The Embodiment and Discourses of a Taboo: #brelfie

#brelfie is an online social media trend that seeks to normalize public breastfeeding through exposure. “Brelfies” are “breastfeeding selfies”—in which a mother uploads an image of herself breastfeeding to social media. It is controversial even within the trend itself, as women disagree on how it potentially pressures women to perform motherhood. Much of Western culture views the female breast as a sexual organ, and thus creates norms about how breasts should be functioned and displayed in public. Yet, many others would argue that breastfeeding is the only legitimate use of the female breast and is therefore permissibly exhibited in public. In fact, images of breastfeeding have been around for centuries, and so #brelfies are merely one small piece in a wider puzzle concerning motherhood and body politics. This discourse analysis takes a sample of social media posts drawn using Radian6 analytics software, and analyzes these posts for descriptive themes. These themes relate to the culturally-situated functionality of breasts, the online arena of activism, and appreciate discourse as medium for self-empowerment, and as a means for constructing taboo/s

Harriet in Rehearsal: Hilary Thorpe in \u3ci\u3eThe Nine Tailors\u3c/i\u3e

Argues that the character of Hilary Thorpe in The Nine Tailors is a “rehearsal” for the “major presentation of Harriet Vane in Gaudy Night.

Mythopoesis

Studies the process of creating fantasy worlds, or sub-creation, with observations from several authors including Le Guin, Lewis, and Tolkien

Mythopoesis

Discusses and elaborates on Sayers’s conception of creativity as a Trinitarian process, composed of idea, energy/activity, and power

A Myth for Angle-Land : J.R.R. Tolkien and Creative Mythology

Examines Tolkien’s desire to create “a mythology for England,” particularly as distinct from Britain. Traces the evolution of the connections between Tolkien’s mythology and Primary World counterparts

Breaking the Pattern: Alan Garner\u27s \u3ci\u3eThe Owl Service\u3c/i\u3e and the \u3ci\u3eMabinogion\u3c/i\u3e

Examines how Garner’s The Owl Service reflects events of the Mabinogion in modern terms. Pays particular attention to issues of parental possessiveness, control and expectation, and the need to break “deterministic patterns.

Mythopoesis

Discusses the hard-to-define quality of mythopoeic fantasy

Mythopoesis: Specific Derivation

Illustrates the transformative use of source material in fantasy by contrasting Merry and Pippin’s oath-taking scenes and their sources in Beowulf and Finn and Hengest