How did breast become such a scary word for trans people?

More a case that media has woken up to the absurdity of the demands of gender ideologists who pushed for gender neutral language changes. Laughable that you attempt to say it's all just media spin.

Oh, Mishy.

For the trans people I know, Breast is not a bad word. Of course everyone has one. It's media spinning adding inclusive language to the base words, that is causing a moral panic, when there simply isnt one.

But hey, it get's the clicks in for the Sunday papers. A bit like the EU banning the British sausage. What a laugh that was.

In essence. A non-issue.

Brest plate?
Brest bone?
Brest pocket?
Single and double breasted suits?
Breastroke?

Men have breast tissue and can get breast cancer.

Because heaven forbid a transman who having just gone through one of the most womanly of things of giving birth may be misgendered and feel his masculinity is at threat. We won't talk about the elephant in the room that they are infact still a woman. The clue midwife:with woman gives the game away.

The phrase ‘chest feeding’ makes me cringe. I don’t think I’d need to deny my breasts were breasts if I were a trans person feeding my baby

Yup, that’s it in a nutshell.

(I can’t bear “boobs” either tbh - breasts are beautiful things and it’s a nice word. “Boobs” is a silly comedy word with a stupid sound.)

I do know what you mean and actually I think I say boobs, and in fact say it in a silly comedy way, because I find “breasts” squirmy too. Not breastfeeding and I’m happy to say that, and I am not on board with “chestfeeding” at all. But“breasts” brings to my mind awful cheesy erotica like you get in bad novels. Heroines whose breasts are silhouetted in the moonlight or who stare at themselves in the mirror and lament their out-of-control “curls” and overly large breasts and hope someone will love them one day 🤮

it’s a bit like vagina and all its alternatives - there’s nothing I really like and everything seems awkward in one way or another. I think I am carrying a lot of baggage about it all as a CSA survivor.

I do understand it is a difficult word because what happens at puberty is so difficult. To me the word even has a connotation of sprouting because of the consonant followed by ‘r’.

‘Chest-feeding’ is awful though.

Luke 18:13

King James Bible

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

Yes, I suppose so.

I think it's probably because breasts are about the biggest symbol or sign of female sexuality in our culture.

Which is not totally awful, it's probably inevitable that human beings will notice each other sexually and different cultures will emphasize different symbols of that. But we exaggerate it a lot more than is probably healthy.

As a result whatever people are having some kind of issue with themselves as sexually differentiated humans, that's one of the things they end up focusing on, either as a source of trouble or as something required to embody womanhood.

Because the word breast is sexualised by males, and these people think that women = things that are sexualised by males.

yes this. Sadly this.

So breastfeeding is dinner at Nando's?

How about "breastplate" in reference to armour?

I’d think “chicken” if you said “breast”🤷🏻‍♀️

For teenage girls in particular, it makes more sense if you think of it as analogous to certain kinds of eating disorder - where the objective for many girls was partly to erase the bodily evidence of adult female, fertile sexuality — the breasts being both evidence of that and objects for the male gaze.

It’s the denial and minimising of female sexuality in particular, which gender identity issues in teenage girls seem to share with anorexia most specifically. This is also often something shared across issues arising from neurodivergence, trauma or abuse — a repression of female sexuality.

For TW, I agree that the ambivalence about breast is linked to the wish to divorce them from their practical purpose in breastfeeding, but highlight the breasts as sexual objects that are important in a fetishised idea of femininity, but as visual objects on display rather than sources of subjective pleasure, fulfilment or feeding a child. Their sexual use in this context is to look sexy, not to provide bodily pleasure as a biological woman’s breasts would do for her.

I also hate the word “titties” - so abjectly juvenile. (I can’t bear “boobs” either tbh - breasts are beautiful things and it’s a nice word. “Boobs” is a silly comedy word with a stupid sound.)

Because the word breast is sexualised by males, and these people think that women = things that are sexualised by males.
because they’re sexist idiots.

Breast stroke?

I don't know about Robin... birds really should have chests not breasts as they're not mammals.

In hymns/gospel songs , Jesus and Abraham had bosoms.

Of course men have breasts. Biological men can get breast cancer, hence have breasts. 'Chest-feeding' is a ridiculous term and should be banned.