In your face, Freud....

Another and less well known European doctor born in the 19th century named Grantly Dick-Read had some ideas about women that were pretty radical for his time. He's my kind of feminist:

"Too many never know the deep glory of a woman's pride as the hungry child ceases its demanding whimper and draws the ready nipple to itself and snuggles in the soft, satisfying security of its mother's breast. Is this sensuous, sentimental, or scientific? I hope its all three intensely and uninhibited - for if there is one things I have ever envied woman, it is that perfect peace and alienated happiness she demonstrates in her movement, breathing, and facial expression when her baby lies contented and semiconscious at her breast. Can our male science willingly disregard these female experiences because it can never share them?"
- from his book Childbirth Without Fear, 1942

I love this book! It is full of quote-worthiness. As I've said, nursing time is my reading time so I have to shut out the other noise of the household to learn from Dick-Read's brilliance, but so far it's well worth the effort.

Coincidentally, Freud argued that lack of oxygen during the birth process was not a cause of cerebral palsy, but Dick-Read claimed that meddlesome obstetric practices account for approximately 70 percent of cerebral palsy cases. It seems there is still disagreement about this, though most malpractice lawyers seem to agree with Dick-Read. (!)