“What is certain is that he [the baby] has too much attention from the one person who is entirely at his disposal. The intimacy between mother and child is not sustaining and healthy. The child learns to exploit his mother's accessibility, badgering her with questions and demands which are not of any real consequence to him, embarrassing her in public, blackmailing her into buying sweets and carrying him.”

Australian writer and public intellectual

Germaine Greer is an Australian writer and public intellectual, active in the latter half of the 20th century. She is regarded as one of the major voices of second-wave feminism. Her work helped shape feminist debate and made her a prominent commentator on culture and society. She is known for writing with force and clarity on questions of gender, power, and public life.