wordspy March 28, 2005
This site credits me with having coined a new word — “lactivist” — in an article I wrote for the Chicago Sun Times (the same piece also ran in Salon.com).
But I didn’t make this word up and honestly, I have no idea when or where I first heard it.
So if you know the provenance of the word, e-mail me or leave a comment below.
— Katie
I don’t know where the term came from and I’ve not heard it before, but I like it. We all need to be lactation activists/advocates. It is crazy when I’ve been criticized for breastfeeding in public even though half the people running around are showing more skin just in their skimpy clothes than I show by nursing my baby! I don’t like the comparison to “Nipple Nazi” however… to me this just proves my point that we need to be lactation activists… would anyone dare call someone a “Formula Nazi” or a “Bottle Nazi”??
In 1996, I was actively reading Lactnet.
J. Rachael Hamlet was then the Owner of “Lactivist Mailing List”.
She was also the author The Breastfeeding Advocacy Page
http://www.clark.net/pub/activist/bfpage/bfpage.html
I believe Rachel coined the phrase “Lactivistâ€. You Katie might have been the first one to use the word in a mainstream article.
Hope this is helpful,
Dewi
Hi again Katie,
I poked around a bit more on Lactnet archives and thought you would like to read about the origins of Rachel Hamlet introducing herself to the Lactnet community as “LACTivistâ€.
Regards
Dewi
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded message from Archives:
From: LACTivist@aol.com
Sender: owner-parent-l@uts.edu.au
Reply-to: parent-l@uts.edu.au
To: parent-l@uts.edu.au
Date: 95-07-16 11:49:12 EDT
Hello again. I’ve decided to try using AOL so that I can get Parent-L (and other mail) at affordable rates. I am inordinately pleased with my AOL screen name, LACTivist. This is not the end of my experimentation. I expect
I will try NETCOM or other direct providers at some point, so those of you who are planning to contact me directly should keep your eyes peeled for my postings of address changes.
About activism: IMHO it would be great if we could have a mailing list or newsgroup devoted just to breastfeeding activism. I am all fired up after returning from the LLLI conference about getting organized, starting campaigns for pro-breastfeeding legislation and regulations at federal and
state levels (e.g., protecting employed mothers’ right to breastfeed and pump, warning labels on formula, requiring M.D.s to warn mothers of ill effects of formula), mail campaigns against the formula companies, media
watch of references to breastfeeding, public relations campaigns (including stunts!) against formula feeding and for breastfeeding, etc., etc. What do
you all think of this? How can it be done? How much will it cost?
Rachael Hamlet
Another Breastfeeding Feminist Lawyer Mom from Hell
~~~~~~
End of archived message
You are absolutely right. Rachel coined the word when she started her “Breastfeeding Advocacy Page” about eight years ago. It’s still one of the best breastfeeding activist sites online.