THE CONTRIBUTION THAT WELSH LGBTQ+ LITERATURE HAS MADE IN WALES AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD The Challenge LGBTQ+ experiences have, historically, been marginalised in Wales and Britain. Literary studies and biographies tended to ignore or even suppress LGBTQ+ lives. Swansea University research into LGBTQ+ literature from Wales reveals that queer people have made an important contribution to the literature and history of Wales and the world. Professor Kirsti Bohata’s research particularly focuses on the life and writing of Amy Dillwyn (1845-1935), a Victorian industrialist and novelist. Professor Bohata has reclaimed Dillwyn as a key writer of queer Victorian literature and a diarist whose life writing sheds new light on genderqueer identities and same-sex desire.
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INCREASING BREASTFEEDING RATES The Challenge
The UK has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. This damages our population health, our economy and most importantly can leave women devastated; up to 90% of mothers who stop breastfeeding in the first six weeks are not ready to do so. Although for some women physiological issues will have prevented them from breastfeeding, for most a lack of support leads to increased complications and a need to stop before they are ready. Many strategies to support breastfeeding focus on providing practical support for women at an individual level. Whilst this is important, Dr Amy Brown’s research has explored wider psycho-social-cultural influences that are damaging to breastfeeding, particularly poor societal level understanding of how breast feeding works and normal baby behaviour. Her work highlighted that rather than focussing on individual women, change was needed at the societal level to create an environment that understood and supported breastfeeding.
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