Chestfeeding

[ALoadOfTwaddle]

Just came across this term in a WhatsApp group I'm on. Apparently, it's a more inclusive word for breastfeeding.

So, I get the argument that if you're a woman who prefers to not be recognised as such, you may prefer not to be associated with words linked to women. But... Men have breasts too. Small and underdeveloped, but breasts. So what's wrong with calling it breastfeeding?

I'm about as left as you can be but the erosion of women's rights via the trans movement makes me so mad
The only UK political party I can think of that actually acknowledges biology and supports the preservation of women's hard-won rights is the Communist Party

People might have dysphoria around the word "breast," and calling it chestfeeding might make it a lot less uncomfortable for them. Whereas I can't think of anyone who'd feel uncomfortable about the word chest.

How about all the women on this thread who aren't comfortable with 'chestfeeding'. If someone doesn't want to say breastfeeding then they can say nursing, a phrase I think no-one would have an issue with. So why the preference for 'chestfeeding'? It has been deliberately chosen as an antagonistic phrase to women and should be called out as such.

@StarBubbles

People might have dysphoria around the word "breast," and calling it chestfeeding might make it a lot less uncomfortable for them. Whereas I can't think of anyone who'd feel uncomfortable about the word chest. It costs you nothing to try and use more inclusive words when you can.

I find it offensive. It's inaccurate for a start- no one feeds with their chests (which women also have) they feed with their breasts (that men also have). It's also offensive that because some people ignorantly assume breasts are a female thing, breast become a dirty, offensive word when all things considered male aren't. Like the words vagina and vulva being too graphic for young children to use while penis is fine. Like a female nipple needing to be covered while a male nipple doesn't. It seems to stem from a dislike of all things perceived to be female.

And anyway ... I’m actually failing to understand the logic behind this.

So the idea I get is that a trans man has a baby and nurses them and doesn’t like to think of their breasts as breasts because women have breasts and they aren’t a woman. So they say they are chestfeeding. Fine (I mean, a lie ... but whatever .. fine).

I am a woman and identify as a woman, so why isn’t what I do breastfeeding? And the 0.001% of nursing “people” that identify has men can say that THEY chestfeed. But surely to call what those of us who identify as women do as chestfeeding not breastfeeding is to say that a trans man and a woman are the same and have the same body - which I thought they are saying (pretending) is NOT the case?

There is a good Scottish phrase for this shit "Get yersel awa tae fuck" I think it sums up how most normal women and feel about this claptrap

The chest is the thoracic cavity, the upper torso. Breasts are that mammary tissues used girls ration. Anatomically different and distinct. So yes you can call it chestfeeding, but you’re being Inaccurate in the same way as if you still believe that babies are grown in the ‘tummy’

*used for lactation!

"It costs you nothing." What do you mean, it costs someone else nothing. Clearly, people do not want to do it. It makes them distressed and angry. They do not want to lie. Do not say that it would cost them nothing to be silenced.

If it costs me nothing to say "chest feeding," it should cost other people nothing to say" breast feeding." I'm sure the emperor felt dysphoric when people thought he was naked and that mean horrible little child started whispering that he could see the king's penis.

It is erosion of women's hard won rights to start renaming body parts to make others, who dont feel comfortable already in their own body, feel slightly more comfortable.

Instead of this mass hysteria, promoting acceptance of individuals rights without alienating the rest of the human race, would be preferable.

It is a slippery slope and we are already half way down it.

Bitty

Transmen are not being excluded by these terms, they are excluding themselves from womenhood and all the terms that go with it. Why change language that works perfectly well because a tiny minority of people want to estrange themselves from their sex.

So much such sense on this thread, a mumsnet first I think!

so much good* sense.

Fgs

It's completely silly to pretend it's chests.

’Chest’ and ‘breast’ are the words for two things which are biologically
distinct.
A bit like ‘men’ and ‘women’.

"Chest" is more inclusive, for transmen who have given birth but have dysphoria and find out hard to acknowledge that they have breasts.

Zombie thread - accidentally reanimated by a poster who seems to be accidentally posting on random threads.

The most inclusive word is 'breast' because you have them irrespective of which sex you are, or whatever gender you decide to define yourself as. Breasts are breasts. End of.

So it is! I hadn’t noticed. Note to self to check the date of the op, as this seems to be happening a lot, lately.

I agree OP. It is confusing and medically inaccurate to go around relabelling body parts willy-nilly.

I had a chest infection recently. A chest infection is an infection affecting the lungs or large airways. It was very unpleasant but it certainly wasn't mastitis (which I have also had in the past when I was breastfeeding).

I don't agree that with pp that it's similar to women being squeamish about the word breast. Rebranding breastfeeding as chestfeeding comes from a very different motivation. If you self-identify as a man and decide to take on the maternal role of breastfeeding you have created a dilemma for yourself. I fail to see why the 99.999% of women who don't have this dilemma should be obliged to agree to change the English language to suit this minuscule minority.

So much wrong here. What's with the use of the word feminine? 🤢

It's not called chest cancer if a man has breast cancer, so a transitioned woman who now identifies as a man should not have an issue as far as I'm concerned with the term breast feeding. They are breasts, regardless of your chosen gender as breasts are not a sex specific part of the anatomy.