'Chestfeeding' to be banned in NHS crackdown

[RoyalCorgi]

Victoria Atkins is going to demand that NHS trusts stop using terms like chestfeeding, according to the Telegraph.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/04/27/nhs-to-limit-trans-ideology-with-new-constitution/

It's about fucking time it was stopped.

I breastfed. Well, for a while.
If someone wants to call it chest feeding for themselves then fair enough. They can use it when referring to themselves but they can fuck off with trying to make me talk about chest feeding my babies and any midwife or Dr who tried to talk to me about me chest feeding my baby would be told to pack it the fuck in.

Mammals have breast tissue to produce milk, not chest tissue.

On the face of it this looks good but if there is going to be a consultation before this is implemented it will really need cross party consensus to succeed because otherwise when Labour win the next election it’ll just get dropped and everything will carry on as before.

As I dont read the Telegraph - who is being consulted and is there something I should be filling in?

I shall wait and see. The NHS is a behemoth infiltrated by women hating TRAs it seems to me. Changing this will take years.

Yes it's really weird isn't it?

Yes he was and yet Labour devotees pretend that this was just a blip. The fact that he even felt that it was ok to say this is gobsmackingly awful.

The article states that the "the proposed changes will be subject to an eight-week consultation". This makes me think that the chances of them implementing a new constitution by the time a general election takes place will be quite slim.

Health care services should not be limited in ways that make them less accessible to anycategory of person

Except the old fashioned kind of women apparently.

@RainWithSunnySpells Thank you. I think I've heard it all now. Surely this isn't safe?!!! I have been told by pharmacists to avoid Strepsils whilst breastfeeding as just one example.

Health care services should not be limited in ways that make them less accessible to any category of person.

Whilst I agree in principle, it's not that easy.

Trans ideology is sexist, homophobic and dangerous, particularly to women and girls.

Using language that perpetuates it isn't a neutral act. It certainly shouldn't be NHS policy, written into their literature, etc.

On an individual basis, one-to-one, yes. After all, I'm sure HCPs change their language all the time depending on who they're talking to.

I agree that if there are some women who will not access the services it should be addressed. But not by accommodating the ideology.

The problem with someone with the ethics of Victor Frankenstein having any influence in medical circles, is that whenever any consequences of their dabbling/experiments come to light, they bloody run off.

Nope, still disagree, this was a crucial part of the slippery slope that got us here in the first place, and led to men being allowed to suckle infants, it’s still validating and perpetuating a lie. If a woman who is living as a man and has gotten pregnant, the most female thing a woman can do, then helping her to deny her own biological reality helps nobody in the long run, far better to treat her mental health issues properly than to validate her delusion.

Jesus! Words fail me. That doesn’t matter, it needs to be called out as an outrageously selfish and dangerous thing to do because it is a potentially harmful experiment on infants and it need to be banned.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I know, the most female thing any woman can do ffs. If a calling her a woman is so dangerous for her then why the hell did she get pregnant in the first place? Pandering to this is what brought us to where we are.

As TRA posts on these boards go, this ones particularly transparent 🤣

Health care services should not be limited in ways that make them less accessible to any category of person.

Woman-erasing language makes healthcare less accessible to a huge proportion of the category of person which is 'woman'.

If a woman wants to be related to as anything other than a woman, of course the same healthcare should be available to her as to all women, unjudgementally, in language that she understands and can relate to.

This is our business. Erasing women harms all women - including those who believe themselves not to be women.

And for the avoidance of all doubt, woman = adult human female.

@Dineasair "treating her mental issues properly" will take years, possibly decades and the waiting lists for mental health services are enormous. If you'd rather not help a new mum to get her baby latching on and suckling because of your idealogical objection to avoiding the word "breast" which will traumatise and upset her then you would be exceptionally unethical and shouldn't have that job.

It's not a "slippery slope" to help all women, even the delusional ones who think they are men. Feminism that excludes males because they aren't female is perfectly reasonable but feminism that excludes females for any reason (including that they are delusional) is not.

I feel so sad about where Coppafeel has ended up. They were an amazing support for a young colleague who had breast cancer and sadly passed away. They've lost their vision here in the pursuit of #inclusivity and #bekind.

@JellySaurus I was very clear that for everyone other than females who want to identify out of womanhood, language should be clear, unambiguous and use sex specific words without erasing real womanhood.

The number of women who need sex-neutral language is tiny but it is a genuine need, so language that a transman can relate to certainly shouldn't be the default but should br available when needed.

It's not a "slippery slope" to help all women, even the delusional ones who think they are men. Feminism that excludes males because they aren't female is perfectly reasonable but feminism that excludes females for any reason (including that they are delusional) is not.

It is actually a slippery slope to harming all women who might want to breastfeed at some point in their lives, especially those who have gender confusion.

Widespread use of the words "chest feeding" means less exposure to the concept of breastfeeding. This is likely to further reduce breastfeeding rates, with both women and their male partners finding the whole concept alien.

It feeds into the euphemistic use of the phrase "top surgery" with these women being completely ignorant (in some cases) of the fact that they are signing up to a bilateral mastectomy and loss of the ability to feed their baby should they have one in the future.

Freddy McConnell, the "seahorse dad" who failed to persuade the courts to allow her to be listed as the father of the babies she has given birth to on their birth certificates, is in record as being surprised that she didn't produce any breastmilk and sad that she could not breastfeed.

Yes I am using correct sex pronouns. It is simply not appropriate to do otherwise when discussing birth and breastfeeding.

It also helps men who want to dose themselves with a cocktail of drugs and "feed" a baby the resulting exudate to co-opt breastfeeding for themselves. Because funnily enough when it comes to men, actual MEN, "feeding" a baby, suddenly they are more than happy to discuss their breasts and claim that they are breastfeeding.

Maternal and child health are too important and there is no kindness in polluting language so that no one knows what sex a person feeding their baby is or how they are doing it.

It also helps men who want to dose themselves with a cocktail of drugs and "feed" a baby the resulting exudate to co-opt breastfeeding for themselves. Because funnily enough when it comes to men, actual MEN, "feeding" a baby, suddenly they are more than happy to discuss their breasts and claim that they are breastfeeding

Yes this is exactly right.

There's a real lack of critical thinking in the Coppafeel camp - this article is the most recent thing they have posted on Twitter, and it talks about a breast cancer charity encouraging people to check their chests. FFS

https://www.creativebrief.com/bite/fuel-your-imagination/coppafeel-brand-refresh-aims-to-reach-a-new-generation/

Sex-neuttal language does nothing to benefit transwomen - as you say if a male is fetishising the concept of himself with breasts then he doesn't want it anyway. It helps the women whose belief system you don't share. Plurality of beliefs is ok.

A health worker whose job is to support lactation and help new mums to breastfeed cannot be expected to dispell all the power of Stonewall, resolve the internalised misogyny and homophobia in the young woman in front of her, and enable her to accept herself as female. That worker can either use sex-neutral language and thus be able to help the woman and her baby to breastfeed successfully, or can insist on accurate sexed words that are so abhorent to the patient that she rejects the help on offer to the detriment of her own health and the health of her baby.

And if any of you really can't understand that I am not supporting this as something to be forced on all women, just for the tiny number that need it, and not for any men whatsoever, you must be really hard of thinking.

insist on accurate sexed words that are so abhorent to the patient that she rejects the help on offer to the detriment of her own health and the health of her baby
Does this really happen? I mean, this hypothetical woman has just given birth and is about to breastfeed (whatever the word used to describe the process).
Will she really implode at the use of the word "breast"? I get that they want the language changed to that of their choice, (of course they bloody do) but I doubt the repercussions of not doing so are at all as extreme as is touted.
Compare it with the distress of women having to collude with this and find themselves in the farcical situation of not being allowed to talk about breastfeeding with an actual breastfeeding counsellor; why should the 1% (or less) be accommodated at the expense of the vast majority?