Breastfeeding is now chestfeeding, Brighton’s trans-friendly midwives are told

Thank you for the share... I’d heard of chest feeding 🙄. There is no milk in the chest cavity.... but:

Human milk - makes it sound like it’s farmed.
Birth workers (midwives will probably all become these soon)
Co-parent - this is ok eg lesbian relationships
Second biological parent - to replace father. Not ok.

Thank you for the share token McDuffy!

There are two threads on AIBU about this for anyone interested.

Share token for morning readers

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/426b5ba2-6aed-11eb-bc24-b1bb9cd3bc5f?shareToken=d8d80d8aca81eb72fe66eff8cf508440

^^ Quite

When a man presents himself as oppressed for not experiencing extreme pain after breastfeeding, a week or so after delivery... one does rather lose patience.

@DNHandTNS "Why can't there be breastfeeding groups for bio women and also separate ones for transmen? It makes sense because both groups have different needs, completely different problems."

The problem is not trans men in these circumstances. Breastfeeding groups do not (tend to) care about gender identity at this stage; the physical experience is what is discussed (mastitis!).

The problems begin with trans women wanting to be in these spaces and then talking about how to emulate/simulate breastfeeding, and presenting any challenge to this narrative, however sympathetic, as 'transphobic' and 'hateful'.

As for the term chestfeeding for artificially lactating transwomen, wouldn’t they want it to be breastfeeding but exclusively for the,? This is all about erasing women after all.

I'd think it must be torturous to be a transman, having periods and all that entails- while taking male hormones. I can't imagine how confusing it must be, like a war in the body maybe.

Why can't there be breastfeeding groups for bio women and also separate ones for transmen? It makes sense because both groups have different needs, completely different problems.

It's not pleasant.

But it's worth being clear about whether we're talking about a natural (and more to the point, safe) process being labelled differently, or a chemically-induced one that seems to disregard all concern for infant safety.

Midwife derivation mid wif = with woman. So a midwife can be male or female.

I do think it's incredibly selfish and in any event odd to identify out of womanhood and then demand all the terms relating to any female biology be changed/added to to include masculine and gender-neutral terms.

Why would transmen want everyone to remember that they can get pregnant and other things? If I were a transman and trying to live my life as a man, I really don't think I'd want to be reminding everyone that I have periods. I do think it's interesting that there's no similar push from transwomen to change language to postage-havers and ejaculators, although there are a number of transwomen on Twitter who seem quite happy to talk about their "lady dicks".

I suppose if one-on-one a transman got pregnant and requested different terms, it would be nice for medical staff to humour them, but I just don't think these terms should form part of official guidance/policies etc. as they are just in all honesty nonsense.

Yes, I would rather that.

As far as I'm aware, no long term research has been done into these drugs and their effects on the parent or baby. Yet breastfeeding has always been the ideal.
If I was FTM trans, I would breastfeed. Or if a transman, I don't know- maybe I'd hope my partner would if they were a bio female.

So will they be changing the profession title 'midwife' to something like 'midperson' as well?

Sorry if I offended anyone. I should have expressed my amazement offline. Am googling.

I had a baby recently and have been following various midwifery based social media pages. ‘Birthing people’ seems to be the new norm too... Excellent, I am very much looking forward to my male partner doing his fair share of pregnancy and birthing our next baby

People are entitled to deny a biological fact and pretend it does not exist. As long as they aren't harming anyone else and their foolishness only affects themselves. If they are in a position of trust, I'd question how trustworthy or balanced they might be. Or intelligent.

However, peddlars of ignorance and lies shouldn't be in a position to force others to pretend their ideology is true. Or given any credence or influence over rules that affect others.

In the dark ages, illnesses were presumed to be possession. How have we ended up in this day and age with people whose beliefs are little better?

@NotyourHandmaid
There's 'chestfeeding' used as a polite euphemism for mothers who identify as trans men, and then there's 'chestfeeding' used to describe what I think is still hypothetical (but others here might correct me) - trans women being given hormones so that they can produce a milk-like substance to feed their child

Is this a real "thing"? Being given hormones to produce a milk like substance to feed the child? What is the world coming to? Who is this even for? It doesn't sound in the best interest of the baby to be fed hormone laced substance.

Chest feeding?
It is nothing of the sort.

It's just so.... So horrid.

Breast milk does not come out of your lungs.

This is particularly ridiculous. Biological essentialism because basic biology is intrinsic to sex, conception (even if artificial it involves an egg from a woman and a sperm from a man) and birth. If this is transphobic then life itself is transphobic.

Therein lies the problem.

If your whole world view involves denying material reality, like King Canute denying the tides*, then you're bound to struggle psychologically when your world view collides with the facts - and this sort of psychological struggle often expresses itself as outbursts of anger and raging about the transphobia of people pointing out to you that unfortunately the real world is not as you would like it to be.

(*I know King Canute was actually making a point about the limitations of the power of kings to his advisors.)

The other thing that makes me so angry about this whole load of rubbish is that it has cost NHS money to produce this 'guideline' for such a very tiny percentage of the population whereas we DO know that women of colour are routinely being failed by midwife services, we know that women are denied pain relief, that there is a much higher percentage of infant death etc - I would rather the money was spent on addressing these issues as oppossed to the very few 'men' who give birth.

“biological essentialism and transphobia present within elements of mainstream birth narratives and discourse”

This is particularly ridiculous. Biological essentialism because basic biology is intrinsic to sex, conception (even if artificial it involves an egg from a woman and a sperm from a man) and birth. If this is transphobic then life itself is transphobic.