Men can breastfeed

[shinynewusername]

La Leche League - the US equivalent of the NCT - now claims that men can breastfeed. NB, they are not just talking about transmen (born women), but actual men. WTF?

(Mens' nipples do occasionally produce some fluid, often as a result of disease but to say this is breast-feeding is deranged and insulting to mothers)

Over the weekend, I have also seen transwomen on social media claim that women seeking abortion should feel privileged to have an unwanted pregnancy and a 16 year old student at an American school in Spain reporting how she was not allowed to mention FGM or use the word 'woman' in a class on feminism because it 'triggered' a non-binary male in the class.

AIBU to think this is fucking out of hand? Every aspect of women's identify is being colonised and erased.

Perhaps there will just be human rights that serve both genders well?

Really? How well did that work out for women before the women's rights movement?

Men are far too clever to bf as that would mean doing the fucking night feeds.

Calm down, so some men can lactate, dont have a hissy fit over it.

I won't calm down, thanks. The tweet I posted was one of a series from LLL, defending "chest-feeding" and the idea that breast-feeding isn't gendered hmm

A series of tweets? Then POST THEM ALL. Much more helpful.

You'd think you'd post the one that refers to breastfeeding rather than the one that says some men can lactate...

Men are far too clever to bf as that would mean doing the fucking night feeds

True . But trans rights activists will use this nonsense to demand access to breast-feeding facilities, NCT groups etc. I wonder how many of the PPs telling me to "Calm down, Dear" would be happy to have a male BF counsellor or to have a biologically male TW in their breast-feeding room at work because it would be discrimination to exclude them?

We are already seeing many people claiming that penises can be female so the claim that men can breast-feed is just a logical progression.

Generally if a man is producing fluid from his nipples he should see a doctor as it can be a symptom of a number of other things including brain tumours.

As for "general human rights" nope, there needs to be specific recognition that one class of person, women, are the class which get pregnant, give birth and feed babies. Even though not all women can or do do these things , it is the basis of our oppression and so needs to be specifically considered and protected.

Yeah I'm a big old TERF but it is possible for men to produce breastmilk. Is it enough to sustain a baby? Not sure. Is there much research into trans woman inducing lactation with hormones and others med and the impact that has on kids? I haven't found any.

But LLL and Trevor MacDonald and chest feeding can all go fuck themselves

Tweets

More tweets

"How do you enact fathering?" is a very odd phrase!

I'd like to see evidence of these several cultures where men regularly lactate and feed babies. Not just dry-nurse them for comfort. I'd also like to know if there is a single male to trans person in the world who has induced lactation and fed a baby.

Is it enough to sustain a baby?

No.There are no scientifically documented cases of men successfully feeding babies. There are occasional reports of sustained 'milk' production amongst starving men (who then tried to feed babies) but this was probably due pituitary and liver dysfunction from the starvation.

www.thecollectiveint.com/2013/04/sri-lankan-widower-breastfeeds-his.html
I read about this years ago back in bizarre magazine so it can and does happen.
I did try to get DP to give it a go but no dice plus who wants hairy milk

This talks through a trans woman feeding. Note that she is upset because the birth mother can produce enough milk for thier baby www.milkjunkies.net/2013/05/trans-women-and-breastfeeding-personal.html?m=1

I think a lot of PPs are seriously underestimating the chances of this belief that men can breast-feed taking hold. There are already many people who seriously believe that your genitalia do not indicate which sex you are (not meaning intersex people) and that a penis can be female.

I say again that, if the biological differences between women and men are denied, this will end badly for women. Women only facilities exist because women have different biological needs, are physically smaller and weaker (in a musculoskeletal sense) so vulnerable to sexual and physical attack. If we ignore these differences, there will no longer be any need for these separate facilities to exist.

OP

There are so many words in the phrase "in a class on feminism because it 'triggered' a non-binary male in the class." which makes me entirely unsurprised by what was and what wasn't allowed to be said.

trigger
non-binary
class on feminism

43% of the words are red flags to me that anything else in relation to it is nonsense.

On a serious not, why is it only women's identity which is being eroded? Anything 'male' must be ungendered eg. robots, manual labour, tools, beer. Anything 'female' should remain gendered.

zzzzz

"Perhaps there will just be human rights that serve both genders well?"

Shhhh. That kind of nonsense is banned here. We're fighting the patriarchy, god dammit!

Shiny I'm worried about it

So you think feminism is nonsense, Neo?

I'm guessing then that you don't vote, go to school, have a degree, have a bank account in your own name, have your name on a mortgage/lease or work in a profession? And that you have never used maternity leave? And that you wouldn't want to control your own property after marriage, have a right to divorce, have custody of your kids after separation or the right to use contraception without being married?

All rights that those ridiculous feminists fought to win you. But clearly of no interest.

There are already human rights that serve both sexes. We also need rights particular to the sex that carries, gives birth to, and feeds babies.

There is a type of fruit bat where the males lactate. It is the only known example of normal male lactation.

As many women on here know, breastfeeding is more than producing fluid. Can males produce colostrum? Does the milk change as the baby grows? Does the male body take in the information about the germs flying around when the baby makes contact with the nipple, and start producing the correct antibodies?

^"Perhaps there will just be human rights that serve both genders well?"

Shhhh. That kind of nonsense is banned here. We're fighting the patriarchy, god dammit!^

I think it's very naive and incredibly patronising to suggest that if women stopped bothering their heads about women's rights, that everything would be just fine. Human rights for women around the world are being prevented by those stupid feminists who insist there's inequality based on sex. How silly of them.

This deliberate attempt to blur sex distinctions by modern gender identity activists will cause a blurring of inequality based on sex. This will be harmful to women.

Only women (adult human females) can breastfeed. Issues around breastfeeding discrimination affects women only.

I can see your point on a societal level, but on an individual level being able to point out to dh that he is capable of bf was empowering for me because it felt that the entire responsibility for milk production wasn't on me. If he had really wanted to then he could have pursued it. Shut down a few conversations about formula and bottles and made him more appreciative. He didn't try it with the dc although the cat has had a go a couple of times when he has been caught off guard which has made him appreciate all the years that I have fed his children even more.

On a serious not, why is it only women's identity which is being eroded? Anything 'male' must be ungendered eg. robots, manual labour, tools, beer. Anything 'female' should remain gendered.

Have you compared with robots with breastfeeding? Because that would be without a doubt the dumbest thing I've read on MN.

Hello can anyone see me the link above is a guy who breastfed his kids after the mother died.

It can happen.

It does happen.

Just as some adoptive mothers are able to start lactating.

shinynewusername

"So you think feminism is nonsense, Neo?"

Modern feminism often makes me embarrassed to be a woman, yes. Words like 'triggered' and 'non-binary' make me feel sad for the future.

I'm likely to be older than you and I remember when feminism meant something and was fighting against meaningful injustices. The problem is that as we get closer to absolute equality, you have to fight about smaller and less inconsequential things like some random transwoman on social media saying something that offended you so much you started a thread about it.

AssassinatedBeauty

"This deliberate attempt to blur sex distinctions by modern gender identity activists will cause a blurring of inequality based on sex"

Do you want sex distinctions? My generation fought to remove them. Modern feminism is a nasty men-hating movement which looks to bend the rules in whichever way they can to benefit one sex. Feminism, when I would describe myself as one, was about removing the idea of differences and privilege as opposed to swapping the sex of the privileged class.

Also why on earth do you think robots, manual labour, tools and beer are male?!