Local artist and author Barbara Zucker shines a light on the complicated history of hired breastfeeding with the launch of her new book, The Second Oldest Profession: The Wet Nurse, Revered and Reviled, at Burlington’s BCA Center. Race, class and misogyny take center page in a feminist exploration of the socially fraught — and largely forgotten — occupation dating back to ancient civilizations. Using her own art and archival images from across eras and cultures, Zucker fleshes out the realities, attitudes and contradictions bound up in the stigmatized practice. After, a participatory conversation invites listeners to share stories and memories over (ahem) milk and cookies.
