Transgender breast feeding

[TinselAngel]

I'm horrified this is being reported uncritically.

Oh and apparently it's transphobic to ask if this means men can breastfeed.

www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/14/transgender-woman-breastfeed-health

I think it might be time for the Guardian and I to part company.

That is ridiculous. I hate the use of the term 'cisgendered' and non-transgendered women. I am a woman. Why the need to mess with biology so much?

I’ve given up being horrified by the way the Guardian report this stuff now. It’s like propaganda for the TRAs.

It’s child abuse. I feel sick

It’s absolutely disgusting.

‘There are also cases of transgender men carrying pregnancies and breastfeeding, she said.’

No shit Sherlock.

Whereas, as an actual woman, I recently went to a bar with a few people from work - and got questioned by the bar staff when ordering four pints and two cokes due to the fact that one of my colleagues is visibly pregnant.

Please note that I'm not even the pregnant one in this episode. But the mere fact that one woman could potentially have procured one slightly alcoholic beverage for another, pregnant one obviously warranted a few checks.

Meanwhile, if you happen to be a bloke we should celebrate the fact that you put yourself onto a potent cocktail of various drugs in order for you to feel validated - and potentially pass said drugs right on to an infact in the process.

WTAF?

What fresh hell is this?

My naivety has left me very confused. I don't want offend and will probably use the wrong terminology but- is this person biologically male and is breastfeeding by taking female hormones? Have I read that right?

Has anyone read Marge Piercy's Woman on the edge of time? Sci-fi novel from the seventies (I think) where babies grow in a lab, every child has three parents and men can breastfeed. I never ever ever ever imagined it could actually happen . The world has truly gone mad.

Dis yes that's right

“Many transgender women are looking to have as many of the experiences of non-transgender women as they can, so I can see this will be extremely popular,” Safer said.

I don't think feeding a baby should be seen as an experience for a parent to tick off their wish list.

Ok.... so out of interest why do people think it is disgusting? Or child abuse?

Surely the baby is getting fed, does it really matter where it comes from?

discusting it is child abuse because the baby is being fed an untested chemical soup, purely for the validation (or fetish) of an adult.

Why do you think it’s not child abuse?

Tinsel and Sweary - after a long commited relationship that satisfied me for many years, me and the Guardian sadly parted ways a couple of weeks ago. It shocks me to recommend you to try The Times instead... I know I know... it seems wrong, but I cannot abide the Graun's #nodebate TRA lovefest and increasingly shrill shrieking tone. They also seem to have totally forgotten to report on environmental issues and climate change.

As someone who has really struggled to breastfeed, it makes me feel a bit resentful to think this person probably got so much more help than struggling biological women.

This is covered in the Times as well, alongside the headline that (nothing to do with trans) Tom Daley and his husband are having a baby

No, they are not - the surrogate mother they have probably hired is having a baby, they are then adopting the baby, this makes them parents. But they are not having a baby, it is not biologically possible. A female person is doing that bit for them.

Both stories erase women as mothers.

That's me and the guardian parting ways, using 'cis' outside a quote. WTF are they thinking...

Surely when formula milk was first designed people said the same about that being untested chemical soup?

I don't think it is fair to say it is for a validation of fetish without knowing the person personally. It may be that this person wanted to breastfeed for many of the same reasons other women do.

sorry to hear that pixie.

Colour me cynical but I'm wondering how much of this is going to be pushed by big pharma?

Inter alia because of the drugs used to stimulate lactation @Discusting.
I've known of several women prescribed drugs with the proviso order that they couldn't breast feed. And that was without proof that the drugs would pass through the milk and harm the child, just caution. It seems that the same rigour isn't applied when the breastfeeder is male.

Think of the amount of judgement and policing of what they put into their bodies that pregnant and breast feeding women have to put up with. There are even proposals in some states of the US that pregnant women who drink or use drugs be charged with a crime and imprisoned.

But this is fine and dandy? Male privilege in action

@BeUpStanding yes. If I go anywhere else it will be The Times, mainly due to them having a sensible stance on this issue. It's very depressing though. I keep thinking of Billy Bragg's song "Red to Blue" and worrying it's happening to me.

Simply this is involving a baby in a mans sexual fetish.

Fucking disgusting.

There's a whole thread on the ins and outs of this medically and ethically here:

Transwoman BFs baby for 6 weekswww.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3164304-Transwoman-BFs-baby-for-6-weeks