"Chestfeeding"

[elusivemoosive]

This was shared on my fb.

www.romper.com/p/9-reasons-why-i-call-it-chestfeeding-you-should-too-31215?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=owned&utm_campaign=romperbf

I am long term lurker. I am Spartacus. Is this for real?? Is this a view held by... well, anyone?

The jist of it is thus: the term breastfeeding is inaccurate and triggering for transmen, so we should call it chestfeeding (also, if you don't you are a jerk, so ner). And, if I am understanding it correctly, not just for transmen, but for all women.

I feel so ... fffffffff.

It's really irritating and not a little scary how you have to pussyfoot around this issue, wrap it in cotton wool, and sprinkle it with smarties in order to make a point.

Many people are in complete ignorance, (and not a little denial), when it comes to the trans issue. When you read about it you tend to 'fast forward' to all the logical implications. It's a fairly swift connection of the dots.

So if you make assumptions about people's knowledge, you sometimes forget that they have no background in the way that you do.

It sounds as though you have given people food for thought nappies. If the drip feeding of information pricks people's interest then it's all to the good.

It's hard to get people to understand without alienating them, but it sounds as though you may have done just that with at least some people.

It's also worth noting that since massive amounts of the ideology simply do not stand up to scrutiny, that if you do manage to engage, there is often no proper argument used as a comeback.

So you using the word 'minority' was called a hate crime. It's worth innocently asking why? After a bit of outrage along the lines of 'you don't know what it's like to be trans, all the suffering' etc you'll often find there is actually no counter argument at all. Just cries of transphobia and bigot. Again, asking why often produces the answer you just ARE.

Remaining polite, logical and succinct without losing your temper (!), particularly if you can back up what you are saying with links, often exposes the no platforming for what it is.

I'm annoyed at how it's okay to be misogynistic by telling women they shouldn't call breastfeeding breastfeeding as it [gasp] has that womanly word BREASTS in it - but it's transphobic for a woman to dare to suggest that renaming breastfeeding (because transmen don't like to be reminded that they've got breasts) is perhaps a little OTT.

It's not like the transmen in the OP's link are using a different part of their bodies for feeding.
They're not earfeeding or toe feeding, their using their (male) breasts

IWantATardis

Course. It's all ridiculous, special snowflakery bollocks. Sorry, gender neutral, round hairy things

This is how it works though Nappies. If you question using the tools of logic etc then you get screamed at for being transphobic and the person claims it's literal violence and flounces off.

And then you're a big fat bully who is unkind to 'the most vulnerable people in our society'

It was an interesting exercise to introduce the issue into a generally depoliticised space. The issue has been aired more in the UK so people are generally unaware of it now, except to know that they should try hard to not be prejudiced towards trans people.

Lots of women will have been very surprised at the heavy handed accusations. I did defend myself politely and logically, to which the accuser responded illogically by denying they wanted to shut the debate down. When asked to educate us, she did mention she was trying to get over her own dysphoria, and that she had thought this was a safe space and I (and others) had made her feel unsafe. So the same, typical arguments. I said this was a women's issue not a trans issue so please tell us how we can discuss it here, using the correct language? Then I got the blah about the emotional intelligence. I said I felt upset about the accusations and did get women supporting and defend
ing me.

Yes Jiggly it's very clear that using logic leads to being screamed at.

Overall a constructive experience.

The bloody absolute cheek of it.

When you consider all the emotion around breastfeeding that is already there: the harassment and obstacles women get when they try and do it; the endless bloody jokes about "bitty" and pitting mothers against each other; the feelings of failure and guilt that so many women are left with when breastfeeding fails for them; and then these monstrous egotists come in and demand that women make it All.About.Them.

When will it end?

I've spent years breastfeeding. Dealing with mastitis, cracked nipped, blisters, thrush.
I'll call it what I damned well like!
I got would up with this earlier when I saw an article about LLL in Canada. They've got "chestfeeding" on their literature now and have a trans man as a breastfeeding consultant!

May be it's just me but I think there's something vaguely nauseating about the word "chestfeeding"

It makes me think of something out of a horror story - something parasitic feeding on the chests of animals. It's really offensive.

Absolutely!

I have a chest but my breasts are attatched to it.
Men also have breast tissue in their man boobs and can get breast cancer,
So it's still breast feeding from a breast?

It's breastfeeding because it's done with the breasts. Transmen have breasts. Because they're biological women. Never mind if a man has breast tissue. Men don't feed babies.

LA LECHE LEAGUE, ffs.

And now doctors are being told don't call pregnant patients 'mothers' over fears it might upset transgender people
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4167632/Don-t-call-pregnant-patients-mothers.html
I can't quite believe it could be true - it is the Dail Mail after all. I really hope it's not true

ghostly

That link made me so furious!

Once I calmed down I realised that some bright little spark has cunningly put together all the ridiculous language-mangling demands and dropped them into one online article. I'm assuming it's purposely designed to shock.

MSM picking up on changing 'expectant mothers' to 'expectant people' is going to hit a lot of women slap in the face. Being called a mother is many women's dream. There is an extraordinarily emotional pull to it.

I can't see many women putting up with this.

Never thought I'd be grateful to the Daily Mail for anything but anything that publicizes the concept of chestfeeding to millions of women is a good thing. They are not going to like it.

As far as I can ascertain this whole 'chestfeeding' malarkey has been a cause almost singularly driven by a transman in Canada called Trevor MacDonald. Whenever I've seen an article about 'chestfeeding' he is literally the ONLY person quoted, referenced or interviewed. Sadly the term seems to have been adopted by midwifery associations in some parts of Canada, where the trans ideology has really taken hold (though not necessarily amongst individual midwives).

Look at this client resource on anaemia - on the last page they talk about 'chest and breast feeding'. Why in god's name the word 'chest' takes precedence over 'breast' I would love to know. They can't even argue that it's alphabetical! www.ontariomidwives.ca/images/uploads/client-resources/temp_file_Iron_deficiency_anemia-KT2.pdf

They've even got Julie Bindel in there.

For once the Daily Mail's got it right!

I have asked this on another thread, probably this one is more pertinent. Who exactly is it who's getting offended by the word breast? I thought it was transmen, because identifying as men means distancing themselves from anything womanly. And 'men' don't have breasts. But according to that article, there is only one pregnant transman in the UK. One.

Is it supposed to apply to pre-op trans-women? Because I'm assuming post op transwomen want to call them breasts. Isn't that the whole point of buying them in the first place?

Who is driving this change? It feels very much like a trans-activist campaign. But they are mostly men.

It is bizarre.

Transwomen don't get pregnant.

So why would they be annoyed by breasts?

And er, why do medical professionals need to give a shit about someone being annoyed about biology?

This genuinely perplexes me. If you've used your ovaries and uterus to produce a child - arguably the most essentially female thing you could possibly do - why would calling a breast a breast be anywhere near significant enough to warrant a change in terminology?

It's always women making space, isn't it. Is there a document saying doctors should not refer to people with prostate cancer as 'men'? Do telly doctors get called transphobes when they discuss men with testicular cancer? No. It's women, mothers, who have to change.

And how the fuck is the word "breast" triggering but gestating a baby in your uterus ("manbag"?) and pushing it out your vagina ("man-chute"?) isn't?

And er, why do medical professionals need to give a shit about someone being annoyed about biology?

It's The Fear basil. Trans-fear.