It's World Breastfeeding Week 2021. Who is it for?

[ixqik]

Where women know their place or get shown the door.

www.rt.com/op-ed/531150-chestfeeding-australia-trans-uk-breastfeeding/?fbclid=IwAR11nHoWAZk1ytEfy8z8sWfMFDb6FxDixtWOhGz6WX05G3Vbj-vujVCrzP8

"refuses to accept that some are heterosexual men with a lactation fetish"

It's terrible that 3 breastfeeding counsellors in Australia have lost their jobs for not wanting to teach males how to chest-feed.

In terms of mothers, have there been many cases of nursing mothers forced to share a room with males? I can recall one case on Glinner substack. is it more common in other countries?

What a very sad start to Breastfeeding week!

People with Paps?

Why was my message deleted ? I said chest feeding wasn't an accurate term as it refers to the area between the neck and the stomach.

Was it because I also suggested that mothers might be put off by a male born / bodied person in their breastfeeding group (who may or may not have totally honest reasons for being there -which was mentioned in the article) ?

Maybe because I used the word 'pervy'.

I found that article really confusing. Surely it's trans men who chest feed? I am sure trans women would be delighted to be included in breastfeeding terminology.

That's grim.

@SapphosRock

I found that article really confusing. Surely it's trans men who chest feed? I am sure trans women would be delighted to be included in breastfeeding terminology.

Yes, I noticed they ignored the fact that trans men can have children and breastfeed too.

I suspect that point is largely missed due to trans men being natal females. The "real" problem is trans women feeling hurt that they aren't included like all the other women.

I really feel for these children, who can protect them when no-one will challenge their "mother" for fear of being cancelled.

Parenting is about the children, they have to take priority. When someone is feeding them potentially unsafe milk or using them for kicks then it's not about them, it's about the parent.

Males sexually excited by lactation, however they identify, do not have a human right to be in a room with nursing mothers. I don't care what they find arousing. Accessing breastfeeding, exclusively done by females, validates them. Women are reduced to props for the role-play scenario for the males. In other words these nursing mothers are being used and objectified as set pieces so that males can access a specific mental state. Australia having this policy is akin to government approved ownership of women's bodies.

Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) pushing through state-ownership of 1) nursing mothers bodies being made available for a male lactation fetish and 2) staff being available for 'counselling' over the phone for males with a lactation fetish. Staff who objected got the sack.

from another article in the DM:

"We are experts in mother-to-mother breastfeeding we have no skills in assisting in affirming men in their experimental attempts to breastfeed,' she said."

"'I have experienced men ringing the helpline and wanting to have inappropriate sexualised conversations about breasts and have always, until now, felt supported by the organisation to immediately discontinue those phone calls and report them.'"

"Chris says the priority for volunteer counsellors is always to establish breastfeeding with the mother who birthed the baby.

'It is not the role of mother support people to be counselling transwomen. Their number one role is to establish breastfeeding with the birth mother,' she says."
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9771551/Australian-Breastfeeding-Association-offers-LGBTQI-families-men-transwomen-breastfeeding-advice.html

Sexually excited about breastfeeding according to the article?? 🤮

Breastfeeding can be so hard. I was lucky to be able to do it, relatively easy to latch on and had loads of milk. The amount of friends I have with mastitis, bleeding nipples, cluster feeding through the night, not enough milk etc, etc, etc. Some of the loveliest people I know have been beating themselves up so much for not being able to breastfeed exclusively.

Women need all the support they can to be able to breastfeed. There is nothing remotely sexy about breastfeeding, at is best it is bonding with the baby (but can still hurt of baby latches on wrong).

And do you know what else is hard? To return to work, even part time, even if you have family support and continue to nurse. It is impossible to go for more than four hours without expressing. Where should women do that? The mixed toilets at work? Or just switch to bottle feeding and quit nursing? Or are they just silly women to think they should be able to do anything else apart from looking after babies.

And for clarification to anyone reading who hasn’t expressed. You don’t express in a public toilet to get milk for your baby. You express milk and dump it as you have so much milk that your boobs are aching and you risk leaking though your clothes. Nursing is not sexually arousing for any woman I know.

There was found to be an AGP with a lactation fetish in a private breastfeeding group I was a member of, in which women shared very intimate advice and photos of them BFing. When the man was discovered, the group was closed down. I still feel sick to think about it.

@EishetChayil so sorry to hear this, that's awful. were they online meetings?

I wonder if BFing groups are aware this is happening?

I used to use Twitter for breastfeeding advocacy when my kids were smaller. There was at least one fetishist that followed me and the same one followed an online friend who was doing the same. At about the time I moved on, I also noticed that there was a lot of YouTube accounts that were breastfeeding babies in a way to sexualise it. I know how wrong that sentence sounds. I breastfed for years and l’ve seen many women breastfeed. The camera angles and the body postures were such that it was for the camera, so to speak, not for the act. Lactation fetish is a thing, and there are women out there who are happy to fill that gap for men.

Regarding the group that closed down (a US based FB group) when there was a lactation fetishist found in it, the admin/mod of the group were aware and it was the women kicking off in the group that led to its closure.

The transwoman who was fetishising pregnancy was also in the group with the permission of the mods and they defended his presence even though he went on to discuss in detail of his LARPing of a stillbirth and ‘donating’ 1 or 2 L of milk for someone’s baby - which I don’t believe for a minute.

These spaces were created to give women the confidence to breastfeed their babies and for many it is a first step toward breastfeeding in public where other women will benefit from seeing breastfeeding in real life.

With men invading these spaces women won’t be sharing their online photos with each other, showing other women what normal breastfeeding looks like. This is a great loss for mothers and babies because breastfeeding is a social activity and mothers learn to breastfeed by seeing breastfeeding. Monkey see, monkey do.

Sorry OP I'm confused.

World bf week is not 'owned' by anyone.

Sure there's issues in online groups etc. But that's s different issue.

Which major orgs have a theme of male feeding?

The UN (who are losing the plot but anyway) don't-

www.who.int/news/item/31-07-2021-joint-statement-by-unicef-executive-director-henrietta-fore-and-who-director-general-dr.-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus-on-the-occasion-of-world-breastfeeding-week

UN-

Initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour of birth, followed by exclusive breastfeeding for six months and continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond offer a powerful line of defence against all forms of child malnutrition, including wasting and obesity. Breastfeeding also acts as babies’ first vaccine, protecting them against many common childhood illnesses.

While there has been progress in breastfeeding rates in the last four decades – with a 50 per cent increase in the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding globally – the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the fragility of those gains.

In many countries, the pandemic has caused significant disruptions in breastfeeding support services, while increasing the risk of food insecurity and malnutrition. Several countries have reported that producers of baby foods have compounded these risks by invoking unfounded fears that breastfeeding can transmit COVID-19 and marketing their products as a safer alternative to breastfeeding.

Hindustan times-

'World Breastfeeding Week is an annual celebration held every year from August 1 to 7 in over 120 countries. World Health Organisation states breastfeeding as one of the most effective ways to ensure child health and survival. This year, the theme for breastfeeding week is 'Protect Breastfeeding: A Shared Responsibility.''

WHO is a joint statement with UNICEF.

I feel that this thread is misinformation.

'Inside breastfeeding organisations like the ABA and even the UK’s Association of Breastfeeding Mothers, as one ABM member explained to me, the gender gestapo’s mission creep is underway and the safeguarding book for mothers and their babies has been thrown out the window.

Sadly, so intolerant are these ideology-driven fruitcakes that anyone who speaks out is highly reluctant to be identified for fear of reprisals, pile-ons and even the sack. It happens frequently.'

Serious journalism?

Gestapo?
Fruitcakes?

ABA-

Mother mother breastfeeding mothers to mother support etc.

OP- your opening post is incorrect and the link is ???

I know there are issues but this sort of post really doesn't help.

'ABA was founded in 1964 by six Melbourne mothers as the Nursing Mothers' Association, with the aim of helping and supporting other mothers to breastfeed. This mother-to-mother support continues today. The Association has more than 1,100 volunteers made up of breastfeeding counsellors, who are mothers who have breastfed their own children and have completed a Certificate IV in Breastfeeding Education (Counselling), and community educators who have completed the Certificate IV in Breastfeeding Education.

Through a range of services, ABA supports and encourages women who want to breastfeed or provide breastmilk for their babies, and advocates to raise community awareness of the importance of breastfeeding and human milk to child and maternal health. Services include membership for both mothers and babies'.

To NiceGerbil: I didn't expect anyone would read into the title that I was suggesting that anyone 'owns' WBW. of course no one does, that is a pretty marginal (plausible but marginal) conclusion to draw.

There are problems with face to face groups as well as helplines. One very large and vibrant group in Canada no longer exists because of the mission creep that LLL Canada has allowed. Elsewhere there are deep controversy brewing where those counsellors who are committed to gender ideology are using their breastfeeding advocacy to force mums to adhere to gender ideology. As a result mothers leave the group. The disciplining of counsellors over their use of the word 'mother' to speak about herself when supporting women who call themselves 'mother' in Australia has led to groups that were previously years in the running disappearing in a few months.

LLL USA has sent a letter around to counsellors on how to talk to a fetishist who has been calling the help line for years. This is harassment. Why are the victims of harassment not given legal protections rather than gaslight them into tolerating a milk troll?

The link is that breastfeeding is not for women anymore: Parents breast/chestfeed. Throughout the UK the social media messages by all 4 breastfeeding charities, IBCLCs, doulas, and birth educators avoid the use of the word 'mother' replacing it with 'parents' and 'you'. They talk about human milk and lactation. not about breastfeeding and breastmilk. Scroll through their Insta, Twitter, and FB posts and memes for a quick survey.

It seems breastfeeding is not for mothers anymore as the organisations and supporters who use to advocate for them now advocate for 'parents' and 'lactation'. The broadening of the language allows them to help men breastfeed.

Yes, there are some high profile IBCLCs and antenatal educators, breastfeeding counsellors, and doulas who have admitted to helping men breastfeed. they are also mindful in telling women to use 'inclusive' language. What individuals do in their private businesses face to face isn't anyone's else's business. But they are also having a great influence on student midwives and MVPs (maternity voice partnerships). In a training video I've watched I've heard them telling those present to always raise their voices to advocate for trans people as good 'allies'. While transmen need maternity services at times like everyone else, the wider message, the queering of the language allows the trojan horse of lactating men and men who want to simulate pregnancies to be included in spaces that were once female-only centred.

This is on a backdrop where AGP/men are not calling their 'chests' breasts which they 'breastfeed' from because that is 'affirming'.

Anyway, must stop now.