La leche league trustee resigns because of trans inclusive policy

[Lovelyview]

https://www.thetimes.com/article/012cb489-a63d-4dd1-9761-43bf0c3f9e85?shareToken=afe5bd2849d21256c715ea2af617063f

A trustee and PR director of Britain’s oldest breastfeeding charity has resigned after it introduced an inclusivity policy that allowed men to attend support groups.

To be fair, it is breastfeeding. You don't feed from your chest.

And a lot of people use the word 'woman' to mean adult human female. And therefore if you give birth and BF you are a woman.

@HaddyAbrams but the purpose of the womanly art of breastfeeding is to support people who have given birth to feed their babies.

Changing the name might:

• piss off people who insist all those that feed babies are women
• include more people who may need support to feed their babies but may not consider themselves 'womanly'

Surely the latter trumps the former.

piss off people who insist all those that feed babies are women
• include more people who may need support to feed their babies but may not consider themselves 'womanly'

So why do one group have to be pandered to and the other, much larger group, are ok to "piss off"?

Your own bias is very clear.

It isn't or cant be about mutual support based on a shared experience.

Women who want support or to be in a mutal aid group have by the only significant shared factor, their biology, do not need and should not have to be divert by someone who claims faux milk chemically induced is the same.

And on the basis of shared experience, based on a lived reality TW should have their own group, that focuses on the very specific issues of this pretence.

It is a purely ideological position to insist that TW be included, so as to try and perpetrate the notion that TW are no different from biological women.

As we know this is happening in other spheres.

But this is so obviously perverse, that it is hard to understand how those running groups to support women who are or want to breast fed would try and give credence to this TRA motivated campaign.

Biological males do not produce breast milk. At most they have galactorrhoea. Which can be a sign of a serious endocrine problem, or being on some heavy duty drugs. Neither of these seem likely to remotely reproduce the biological wonder that is actual breath milk.

On the plus side, I recently did a nationally recognised on line breastfeeding learning package. I was rather dreading it, then was honestly delighted that it was all about breastfeeding and mothers. No weasel words.

Ugh, i'd forgotten that.

From the article.

...experts rejected the claims and pointed out the overall lack of scientific studies on such side effects. 'There have been very few publications and the vast majority have not looked at what's in the milk itself,'

They also point out that the result produces very little milk. There is 'barely enough for a single feed' per day, the same expert told The Mail on Sunday.

Milli Hill, author of The Positive Birth Book and Give Birth Like a Feminist, said: 'Breastfeeding is not about the experience of the person doing the feeding – it is about nourishing and nurturing a baby.

'There is no reason for an adult to do this to a baby, and I would go so far as to describe it as abusive. For an NHS Trust to be supporting such an abuse is an absolute disgrace.'

Absolutely.

University Hospitals Sussex Trust is a member of Stonewall's controversial 'Diversity Champions' programme. It admitted that its policy was derived after advice from 'external organisations' – but refused to clarify which.

I bet

The reason men do this is to get their sexual thrills. Lactation fetish, paedophilia, forcing their fetishes on unwilling audiences - it's all about the power to abuse.

In fairness to @intrepidgiraffe "birthing people" is a vast improvement on "birthing bodies" so: props where it's due, gratefulness for crumbs, and all that.

On the plus side, I recently did a nationally recognised on line breastfeeding learning package. I was rather dreading it, then was honestly delighted that it was all about breastfeeding and mothers. No weasel words.

That's encouraging.

In my local LLL group, which was incredibly active in a closed fb group due to the extremely generous leaders, including lactation consultants, the biggest issue a few years ago was not the fetishistic men trying to get in (I was told that's been going on since they started) but the trans activist women demanding that language change to be inclusive of trans men and non binary women and accusing us all of being privileged.

To be quite honest it was only two and everyone else either took the mick or spent ages patiently trying to explain their delusions and why it was sexist. It was horrible though.

What is really awful about LLL going so woke is that they have absolutely known that some men have this fetish for a long time. And that men are abusive.

LLL is also a women's support network and has certainly supported women who've been abused to seek the right help.

Now they let the abuser in with welcoming arms.

No.

’For the many not the few’.

You sound like a rampant neolib, giving privilege to the 1%.

but the purpose of the womanly art of breastfeeding is to support people who have given birth to feed their babies.

what is this even mean? The purpose of breastfeeding is to keep babies alive

What's more inclusive, breastfeeding mother or chestfeeding birthing parent?

The first one is inclusive of the vast majority of women and also to those with limited English or intellect. The second is inclusive to those who like to pretend they are not women despite doing something only women can do and people who believe in genderism.

If the second cohort want to pretend that biology doesn't exist then they can't expect the world to play along too. The first group is the obviously the most important group as it contains the most vulnerable people.

IMO, which is only mine and doesn't mean it's right...

Renaming "the womanly art of BF" just "the art of BF" = fine.

Removing all references to women from everything BF related and referring to "breast-feeders" or "birth-givers" or whatever shit is happening = not OK.

Helen Joyce on this

That interview is so refreshing!

God he's annoying. I know, I know, he's giving her a platform and he agrees, but he's still bloody annoying.

You'll get no argument from me there! A friend of mine said something similar. She said something like although I agree with what they are both saying he is so awful that I don't want to agree with him!

Yes you are 100 percent correct. No idea how we have gotten to a point where a man can sexully abuse a baby on the news etc but you're wrong for pointing it out.

Its even worse that this type of sexual abuse also has unknown long term risks of feeding a baby experimental drugs via a man - who is then praised for being so stunning and brave.

My own father wasn't the beat but I suppose at least he didn't wear womens clothes and drug me through his nipples

Just the made up word "chestfeeding" makes me sick thinking how sick all this has gotten.

My father was booted from his teaching job in the 60s for guess-what and I bet even he would have been disgusted by this.

An older thread in AIBU seems to have been reanimated

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/amiibeingunreasonable/5068093-that-the-la-leche-league-have-dangerously-lost-the-plot

Shared this on the AIBU, thought it might be helpful to share here too.

laleche.org.uk/statement-from-lllgb-council-of-directors-14-11-24/

That’s a good statement. It centres babies’ needs too.