7.2 CARTESIAN DUALISM
7.2.2 Understanding Objects
One could apply Heidegger's
(1 962)philosophy to these objective accounts of
the body, interpreting the participants' narratives in light of his comments about
equipment.It is important to note that Heidegger
neverintended for the human
body to be seen as an object or
res extensa;instead, his philosophical work
was, in part, an attempt to destroy notions of Cartesian dualism. However,
because of their inherited understandings, some of the women in this study
came to know and understand their bodies within the context of a subject-object
perspective. Therefore, an exploration of this abstraction is appropriate to fully
illustrate the participants' experience, because "in every case ... interpretation is
grounded in something we have in advance" (Heidegger, 1 962, p. 1 91 ), and "an
interpretation is never a presupposition less apprehending of something
presented to us" (Heidegger, 1 962, p. 1 93). In this research, the women
interpreted their experiences through the lens of the body as object.
The foundational concepts of how the participants came to understand and
interpret breasts and breastfeeding were examined in Chapter Six. These
concepts exhibit themselves in commonly-formed meanings that are developed
as a result of our 'thrownness' in a world that already contains these commonly
formed meanings. Examples of this are found in the interpretations of the
'always-alreadyness' of breastfeeding , the breast as sexual, and breastfeeding
as an intrinsic function of mothering, which were discussed previously. Such
understandings form the basis for how these women interpret their bodies,
breasts and breastfeeding. These commonly-formed meanings also form the
basis for interpreting objects that appear in the world.
When interpreting the human body as
res extensa,breasts are considered to be
objects that can be manipulated, a concept that becomes increasingly evident
when a woman desires to breastfeed. Within this framework, a woman needs to
manipulate her object-breast to be able to breastfeed. To more fully explain
how people experience objects or equipment, Heidegger ( 1 962) discusses how
objects a re understood to be either 'ready-to-hand', 'present-at-hand' or
'unready-to-hand' .
7.2.3 Ready-to-Hand
'Ready-to-hand' describes how we proximally encounter entities or objects
(Heidegger, 1 962,p. 1 2 1 ). 'Ready-to-hand' occurs when one takes hold of an
object and uses it. The object itself becomes transparent to us, and we focus
on the outcome of what is being done rather than the object. All the women
who participated in this study had breastfed; therefore, they all had the requisite
bodily 'equipment' in the form of functioning breasts. To some extent the
women understood and, therefore, encountered, their breasts as 'objects'. The
following narratives emerged from the interviews with these women, some of
whom spoke of the wonder that their bodies were able to nourish an infant.
Those women who had become technically proficient at breastfeeding
exemplified the concept of 'ready-to-hand': the lactating 'breast' as an object
became invisible, and what emerged as the focus for these women was that
their breasts represented the nurturing or comforting of their baby.
Kay reported that the first time she breastfed the midwives put the baby to her
breast and she was unable to remember the experience properly. Her body,
her breast, was providing the milk to her baby without her being aware. Her
breasts were 'ready-to-hand'.
I mean they put him on my breast, but I don't really remember it properly
the first time because there's just so much emotions and everything happening so I really don't remember the couple of hours afterwards because you're on a high so to speak.
(Kay. Int.
8.
Para.22).
Kate spoke of how she could not comprehend that her body could produce milk
that would nourish an infant. After she had given birth she saw visibly the effect
that putting her infant on the breast had on her son; however, she denied any
active involvement on her part.
It was outside my realms of comprehension, that I could even produce something that was going to feed the baby . . . but just putting him on the breast - that whole reflex action where he latched on . . . and here he was - instant calm and it was an instinct and it was right. . . it was totally passive on my part.
(Kate. Int.
3
.. Para.6).
Liz discussed the fact that a woman's body will naturally produce milk after
giving birth. As breasts are a 'ready-to-hand' part of a woman's body, she
believed it encouraged being physically close to her baby, as m uch time was
spent providing nourishment when her baby was very young.
Well it is something that your body simply does unless you stop it. mean your milk does come in, it is a natural part of it [having a baby] especially in the initial days it's really the only contact that you have with your baby apart from cuddling her. Having the baby on the breast is really the time when you're sitting there, you're close to her, you're looking at her, and she's getting nourishment from you.
(Uz. Int. 9. Para
50).
Liz also spoke of how she could just 'pop' out her 'ready-to-hand' breasts and
feed her daughter. She commented how simple breastfeeding was in contrast
to feeding an infant with formula, because the breast was 'ready-to-hand'.
It's so much easier when you just have the breast and you can be at somebody's place and just pop them out and away you go, whereas having to carry formula, boiled water and sterile bottles and [having toj shake them up, it's a fiddle.
(Uz. Int. 9. Para. 18).
7.2.4 'Unready-to-hand'
The 'unready-to-hand' mode of equipment is exhibited when an object ceases to
work, or becomes problematic in a functional sense, and thus the transparent
nature of the equipment that exists in the 'ready-to-hand' mode is suspended.
The equipment becomes the focus, not the outcome (Heidegger, 1 962; Plager,
1 984). The concept of the breast being 'unready-to-hand' was illustrated '
numerous times during the participants' interviews. Prior to their breastfeeding
experiences, many of the women had only encountered their breasts as sexual
equipment; when their sexual breast became also a lactating breast, they
experienced their breasts in a new and different manner. Many described how
their breasts were 'unready-to-hand' in their new mothering role. They
discussed how they had to become technically proficient at 'using' their
functional breasts, and thus their focus was the breast, and becoming profiCient
at breastfeeding, not the outcome of breastfeeding. This mode of 'unready-to
hand' was especially dominant when a woman was struggling with the technical
skill of handling the 'breastfeeding breast', which commonly occurred when the
baby was less than three months of age.
Liz described how she had previously-held understandings of how the
breastfeeding breast would be, and had expected her breasts to be 'ready-at
hand' when her infant was born. She was astonished that this was not the
case, finding instead that her breasts were 'unready-to-hand', as her nipples
were cracked and sore. She mused at her former naivete.
I just always had the expectation that it would work and that it would be fine. And I was quite surprised by having these problems, they weren't little at the time, with the cracked nipple and the sore nipples, I really didn't expect them at all. I just expected him to start feeding and everything to be wonderful (laugh).
(Liz. Int. 9. Para.
4).
Eva wanted to latch her daughter on to her breast but struggled with 'unready
to-hand' nipples. She came to understand that breastfeeding is a skill both she
and her baby had to learn. Through exposure to differing latching techniques,
and information about nipple care and proper diets to ensure adequate supply,
she gained knowledge on how to breastfeed. Eva had to purposefully practice a
technique that would enable her baby to suckle and acquire milk from the
breast.
I was faced with the situation where the baby was born and I wanted her to latch on but she couldn't really because my nipples weren't sticking out as much as they should have, it took quite a lot of work to get the technique right and to get the baby sucking them out . . . The first one and a half weeks we were learning about breastfeeding. The first thing I realised is that it doesn 't come naturally at all. It's actually a skill that the baby has to learn and it's a skill that you have to learn. There are all sorts of different techniques that you get shown and different things work for different people, and then there's nipple management, how often and how long, your diet and all those sorts of things. It's tricky and it's really hard and you have to work at it and practice and practice and practice lots. It's only now, three months down the track, that I feel confident that we 're doing it right, that she's getting enough, that she feels happy and I feel happy we 're on demand feeding and it's really good.
(Eva. Int. 19. Para. 6 & 7).
Sam struggled to get her son latched onto her breast, trying many different
techniques suggested by her midwife. She discussed how both she and her
son struggled with breasts that were 'unready-to-hand', but two weeks after the
birth they managed to make breastfeeding work.
We were doing all sorts of tricks like, expressing a little bit first and we were even dribbling water into his mouth so that he was getting
something to kind-of keep him satisfied. Every trick in the book we were using and then that morning, for some reason, he latched on fine and then continued to and he's been fine ever since . . . kind-of, I mean that
we've both got better at it.
(Sam. 1nl. 12. Para. 8).
The first time that Lee fed her son she was completely focused on the technique
rather than on the outcome of breastfeeding. She felt that she 'obsessed' over
acquiring this new skill so that, in the first week of her son's life, the mechanism
for feeding her son, her breasts, were 'unready-to-hand'. However, Lee went on
to describe how, once she had mastered the act of breastfeeding, she ceased
to think about the mechanical and was able to focus on those entities that lay
beyond the need to provide her son with essential nutrition.
I was thinking the whole time really about the mechanics of it and whether I was breastfeeding proper/y, and that was probably the first week that he was alive. They became sort of obsessive thoughts - 'are you holding him properly, are the lips right, is the nipple drawn right back' you know all those things because it's all new to you . . . In the beginning, whenever you start a new job or task you start thinking about the mechanics and whether you're doing it right, and your mind gets fixed on all those sorts of things and you don't see outside of that but once you master it then you start thinking about other things.
(Lee. 1nl. 10. Para. 18 & 19).
7.2.5 'Present-at-hand'
'Present-at-hand' describes entities that we experience by going through entities
that we have proximally encountered (Heidegger, 1 962). "Things that are
'present-at-hand' only become visible when those entities that are 'ready-to
hand' become transparent" (Inwood, 1 999, p. 2 1 4). Once the women had
become proficient in managing their 'functional breast' and 'breastfeeding', they
were able to navigate their way through the prOXimally-encountered equipment
and focus on those things that lay beyond. The women's focus dwelt with those
entities that were more metaphysical in nature: the comforting nature of
breastfeeding breasts for their infant, and being able to visibly see the infant's
body grow.
Lee spoke of how enjoyable breastfeeding became for her once she became
confident in providing for her baby's nutritional needs through breastfeeding.
What emerged as 'present-at-hand' through breastfeeding was the chance to sit
and be close to her infant. Breastfeeding afforded her the opportunity to
develop her relationship with her son, a relationship that brought her
satisfaction.
Once I was very confident with breastfeeding him, probably by the time he was about six weeks old, then I started to really enjoy it as a lovely time when you're holding your baby really close. Having a chance to sit down for a while and hold him and talk to him. You know [it is] a really pleasurable experience.
(Lee. Int. 10. Para. 20).
Liz reinforced the idea that, when she was not anxious about the technical act of
using breasts to feed, she gained access to the 'present-at-hand' experience of
breastfeeding as pleasurable. She spoke of how she enjoyed meeting her
daughter's nutritional needs, whilst providing a relational connection between
both mother and daughter through the physical touch involved with
breastfeeding.
You are her [the baby's] source of nourishment. You're giving her the best food that she can have and you're giving her that contact with you, which is so lovely. To be at the breast is lovely for both her and me. (Liz. Int. 9. Para. 52).
Eva spoke of how pleasurable it was to see the benefits of breastfeeding . The
breast in its 'present-at-hand' mode became physical growth and health for her
daughter, a mode that emerged only as Eva became proficient at breastfeeding.
Just looking at her [my daughter] growing and looking so healthy, she hasn 't been sick at all, almost all the weight she's put on has been from me and it's such a satisfactory feeling.
(Eva. 1nl. 19. Para.
1 1).
These narratives have examined how the body has been interpreted as
resextensa,