Overview

An illustrated exploration of an age-old occupation, at once life-giving and freighted with contradictory ideas about women and their bodies. The wet nurse-a woman hired to breastfeed a child not her own-is indeed attested far back in history; in fact, archaeologists have discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen's wet nurse. In modern Europe and the United States, wet nursing persisted into the early twentieth century, when bottles and formula rendered it obsolete. At one end of the social scale, wealthy families hired wet nurses to spare mothers the necessity of nursing; at the other, foundling babies were fed by wet nurses employed by orphanages. In this book, conceived as both a social history and a feminist act of reparation, artist Barbara Zucker uncovers the forgotten-perhaps deliberately buried-occupation of wet nursing. She ranges across eras and cultures, revealing the practices surrounding wet nursing and the social attitudes toward the women who worked as wet nurses, almost always out of financial necessity. She investigates such surprising topics as traditional tests of the quality of breast milk (ranging from straightforward tasting to esoteric, almost alchemical rituals) and interspecies nursing (with the goat's teat the most common stand-in for the human breast). Zucker's lively text is abundantly illustrated with paintings, prints, and photographs she has teased from the archives, as well as her own arresting drawings and sculptures inspired by the topic. The Second Oldest Profession will be essential and provocative reading for anyone interested in women's history. AUTHOR: Barbara Zucker is professor emerita of art at the University of Vermont and a founder of the A.I.R. Gallery, the first women's cooperative gallery in the United States. SELLING POINTS: . The first-ever popular history of the wet nurse-a woman hired to breastfeed a child not her own-spanning from ancient Egypt to the early twentieth century . Abundantly illustrated with surprising artworks and photographs from around the world, as well as the author's own drawings and sculptures inspired by the subject . Author Barbara Zucker, a noted feminist artist, conceived this book as both a social history and a feminist act of reparation, to bring the hidden story of the wet nurse to light. . Accessible and provocative, this is a book aimed at a broad audience-anyone who is interested in women's social roles and the once-universal experience of breastfeeding.

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9780789215215

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Reviews

The Second Oldest Profession, devoted to an occupation that has been a source of pride and target of prejudice--wet nursing--is a provocative, taboo-busting, richly illustrated investigation. This page-turner of a case study, researched for more than thirty years, interweaves the personal, pictorial, political, and art historical and reveals, as Zucker notes, 'facts and fables, truths and lies.' --Joan Simon, independent curator and writer Barbara Zucker's unique book is a fresh and enthralling account of her search for the history of wet nurses across the ages and across cultures. It is not about art, but it is written by a feminist artist and amplified by visuals including her own interspersed drawings. Scholarly, honest, unpretentious, beautifully written with a quiet humor that includes the dual function/attraction of breasts as well as racism, misogyny, antisemitism, and always class issues. Surely wet nurses are not the second but the oldest profession: even ladies of the night had to be born and nurtured first. --Lucy Lippard, writer, activist, and sometime curator The wet nurse, 'revered and reviled' throughout history, is the subject of artist Barbara Zucker's book, aptly named The Second Oldest Profession. She reveals the history of breastfeeding another's child in beautiful illustrations and photos, which make it a pleasure to leaf through the pages. --Madeleine Kunin, former United States Ambassador to Switzerland and 77th Governor of Vermont Wet nurses, ubiquitous women in well-to-do Continental households until the beginning of the twentieth century, are the subject of Barbara Zucker's wonderfully informative and sympathetic cross-cultural investigation. This book is as readable as it is handsome. --Edmund White, author and recipient of the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction

Author Information

Barbara Zucker is professor emerita of art at the University of Vermont and a founder of the A.I.R. Gallery, the first women’s cooperative gallery in the United States.

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