Breastfeeding is now chestfeeding, Brighton’s trans-friendly midwives are told

[Mulletsaremisunderstood]

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/breastfeeding-is-now-chestfeeding-brightons-trans-friendly-midwives-are-told-pwlvmcnc7

Hope this link works as I am a subscriber to the times and logged in.

More nonsense being peddled as 'progressive' . When will the madness end!!?

@Morred

I just can't get my head round why "menstruators" is acceptable for people who menstruate but "breastfeeders" isn't acceptable for people feeding from their breasts. If a woman can have a penis, surely men can have breasts?

Good questions. Where are the usual naysayers? We want answers..

...they avoid some threads, don't they?

It's for trans men, not trans women. It's not replacing any language, it's in addition to, all you would have to say is 'i am a woman and please say breastfeeding' and they'll do it. It's breast/chest feeding

No! If anything it should be the other way around. mother and breastfeeding is the automatic and natural assumption. If anyone has a genuine problem with that then they can request the words be changed.

However, you do realise the sort of psychological fragility this points to is not best suggestive of becoming a parent. The very first sound a baby makes, in all languages, is Mama, Ma, or similar ( apart from gurgling)

@diddl

Anyone else finding that the comments won't load on the Times article?

As a pp has put-men & women both have chests & breasts!

Instead of changing everything-can't communications/literature just be tailored to people who want non standard terms using?

I can't access the Times comments either. I would like to read what comments Jo March makes!

I have the comments problem. Paste the link into a different browser like Chrome.

@LordOfTheOnionRings

It's for trans men, not trans women. It's not replacing any language, it's in addition to, all you would have to say is 'i am a woman and please say breastfeeding' and they'll do it. It's breast/chest feeding.

It's not that simple.

'Chest feeding' is an assertion that 'breast feeding' is a statement of feminine identity, and that having breasts dictates your identity.

Health care providers need to be sympathetic to individuals to provide effective treatment. However, they should not be generally promoting an ideology, particularly one that is fundamentally sexist.

Justhadathought

Exactly, woman - human female, conceives, carries and nurtures the unborn child in the womb, gives birth to the child and then nurtures it by breastfeeding.
I am sure this must all be well documented somewhere, although possibly the Brighton trust has been getting cold lately and had their "Deutsche Studentenschaft" book burning moment.

The very first sound a baby makes, in all languages, is Mama, Ma, or similar ( apart from gurgling)

www.dictionary.com/e/mama/

theweek.com/articles/464678/why-babies-every-country-earth-say-mama

Even using requested terms with a patient individually is confusing though. A midwife talking about chest feeding because that’s what’s been requested would surely then also describe mastitis as a “chest infection”, with a symptom being “chest pain”. But those terms mean very different things to mastitis.

But presumably, the midwife would find a way of communicating on a one to one basis. Midwives have to deal with all sorts of women who have all sorts of problems.

The problem is the generalisation of a specific inaccurate term to the population at large.

Exactly merrymouse we can respect individual needs without generalising them to the entire population of women for whom this language is by no means neutral but actively detrimental.

Implicitly forcing women to make that decision - 'am I chestfeeding or breastfeeding?' - is wrong. Breastfeeding is a neutral word that doesn't imply anything about gender or identity.

I agree with pp about medical terminology being important. It is easy to see how chest pain/ infection could be misinterpreted if the word "breast" is banned.
I see similar confusion on MN from time to time when posters use "stomach" when they mean "abdomen" for example, or even "vagina" when they mean "vulva". Usually it can be figured out, but if you aren't allowed to say the correct word? That would be silly.

Thank you for posting that interesting link Just.

chestnut I'm autistic and once had a very anxious conversation with a pharmacist about the meaning of 'heartburn', and whether it meant I had a heart problem. Thankfully I didn't ever have to worry about 'chest pain' when my dcs were babies. I think the large numbers of women with autism, learning difficulties, EFL, literacy problems, etc need to be taken into account. Even adding extra words e.g. "breast/chest feeding support group" takes away clarity.

To be fair, 'breast' is still allowed. It's just the meaning of the word has changed.

Before chest and breast referred to different parts of your body, now they just denote whether you are a pink or blue person.

I would like to read what comments Jo March makes!
I doubt you'd find them among the 3,479 comments I can see there at the moment, 99% agreeing with FWR

Why did I know, even before reading the article that it would be Brighton?

The same article is in the Telegraph, which also reports that Freddy McConnell is listed as an external adviser on the document. Well, colour me surprised.

See the story covered on the bbc, hidden in the Sussex section:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-56007728

If you can't access the comments, you could be scrolling down too quickly. Take your time and let the bar jump around a bit

Meant to add, there are now over 3.5 thousand comments

I am concerned about the basic anatomical probelms around "chestfeeding".
The Thorax, or thoracic cavity - AKA "chest", contains and protects (with bone structure and muscle), the heart and lungs.
The bones include the ribs, thoracic vertebrae and sternum (breastbone), all of which are connected with cartilage.
On top of this are the various muscles, attached to the bones by tendons. The main muscles we wish to concentrate on are the - Pectoralis Major and Pectoralis Minor (from Latin "Pectus" - breast).
Therefore, I rest my case, that the muscles, fat and flesh on the outside of the Thorax is breast tissue.
The chest is an interior structure and even if chestfeeding was possible it would involve invasive surgery, and more worryingly, what would they be feeding the baby on?

Andyoldlabour, phlegm?

@TheMoth

Don't men swim breast stroke?

Probably not anymore.

Does anyone know if Swim England have been captured? Yet?

From Twitter

Where is this coming from?

Do we know who came up with the brilliant idea to call breast feeding "chest" feeding?

I want names.