Friday, February 19, 2010

Survey on breastfeeding and childhood sexual abuse

From an e-mail I received through a listserv:

"Childhood sexual abuse is a very common experience among American women, and is known to have significant consequences throughout the lifespan. The lack of public health analysis of child sexual abuse means that we have major limitations as to how we can work to prevent this problem, and how we can help survivors when it occurs. Childhood sexual abuse can impact women’s experiences of breastfeeding, but there is very little information about how. By sharing their stories, women can teach public health professionals about what the problems and opportunities are, and how they can respond.

To this end, I have created a survey where women are able to share their experiences. By clicking HERE, you can learn more about the survey, and complete the survey. It’s pretty open-ended so that people can take as much space as they need to write about their experiences with breastfeeding, and how they may have been impacted by childhood sexual abuse. The stories will be shared, with no identifying information, at the Breastfeeding & Feminism Symposium, as well as being part of an exciting new book due out Fall 2010. Since there is a time crunch, please complete the survey by Friday, February 26."

I think this is an important and largely unexplored topic, other than observations of LCs who I've heard at trainings or who have written articles. It would be great to hear the voices of women who have experience with this.

2 comments:

Laura said...

rebecca! great to hear from you. hope all is well with you. love your blog!!!

Emily said...

Hello dear one, I love this blog! Such important work!