Oh good grief. Another example of how people are falling over themselves to throw women under the bus and support trans ideology at any cost. Thank you for doing the work the papers didn't bother with in favour of a headline!
I wake up each morning and think the gender mob can't do or say anything worse. And then this happened. I am torn up inside with rage and total sadness - babies FFS? Is there literally no part of the 'female experience' that fetishist makes won't appropriate?
Thank you Milli, for your usual succinct and withering commentary on what happens to women and babies when we follow through to the end, the trans demand to "be kind". We end up pretending that science knows nothing about breast milk or human bodies, pandering to men with a sexual kink fetish and condoning unregulated experiments on babies, with no long term follow up. (This last bit pertains to both feeding babies from men and from deluded women taking testosterone while "chestfeeding".)
And then we have La Leche League International, founded as a mother-to-mother support group for women who want to breastfeed their babies that now obligates its volunteer mother Leaders to support "everyone" who wants to breastfeed a baby. And they do mean everyone, including guys who get off on the very thoughts of putting a baby to their estrogen/silicone chest protuberances. I have written about this in many places, but here is a summary: https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/la-leche-league-eliminates-mothers
There is no place for "gender free/neutral" language in the world of birth and breastfeeding. These are not gendered activities, they are SEXED. Only women can become pregnant, labor and birth babies. Babies do not give consent to be handed over to some dude in a dress to be a prop for his chosen lifestyle. There need be no debate on the merits of male vs mother's milk; there is no "contest" to win.
Using dehumanizing language harms everyone by hiding biological realities and pretending that feelings and beliefs are more important than reality.
Thank you for such a thorough piece on this, Milli. I was pretty enraged last night but it turns out it was even worse than I thought! Your article is such a help in understanding how on earth the BBC took 2 and 2 and made, not 5, but more like 5 zillion.
Oh Milli!!! An absolute disgrace and it beggars belief! Women do struggle against all odds and with no support to provide their babies with breastmilk and it is all trivialised by the ridiculous notion that men should be able to do this too. Do we really live in a world where just because we want something the world is turned upside down to provide it.. Oh No, wait it’s only if a MAN wants something. God help us if a woman NEEDS anything, well she can but hope!
Well, to throw a 10 minute Pubmed and NIH check - men can lactate with sufficient prolactin - from pregnancy in women, from superphysiological levels due to artificial and natural stimulation in men - because for the most part the breast gland in men is the same as the breast gland in women, the scaffold is the same, in women estrogen expands all breast tissues through puberty and pregnancy, men have insufficient estrogen to develop significantly breast tissue through life with a few exceptions. I asked myself to pause profound revulsion and consider basic questions: can males lactate, can males lactate naturally, is the milk they produce equivalent to female milk in composition, and quantity. Would the condition of lactating preclude safe nursing.
A) Males can lactate at birth.
1. newborn males sometimes lactate due to mother’s prolactin crossing the placenta into the fetus, but soon after birth this stops because the prolactin supply stop, therefore from birth males can produce milk naturally. “Witches Milk”
B) males can lactate naturally without a serious medical condition.
2. Most prolactin synthesis is in the pituitary gland, regulated by estrogen, but there are other prolactin generating systems in the male body. Prolactin has 300+ receptors in the body, its role in human biology is not limited to inducing milk synthesis. Breast tissue itself can produce prolactin, for example by being stimulated mechanically - sucking and nipple play can trigger prolactin. I understood certain antipsychotic drugs can modulate nerve cell activity in such a way to trigger the pituitary to synthesize prolactin also.
3. Boys not infrequently develop gynecomastia - their breast tissue grows - and can rarely spontaneously produce milk during onset and through puberty due to conversion of surging levels of testosterone through aromatisation into estrogen, which triggers the pituitary. This condition is called galactorrhea.
4. Adult men far beyond puberty can naturally develop some level of gynecomastia, a common condition - by some estimates up to 70% of men have some level as they enter their 60’s and 70’s, but full on lactation is very rare.
C) With two important exceptions, male milk is mostly the same as female milk
5. Women cycle though a complex series of hormonal changes immediately after birth. The milk immediately after birth is called colostrum, is extremely rich in nutrients, then a few days later it adjusts composition which has a different balance of nutrients. Men cannot naturally have this shift, as they have no uterus, they have not hosted a placenta, and have not gone through labor, as a start. Not all women produce colostrum, it is not essential to life for the baby, but colostrum is valuable.
6. Female human milk contains antibodies which provide immunological defense through direct absorption, including globulins. The absorption is throughout the digestive system so it also fosters balanced gut flora. Women’s and men’s immune systems are different, and it’s not all clear the immunological transfer from a man to a baby would resemble a woman’s transfer.
7. Post-colostrum milk seems to be nutritionally the same for men and women, given the same prolactin environment.
D) Men cannot produce an adequate volume of milk.
8. Female mammary glands vary from 500g to 1000g in size, being a predominant part of the pectoral region, along with fat. Male gynecomastic glands are 45g to 385g as noted at surgical removal. The largest known male gland would be significantly less than the least female gland.
9. Male glands lack lobules, and have significantly fewer ducts than women. The gland not only is inadequate to produce milk on a mass basis, it isn’t organized anatomically to convey what milk it could make to be easily.
E) Chemically induced lactation would transfer significant chemicals with unknown consequence to a newborn.
10. Bodybuilders who raise their testosterone levels to multiples of natural level create excess estrogen through the normal process of aromatisation. Bodybuilders with extreme doping develop gynecomastia, development of breast tissue, but it’s insufficient for lactation.
11. Estrogen supplements, and antipsychotic drugs common for lactation would be sufficient to create some lactation (less than 10% of what would be necessary) at the cost of major issues:
A) 1domperidone : antipsychotic bringing in overdosing with sudden cardiac death, infant mini-puberty suppression, inducing infant lactation, fatal hypernatremia - central toxicity
B) metoclopramide : permanent movement disorder, neuroleptic malignant syndrome,
Kidney failure etc.
C) chlorpromazine : permanent movement disorders, blood pressure disorders, yawning disorders up to inducing yawning uncontrollably coupled with orgasm
D)sulpiride : movement disorders, blood disorders, neuroleptic malignant syndrome,
So men can lactate unnaturally in Tiiny quantities, with the effect of lacking colostrum, and producing a spectrum n severe-to-fatal infant effects.
Men for whom the female role is AGP, rhe concept of biding with an infantc bringing the infant in service of sexual play is itself a hold abuse.
In summary, men could, they would poison the child, and induce an infant into a type of pawn for sexual pleasure without consent
The process is profoundly unethical, dangerous,during and after the infant withdrawing from psychotic medication with potentially permanent neurological damage.
When I was a kid, there was a program on tv (BBC I think) called ’Stump the Scientist’ - I remember still the question that stumped them and ended the series: why do men have nipples? It seems the BBC have spent the last 50 or so years trying to find out the answer…
Oh good grief. Another example of how people are falling over themselves to throw women under the bus and support trans ideology at any cost. Thank you for doing the work the papers didn't bother with in favour of a headline!
I wake up each morning and think the gender mob can't do or say anything worse. And then this happened. I am torn up inside with rage and total sadness - babies FFS? Is there literally no part of the 'female experience' that fetishist makes won't appropriate?
Thank you Milli, for your usual succinct and withering commentary on what happens to women and babies when we follow through to the end, the trans demand to "be kind". We end up pretending that science knows nothing about breast milk or human bodies, pandering to men with a sexual kink fetish and condoning unregulated experiments on babies, with no long term follow up. (This last bit pertains to both feeding babies from men and from deluded women taking testosterone while "chestfeeding".)
I have written about male lactation here: https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/girls-can-do-anything-but-sorry-boys and here: https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/no-boundaries-no-limits and about the risks of "accommodating" women identifying as men who want to live the oxymoronic lives of "dads", while pregnant and feeding babies from their bodies here: https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/defending-the-indefensible-or-its and here: https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/pretending-that-trans-men-arent-really
And then we have La Leche League International, founded as a mother-to-mother support group for women who want to breastfeed their babies that now obligates its volunteer mother Leaders to support "everyone" who wants to breastfeed a baby. And they do mean everyone, including guys who get off on the very thoughts of putting a baby to their estrogen/silicone chest protuberances. I have written about this in many places, but here is a summary: https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/la-leche-league-eliminates-mothers
There is no place for "gender free/neutral" language in the world of birth and breastfeeding. These are not gendered activities, they are SEXED. Only women can become pregnant, labor and birth babies. Babies do not give consent to be handed over to some dude in a dress to be a prop for his chosen lifestyle. There need be no debate on the merits of male vs mother's milk; there is no "contest" to win.
Using dehumanizing language harms everyone by hiding biological realities and pretending that feelings and beliefs are more important than reality.
Male mammals do not produce milk.
Any substance oozing from the teats of a male mammal should not be consumed by its offspring.
This shouldn't have to be said.
Goodness, I do hope that the BBC are currently preparing their correction! Thank you for your diligence!
Brilliant Milli and thank you for getting to the bottom of this. 😊
Thank you for such a thorough piece on this, Milli. I was pretty enraged last night but it turns out it was even worse than I thought! Your article is such a help in understanding how on earth the BBC took 2 and 2 and made, not 5, but more like 5 zillion.
This is utterly disgraceful. As a midwife i am beyond words to describe my outrage. Is there a name for women who sell out to trans ideology?
Oh Milli!!! An absolute disgrace and it beggars belief! Women do struggle against all odds and with no support to provide their babies with breastmilk and it is all trivialised by the ridiculous notion that men should be able to do this too. Do we really live in a world where just because we want something the world is turned upside down to provide it.. Oh No, wait it’s only if a MAN wants something. God help us if a woman NEEDS anything, well she can but hope!
The Handmaids Tale creeps nearer every day!
Well, to throw a 10 minute Pubmed and NIH check - men can lactate with sufficient prolactin - from pregnancy in women, from superphysiological levels due to artificial and natural stimulation in men - because for the most part the breast gland in men is the same as the breast gland in women, the scaffold is the same, in women estrogen expands all breast tissues through puberty and pregnancy, men have insufficient estrogen to develop significantly breast tissue through life with a few exceptions. I asked myself to pause profound revulsion and consider basic questions: can males lactate, can males lactate naturally, is the milk they produce equivalent to female milk in composition, and quantity. Would the condition of lactating preclude safe nursing.
A) Males can lactate at birth.
1. newborn males sometimes lactate due to mother’s prolactin crossing the placenta into the fetus, but soon after birth this stops because the prolactin supply stop, therefore from birth males can produce milk naturally. “Witches Milk”
B) males can lactate naturally without a serious medical condition.
2. Most prolactin synthesis is in the pituitary gland, regulated by estrogen, but there are other prolactin generating systems in the male body. Prolactin has 300+ receptors in the body, its role in human biology is not limited to inducing milk synthesis. Breast tissue itself can produce prolactin, for example by being stimulated mechanically - sucking and nipple play can trigger prolactin. I understood certain antipsychotic drugs can modulate nerve cell activity in such a way to trigger the pituitary to synthesize prolactin also.
3. Boys not infrequently develop gynecomastia - their breast tissue grows - and can rarely spontaneously produce milk during onset and through puberty due to conversion of surging levels of testosterone through aromatisation into estrogen, which triggers the pituitary. This condition is called galactorrhea.
4. Adult men far beyond puberty can naturally develop some level of gynecomastia, a common condition - by some estimates up to 70% of men have some level as they enter their 60’s and 70’s, but full on lactation is very rare.
C) With two important exceptions, male milk is mostly the same as female milk
5. Women cycle though a complex series of hormonal changes immediately after birth. The milk immediately after birth is called colostrum, is extremely rich in nutrients, then a few days later it adjusts composition which has a different balance of nutrients. Men cannot naturally have this shift, as they have no uterus, they have not hosted a placenta, and have not gone through labor, as a start. Not all women produce colostrum, it is not essential to life for the baby, but colostrum is valuable.
6. Female human milk contains antibodies which provide immunological defense through direct absorption, including globulins. The absorption is throughout the digestive system so it also fosters balanced gut flora. Women’s and men’s immune systems are different, and it’s not all clear the immunological transfer from a man to a baby would resemble a woman’s transfer.
7. Post-colostrum milk seems to be nutritionally the same for men and women, given the same prolactin environment.
D) Men cannot produce an adequate volume of milk.
8. Female mammary glands vary from 500g to 1000g in size, being a predominant part of the pectoral region, along with fat. Male gynecomastic glands are 45g to 385g as noted at surgical removal. The largest known male gland would be significantly less than the least female gland.
9. Male glands lack lobules, and have significantly fewer ducts than women. The gland not only is inadequate to produce milk on a mass basis, it isn’t organized anatomically to convey what milk it could make to be easily.
E) Chemically induced lactation would transfer significant chemicals with unknown consequence to a newborn.
10. Bodybuilders who raise their testosterone levels to multiples of natural level create excess estrogen through the normal process of aromatisation. Bodybuilders with extreme doping develop gynecomastia, development of breast tissue, but it’s insufficient for lactation.
11. Estrogen supplements, and antipsychotic drugs common for lactation would be sufficient to create some lactation (less than 10% of what would be necessary) at the cost of major issues:
A) 1domperidone : antipsychotic bringing in overdosing with sudden cardiac death, infant mini-puberty suppression, inducing infant lactation, fatal hypernatremia - central toxicity
B) metoclopramide : permanent movement disorder, neuroleptic malignant syndrome,
Kidney failure etc.
C) chlorpromazine : permanent movement disorders, blood pressure disorders, yawning disorders up to inducing yawning uncontrollably coupled with orgasm
D)sulpiride : movement disorders, blood disorders, neuroleptic malignant syndrome,
So men can lactate unnaturally in Tiiny quantities, with the effect of lacking colostrum, and producing a spectrum n severe-to-fatal infant effects.
Men for whom the female role is AGP, rhe concept of biding with an infantc bringing the infant in service of sexual play is itself a hold abuse.
In summary, men could, they would poison the child, and induce an infant into a type of pawn for sexual pleasure without consent
The process is profoundly unethical, dangerous,during and after the infant withdrawing from psychotic medication with potentially permanent neurological damage.
It should not be tolerated
This is killing me
Thanks for your commitment and diligence in getting to the bottom of this and giving us all an explanation.
Trying to see how to complain about this. Looks like in order to complain to Ofcom need to have complained direct to BBC first.
https://ofcomlive.my.salesforce-sites.com/formentry/SitesFormBBCIntroductory?complaintType=SitesFormBBCStandardsComplaints
When I was a kid, there was a program on tv (BBC I think) called ’Stump the Scientist’ - I remember still the question that stumped them and ended the series: why do men have nipples? It seems the BBC have spent the last 50 or so years trying to find out the answer…