Hello all. 
I'm not a mother or an accomplished lactivist, just a teenage girl who dreams of being a midwife and delivering precious little babies every day when I grow up (I can't decide whether to go for a CNM or a CPM, but that's a whole 'nother thread.
), which led me to Mothering, a site which has gripped my attention like no other and totally fascinated me; I read these forums for hours on end because I love the art of natural mothering/living, and I've honestly learned more from these forums than 12+ years of school. 
Anyway, I just wanted to share my story; I've always thought breastfeeding was really beautiful and promoted/supported it, even if that just means choosing to warm the bags of frozen EBM instead of just mixing formula for the babies I babysit, but I've never spoken out about it at all...until my speech teacher assigned a "Persuasive Speech," and told us we had to convince our audience of something...I thought a lot about it, and just couldn't come up with a topic, especially since we were going to be marked on how much "passion" we showed about the topic, and I'm just not a speaking-in-front-of-people type of person, kwim?
Then it came to me that I should venture into territory I'm sure no one else touched with a ten-foot pole in the history of my Catholic's school's speech class and talk about....breastfeeding! So I did, despite the embarrassment it could have caused me (My mom couldn't believe I was going to talk about "that" in front of boys...because we all know what they think "boobies" are for
) and all the giggles from the "audience" who were quite uncomfortable with me giving a speech about breastfeeding (I showed media images, like Fiona bottlefeeding her triplets, formula ads, and the "Smell like a baby" perfume containers shaped like bottles and pointed out that all of them have been raised in a society that normalizes formula/bottlefeeding).
I talked all about the benefits of breastfeeding for moms and babies of course, and by the end of the speech, everyone seemed to take me seriously and gave me a big round of applause!!! One guy even said it was the best persuasive speech because I seemed really "into it" (And I was...I got really heated when I got to the breastfeeding rights part of my speech because I hate that people act like breastfeeding is gross and shameful and women should hide and "do it in private"-- attitudes like that foster a formula-feeding culture!
) We were supposed to persuade the audience to change something about their lives and I asked all of them to have a more tolerant attitude towards breastfeeding and said I hoped the girls decided to breastfeed future children they had...I ended with the rhetorical question "Why would you ever give your baby anything less than the best?"
And my speech teacher finally gave me an "A" on a speech-- I got a 98%!!!
I usually do so poorly in that class because I'm just not a confident speech-giver, but a little passion finally did the trick. 
So yeah...I will officially go back to the status of lurking and soaking up everything AP like a sponge, but I just wanted to share my story because I feel like I finally "did something" for lactivism...guess I just couldn't keep it to myself.
I'm not a mother or an accomplished lactivist, just a teenage girl who dreams of being a midwife and delivering precious little babies every day when I grow up (I can't decide whether to go for a CNM or a CPM, but that's a whole 'nother thread.
), which led me to Mothering, a site which has gripped my attention like no other and totally fascinated me; I read these forums for hours on end because I love the art of natural mothering/living, and I've honestly learned more from these forums than 12+ years of school. Anyway, I just wanted to share my story; I've always thought breastfeeding was really beautiful and promoted/supported it, even if that just means choosing to warm the bags of frozen EBM instead of just mixing formula for the babies I babysit, but I've never spoken out about it at all...until my speech teacher assigned a "Persuasive Speech," and told us we had to convince our audience of something...I thought a lot about it, and just couldn't come up with a topic, especially since we were going to be marked on how much "passion" we showed about the topic, and I'm just not a speaking-in-front-of-people type of person, kwim?
Then it came to me that I should venture into territory I'm sure no one else touched with a ten-foot pole in the history of my Catholic's school's speech class and talk about....breastfeeding! So I did, despite the embarrassment it could have caused me (My mom couldn't believe I was going to talk about "that" in front of boys...because we all know what they think "boobies" are for
) and all the giggles from the "audience" who were quite uncomfortable with me giving a speech about breastfeeding (I showed media images, like Fiona bottlefeeding her triplets, formula ads, and the "Smell like a baby" perfume containers shaped like bottles and pointed out that all of them have been raised in a society that normalizes formula/bottlefeeding).I talked all about the benefits of breastfeeding for moms and babies of course, and by the end of the speech, everyone seemed to take me seriously and gave me a big round of applause!!! One guy even said it was the best persuasive speech because I seemed really "into it" (And I was...I got really heated when I got to the breastfeeding rights part of my speech because I hate that people act like breastfeeding is gross and shameful and women should hide and "do it in private"-- attitudes like that foster a formula-feeding culture!
) We were supposed to persuade the audience to change something about their lives and I asked all of them to have a more tolerant attitude towards breastfeeding and said I hoped the girls decided to breastfeed future children they had...I ended with the rhetorical question "Why would you ever give your baby anything less than the best?"And my speech teacher finally gave me an "A" on a speech-- I got a 98%!!!
I usually do so poorly in that class because I'm just not a confident speech-giver, but a little passion finally did the trick. So yeah...I will officially go back to the status of lurking and soaking up everything AP like a sponge, but I just wanted to share my story because I feel like I finally "did something" for lactivism...guess I just couldn't keep it to myself.
You reached young women (and men!) exactly when they need to be reached...before they become parents. And -- all the better -- you're their peer, not some lecturing adult. I've no doubt you've made a big difference in at least one life. And if that's all you accomplish in YOUR entire life, that's enough.
and love 
for you!
Awww, I loved your post. 
