Law Commons^™

Desnatada: Latina Illumination Of Breastfeeding, Race, And Injustice, Jasmine Gonzales Rose

Faculty Scholarship

In Skimmed: Breastfeeding, Race, and Injustice, Andrea Freeman brilliantly explains how racism results in lower breastfeeding rates by Black mothers,¹ which in turn results in poorer health outcomes--including higher mortality rates--for Black babies.² She provides four primary reasons for this phenomenon: (1) the history and legacy of slavery, (2) the imposition of racist gender stereotypes on Black women, (3) racially-targeted formula promotion by manufacturers and hospitals, and (4) government benefits and employment policies that obstruct poor people's ability to breastfeed. The first two of these reasons are particularly devastating: the legacy of slavery and misogynoiristic³ stereotypes …