Context

The first chapter puts the concerns of lactating teachers into context. It delves into public health mandates related to bodyfeeding in the US and traces how in social discourse, bodyfeeding has come to be considered a feature of “good mothering”. The chapter contextualizes pumping within the structure of power in the US, where neoliberal capitalist logics of individualism, privatization, and productivity impact the daily experience of teachers in schools by putting the onus on individuals to balance the “productive” work of teaching with the “reproductive” work of lactation. It accounts for the ways neoliberal capitalism relies on a patriarchal, white supremacist social order to maintain the power of the ruling class. The chapter delves into how neoliberal feminism frames the overwork of women as empowerment, emphasizing individuality over collectivity to the detriment of those who identify as women. The second half of the chapter overviews the research study the book is based on and explains why the author made the choices they did in representing the stories of research participants as poems. The chapter ends with an overview of the book&s;s contents.