always guilty and that justice is not always just.


cow feeding

GM cows make human breast milk: 5 reasons it’s wrong

8 June 2011: A positive innovation to replace maligned formula, or a grotesque corporate ethics-bending exercise. I’m with the latter and here’s why.


desperate mum

misguided child protection policies increase abuse risk

18 October 2010: Impoverished levels of supervised access for at-risk mothers and their babies, means the rupturing of attachment and an increased likelihood of abuse.


handbag

breast cancer's handbag campaign: sexist, puerile, insulting

11 October 2010: Our society has a 20 second attention span and is obsessed with the objectification of women. So what better way to support a good cause than by getting women to sexualise and trivialise themselves through a meaningless, banal and effortless activity.


gender 1

sexuality education and human rights

2 July 2010: From reproductive rights to teenage pregnancy and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, sexuality education provides a vital foundation for human rights.


kim-kardashian

sexualised boob obsession has origins in lactation

21 June 2010: In her twitter comments this week, Kim Kardashian summed up the fractured psychology which reveres sexualised boobs and reviles lactating breasts. But according to evolutionary biology, boobs are simply lactating breasts in disguise.


sowm-cover

for mothers, worst place in world is breast place

14 May 2010: Save the Children's Mothers' Index "ranks the best and worst places to be a mother". While valid as an expression of maternal and child mortality and other criteria used, it raises important questions about the imposition of Western values on mothering. If for example, you assess the countries according to breastfeeding targets, you can almost flip the ranking on its head.


gender

motherhood and gender

27 April 2010: I have a dilemma. One which results from seeing gender as the right of individual expression, across a broad spectrum, while at the same time insisting on fundamental behavioral differences between the sexes as parents. Differences which only exist however, if the mother is allowed to express her biology.


counting for nothing

women's work invisible in global economics

23 April 2010: The fundamental assumptions behind world economics disregard the value of women, and the unpaid work of child rearing, maintaining homes and building communities.


vaccine-shot

vaccination: immunity from persecution

15 April 2010: The pharmaceutical and political lobby have become savvy at persuading parents to vaccinate their children. Not by using scientific evidence, but by instilling fear and loathing of non-vaccinators into other parents. The main advantage of vaccination has become immunity from persecution.


alexander-mcqueen-shoes

on-trend shoes: high fashion or a step too far

27 March 2010: Alexander McQueen’s Spring 2010 runway collection “was a statement about the future of our world”. However the shoes in the collection – sky high platforms which restrict and distort movement - are distinctly historical, reflecting fashions of a bygone era by subjugating women with clothing and footwear specifically designed to restrict movement.


time out2

time up for time out

22 March 2010: Time Out has become the post-smacking disciplinary method of the 21st century. I have tried time-out with my trantruming 2 year old, but had a niggling feeling that something about it just wasn't right. Having now researched the subject further, I know why.


toddler breastfeeding

toddler breastfeeding: society says no

17 March 2010: “Breastfeeding becomes wrong when they start to talk”, yet adult men have been happily hanging off women's breasts for centuries. As a society we have become confused about what women's breasts are for - elevating their status as titillators and denigrating their function as nurturing life-givers.


intcodee

shopping infant formula code violators

14 March 2010: Supermarkets, including at least one chain in Christchurch New Zealand, which promote infant formula are breaching the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes 1981 (ICMBMS). When a complaint was made by a visiting customer (a midwife who knows of the above code), she was told “there's nothing anyone can do to stop us”.


shared care3

shared care, compromised care

14 March 2010: Hard work by the father lobby has rightly ensured that fatherhood is more fully recognised. But is there a price to pay by young babies and infants who find themselves taken from Mum so they can spend half the week with Dad in fashionable 'shared care' arrangements?


londonaz

motherhood denied links by subject A to Z

A full list of links and articles posted on the Motherhood Denied facebook page, arranged by subject A-Z. Updated 15 June 2011.

From Breastfeeding Toddlers, Child Abuse, and Female Genital Mutilation, to LGBT, Midwifery, Psychology and Sexualisation.


 Photo albums on the facebook page

100 Breastfeeding celebrities
 18 May 2010: Christina Aguilera, Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth Hurley, Angelina Jolie, Heidi Klum, Liv Tyler, Kate Winslet, Reese Witherspoon. Celebrities love breastfeeding.


 

Breastfeeding Images 1450-1920
 16 May 2010: Modern Western society loves boobs but hates breasts. A look at breastfeeding through the ages - before we became so hyprocritical, squeemish and obsessed with dehumanising women through their sexualisation.


Related articles, published elsewhere

She-wolves in sheeps' clothing
2 September 2010: In New Zealand, 48% of child abusers are women. These are ordinary women for whom factors such as poverty and social isolation mean they are unable to live up to the ideal of the all-nurturing, self sacrificing mother. Society has to take responsibility for both the idealistic image and the conditions under which women are unable to nurture their children. Meanwhile the female perpetrator is unacknowledged by society, giving her and her child victims no way out.

A full length (4,500 word) version of this article is available here.


Breast Intentions 
31 May 2010: Despite the 'breast is best' message in New Zealand many women do not breastfeed due to a lack of support, compounded by the censure women face when bottle feeding. A Christchurch counselling service will help mothers with “unvalidated grief” around their breastfeeding experiences.

A full length (3,000 word) version of this article is available here.


Stepping up the fight against childhood sexualisation
19 February 2010: Historically New Zealand has been in Australia's shadow concerning action against the sexualisation of children. However, awareness in New Zealand has been stepped up a gear, with initiatives by Auckland University and the National Council of Women of New Zealand.

The good news? Studies show that for girls aged eight to 12 years, parents remain the most influential factor on clothing choices. Parents also have a powerful role in buffering children against inappropriate TV content. Photo shows Noah Cyrus, 9, referred to in the article.