Lactation support conference in Ireland - the quiet part out loud

[ArabellaScott]

https://genspect.org/where-does-male-lactation-fit-in-breastfeeding-support-networks/

'This year’s program lists a lactation consultant called Jacob Engelsman speaking on “communicating inclusively: creating gender-affirming clinical spaces for families” and “lactation support for gender-diverse families”.'

'Jacob Engelsman is a Certified Lactation Consultant based in the US. He describes himself as an infant care specialist, speaker, and writer. He is the author of a recently published book, Lactation for the Rest of Us: A Guide for Queer and Trans Parents and Helpers, and specialises in inducing lactation in non-gestational parents (parents who haven’t given birth). “Lactation is for anyone” Jacob tells us in this podcast interview.
Engelsman’s interest and expertise is not limited to lactation for the purpose of feeding an infant. One of his previous presentations was “Inducing Lactation for Kinksters” and according to his CV he has been giving various talks including on lactation at Frolicon, an adult lifestyle and fetish convention held annually in Atlanta, Georgia with substantial programming around kink, BDSM, sexuality, polyamory, LGBTQ+ relationships and alternative sexual/family cultures.
He is not a nurse, midwife, doctor, or healthcare professional (nor does he claim to be). He is not a parent or someone with personal experience of breastfeeding. He got his certification five years ago and prior to that worked in the food service industry.'
...
'Why would a man want to lactate? In Engelsman’s own words:
“There are several reasons a person may choose to lactate regardless of whether they can gestate a child…a non-gestational parent might choose to induce lactation as a way to feel emotionally closer to the baby, assert their own feelings of parenthood, gender euphoria, or just for the unique experience of it.” (p.49)
Writing specifically about “cis” men, that is men who identify as men, he says:
“As to the question of why they would want to, it seems reasonable to believe that cis men want to lactate for the same reasons as anyone else. Which is to say, usually to feed and bond with their baby and to a lesser extent for curiosity, fun, or sexual gratification.” (p.152)'

Male Lactation: The New Frontier in Evidence Laundering https://share.google/l5QjX4bkVOSh1SUrM

I think this may have previously been posted on MN, but thought I'd post it here. It's long but well thought out and Carrie refers to the children of transitioners group and their plea to the NHS practioners.

Won’t Somebody Think of the Children?

It will be many years before the generation of newborns currently being breastfed by their trans-identified fathers can speak for themselves. However, adult children of transitioners are overwhelmingly opposed to the practice. They remain a largely invisible group, rarely given a platform to speak about the complex emotional impact of witnessing a parents’ transition, unless it is to celebrate and “affirm” the parent’s adoption of a trans identity. Given the consistent disregard for the rights of the child that I have observed in the literature on transgender lactation, I feel their concerns deserve to be quoted here at some length.

The following quote is taken from a letter authored by the much-needed British campaign group Children of Transitioners (CoTs) to the NHS practitioners who facilitate lactation in trans identified males:

We understand some NHS Trusts are now seeking to enable and enforce the sexual and emotional abuse of children who are CoTs [children of transitioners], and are introducing policies that not only fail to safeguard these children…but also actively encourage the sexual assault and grooming of vulnerable babies and children who come into contact with NHS staff. Some of our dads ‘transition’ for sexual reasons, and many just change their clothing choices or have breast implants. CoTs’ still have both the legal right and the emotional need to be safeguarded by NHS staff – just like all other children…We have seen evidence that some hospital Trusts are making children of transitioners suck their father’s nipples- an act of sexual assault and grooming that deeply shocks us as NHS staff should be protecting COT infants not enabling their abuse…We have no idea of how many NHS Trusts are doing this. It fails to consider the health, welfare, and safeguarding of children of transitioners. It encourages our fathers and other men to feed children like us, as babies, drug induced secretions from their bodies and to commit, and groom us for, sexual assault

Jeez, what a world.

Just when you think it can’t get any worse

I suspect the reason they don’t encourage it is because there’s far more risk that the surrogate mother will refuse to give up the baby at the end. Taking it from her straightaway while she’s still groggy from the birth and possibly unable to move, is much easier.

I’m not sure which is worse for the birth mother, but I don’t think it’s about her interests anyway. It’s simply that it would be a bad look for contracting parents or their legal representatives to have to regularly rip babies from their protesting mothers’ arms in order to complete the financial contract.

That's a great letter @ArabellaScott . I'll do a complaint too. It's sickening, and to not even attempt to apologise or remove this paedophile from the programme.

I wonder if they've given any thought to how this will affect their standing and reputation going forward.

I just cannot imagine all.the women who work so hard to support other women are okay with this.

We don't know if they've taken him off the programme, to be fair.

One thing's for sure, there will now be women signing up for this online conference who will be forensically scrutinising every single speaker.

The Irish Examiner's "Health Correspondent" prints ALCI's version of events.

Breastfeeding conference forced to move online after threats over 'men chest-feeding' advocate

Wed, 02 Sep, 2026 - 19:35
Niamh Griffin, Health Correspondent

A breastfeeding advisory group has been forced to move its annual conference online after threats were issued over plans for it be addressed by a male speaker on gender-diverse families.

The Association of Lactation Consultants in Ireland represents healthcare workers who support women breastfeeding.

Its annual conference was scheduled for Galway next month. One of the speakers was to be Jacob Engelsman, an international board certified lactation consultant from America.

He is no longer speaking at the event, but had been due to give two talks on advice for healthcare workers supporting gender-diverse families in breastfeeding.

The controversy centred on allegations that his talks would cover advice for men who wish to breastfeed themselves. Some objectors called for more focus on women instead but many comments were personal in nature.

The ALCI told members on Tuesday the switch to a virtual event is “due to health & safety concerns and direct personal safety concerns for our delegates, speakers, members, venue staff and Council”.

The email said: “We would like to be clear that the reasoning behind this has been taken completely out of context and is not as has been alleged.

“This misrepresentation is deeply upsetting to ALCI Council and to our speakers, where education on supporting lactating families has always been at the forefront of what we do.”

The council told the Irish Examiner: “This was not about encouraging or endorsing male lactation in any way whatsoever.”

It acknowledged members felt it was slow in responding to the avalanche of claims.

“We have done that on legal advice and PR advice, and also that has come about because we are all volunteers on this council. No decision is made until all nine of us are in on it,” it said.

The council is now seeking legal advice. The hotel confirmed it is no longer hosting the event.

Much of the controversy centred on Mr Engelsman’s book: Lactation for the Rest of Us: A guide for queer and trans parents and helpers.

Extracts available through Google Books show he refers to parents and chest-feeding rather than mothers and breast-feeding.

He says straight men have asked him about male lactation.

He says straight or cis men wish to produce milk “for the same reasons as anyone else. Which is to say usually to feed and bond with their baby and to a lesser extent, for curiosity, fun or sexual gratification".

He says in his personal experience “none have ever produced milk”.

It is understood he was to be paid around €375 at a rate of €2.50 per minute, as were other speakers. The event is funded through ticket-sales.

The HSE has said it provides €9,000 in annual funding to ALCI. This is used for training at separate events.

So he is no longer a speaker at the event?

He says straight or cis men wish to produce milk “for the same reasons as anyone else. Which is to say usually to feed and bond with their baby and to a lesser extent, for curiosity, fun or sexual gratification".

And the ALCI still can't spot the massive red flag?

I keep coming back to that ‘for the same reasons as anyone else’. I find it deeply offensive as a woman who breastfed. How dare he imply that some women breastfeed for ‘curiosity, fun or sexual gratification’? As well as being deeply offensive, he is surely completely incorrect. Has he ever even met breastfeeding women and asked them questions? I really do think he’d be hard pushed to find even one woman who breastfed just for kicks.

A breastfeeding advisory group has been forced to move its annual conference online after threats were issued

I'd be interested to know who issued the "threats" and in what form they were to be. I highly doubt they were threats of violence (now, who do we know who threatens violence? hmmm... it's not women). More likely to be threats of a massive protest. No wonder the hotel pulled out.

If Engelsman is no longer part of this conference, it's possible that whoever should have done some due diligence before signing him up, has now done their research. If I had paid someone to research all the prospective speakers prior to final confirmation of the conference programme, they would no longer be in my employ. The reputational damage here could be huge.

I wonder if it's online now because no other hotel would have them?

More of this horrendous 'chest feeding' narrative is being pushed in University College Cork. I'm copying this from a twitter post just posted by Sarah Holmes
x.com/sjholmesirl/status/2095472529905258575:

The latest event to promote TQ+ lactation and 'chestfeeding' is being held by
@UCC
and is funded by minister
@CarrollJennifer
department via the
@hrbireland
“Horizontal Lactation Care: Taking the Power Back to Protect, Promote and Support Human Milk.” is on the agenda

TransCare 2026 2nd Edition: Developing Creative Practices for Trans, Gender-Diverse and Intersex Inclusive
Healthcare Research and Education 11-12
September 2026 | University College Cork TransCare began in 2024 with funding from Research Ireland's New Foundations scheme to discuss the needs and concerns of
intersex, trans and gender-diverse people in health settings and envision gender-affirmative education for healthcare professionals. The first edition was hosted in collaboration with Society for Women In Philosophy Ireland and marked the launch of PATHI, the Professional Association for Trans Health Ireland, which works to advance trans-affirming, evidence-based healthcare and support
practitioners across the island. Thanks to the Health Research Board's CES Scheme 2025, TransCare returns in 2026 with a renewed focus on creative and
interdisciplinary methodologies for trans, gender-diverse, and intersex-inclusive healthcare research and education. The conference is organised by Dr Valeria Venditti (they/them; she/her), College Lecturer in Healthcare at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork. The 2026 scientific committee includes people with lived experience, Dr Valeria Venditti, Mx Ryan Biskupovic-Goulding (College Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing, SONM, UCC), and Dr Meg Ryan (Assistant Professor in Psychology

Threats won't have come from feminists, but it wouldn't surprise me if the general public are outraged by this. Some people do get quite enraged by issues surrounding child sexual exploitation.

Disgusting though this is, I can't help feeling they're on a hiding to nothing.

it seems as though they want to totally normalise fetishistic men getting babies to suck on their nipples, in public, in literature, in culture, etc.

Public outrage is going to be massive. People might buy a lot of shit, but I don't think many are going buy this.

The council told the Irish Examiner: “This was not about encouraging or endorsing male lactation in any way whatsoever.”
It acknowledged members felt it was slow in responding to the avalanche of claims.
“We have done that on legal advice and PR advice, and also that has come about because we are all volunteers on this council. No decision is made until all nine of us are in on it,” it said.

As I said, these won't be the first people to have been duped by a predatory male. I hope they are reviewing their safeguarding processes and the 'screening' they do of speakers.

There was a huge public backlash to it and it was reported in quite a few regional papers, in gript and I think I remember an article by Brenda Power in the Daily mail. The comments on the articles and on social media that I've read were all of utter disgust and outrage that this has been allowed to happen. At least more people will be aware now of how far this madness has gone and might be emboldened to speak out.

I'm glad that the Irish Independent article contained the 'sexual gratification' quote, as the ACLI are acting all poor-us-we're-the-victims, and it's difficult to do that when you've invited someone who talks about men 'chestfeeding' for sexual gratification.

They say on their website they vet speakers, although they also say that they don't stand by the content of speakers' contributions. But if
“This was not about encouraging or endorsing male lactation in any way whatsoever.”
why did they choose JE, who is known for doing exactly that?

The mention of 'threats' is interesting - it could be more DARVO, but they might have received threats from some of the groups who practice aggressive 'direct action' against things like libraries having unsuitable trans-related books in the children's section.

I hope that isn't the that is the case, because any actual threats will have handed ACLI poor-us-victim-status on a silver platter.

these won't be the first people to have been duped by a predatory male. I hope they are reviewing their safeguarding processes and the 'screening' they do of speakers.

I don't think the council members were duped, or unaware of Engelsman's work. A number of them listed "LGBTQ+ Lacatation" as personal specialties in their profiles. They didn't reject him when his history was brought to their attention, instead they continued to defend his inclusion until what he advocates became public.

We can also see from the institutional push for "chestfeeding" etc. that the rot goes very deep here at this point. As it does in LLL and other organisations.

@BruachAbhann I see they are still trying to include “ intersex “ people in this movement, as soon as those with DSD are forcibly included you know full well this isn’t about evidence based healthcare if they can’t even get the terms right for a minority who have repeatedly said to stop bringing them into the trans debate. Shouldn’t Dr Venditti be fully aware of this if they are a healthcare lecturer? Oh wait they have a Phd in philosophy and teach ethics …..and whose research “” is grounded in queer theory and transfeminism “”. I guess University College Cork is yet another captured institution.

Well, it's interesting that they've not as yet gone all in for this defense, which looked to me like the only real feasible one.

It seems to me that this ginkwit needs to make up his mind. He advises on male lactation, whilst at the same time saying that, of men who want to be turned on by babies nuzzling their nipples in a vain search for sustenance, "none have ever produced milk". Presumably these perverts are also turned on by the disappointed screams of the unnourished and hungry baby, therefore, since no milk nor even pus seems to be involved. Nor lactation. How can he advise on something which he admits has never happened?

It also seems to me that the ALCI needs to make up its collective mind; the hotel confirmed it is no longer hosting the event, and also the conference organisers pulled it because of "threats". So who did the actual pulling? (My money is on the hotel as soon as they realised what they were being dragged into, but it looks very much as if the ALCI would like us to think otherwise.) And what were the threats, of what, from whom, and most essentially against whom?

But what I would most like to know is, in what way does a woman in a "gender-diverse family" breast-feed differently from a woman in any family, or indeed in no family apart from herself and the baby? The process is the same, the means the same, the mechanism the same, the milk the same; why do these silly people need special, different (presumably More Important) advice from that given to any woman who wants to breastfeed her baby?

I can imagine that a woman who is 'trans' identifying may have additional support needs when it comes to infant feeding.

My first concern would be whether it would be in the best interests of both mother and/or baby to breastfeed.

I think that would depend on whether she had realised that amputating her breasts meant she'd have a problem breast-feeding thereafter. That would certainly mean she needed some support when it dawned on her what she'd done.

Psychological support because you don't like your breasts or what they're designed to do must be so rare I can't imagine why it would need much coverage at all.

And would that really be the job of a breastfeeding expert?