The way that Marian has been treated by the majority of the LLLI Board is beyond shameful. Yes, Trevor was the perfect Trojan horse for the introduction of gender ideology into LLL, where it has NO place because breastfeeding is not a gendered activity, it is a sexed activity. At the time that Trevor was involved, "mothers" and "women" could be Leaders and as she chose to not identify as either of these, she was correctly told she did not qualify. But in the usual trans bullying fashion, she got publicity, mumbled about seeing a lawyer and the rest is history as they say. But at least she is a natal female who had given birth, even if the "chestfeeding" she could do was severely limited by a lack of breasts.
Sacrificing the mother/baby dyad must be the ultimate sin of following a flawed ideology that prioritizes men and their sexual fetishes, where they use babies as props for their "gender affirmation". The trauma to babies who are separated from their mothers for men to feed or people to purchase via surrogacy is incalculable and today's LLL often appears to be promoting and celebrating both of these. Alongside the fantasy of supporting "men" who have had their healthy breasts amputated so rendering themselves incapable of breastfeeding at all.
Marian Tompson and her six friends saved breastfeeding from disappearing at a point in American history where practically speaking, no one was doing this anymore because why would you since "modern" infant formulas are "so good"? They left the most amazing legacy of literally millions of healthier babies, women and societies by supporting women to do what evolution designed all mammals to do: feed their babies from their own breasts which produce milk tailored to that specific baby. A wonderful maternal benefit is that women who breastfeed are healthier than those who don't.
The usual trans position of "no debate" is one that shuts down meaningful discussions and leads to bullying. The inclusivity policy of LLL that includes men is one area where I agree there should be no debate because they should not have ever been included in the first place. https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/some-things-are-not-up-for-debate
Marian’s resignation is the last straw for me in supporting an organization (LLLCanada) that has been dear to me for over 35 years. Marian must be heartbroken. How incredibly sad to see her legacy hijacked. I hope she lives long enough to see reason return to LLLI. 💙
So well-written and clear - and yes, some close parallels with PBM.
Marion recognises this is a ‘fantasy’ of men, and happily, you can go further than she might want to and point out that this is sexual with babies used as a prop.
Also, we need to be clear that every time anyone introduces something else into a baby, it’s displacing, or undermining, the mother’s choice to breastfeed. Sometimes, we know, this may be needed for the baby’s well-being. But just for a man’s desire? Gross. Women breastfeed. That’s the ‘inclusive’ reality, because only women give birth & only women can sustain an infant with their own bodies.
More on this if anyone wants to know on the With Woman blog, for example
Really interesting how shy even the Daily Mail is of writing in this angle of it being a fetish.
I do think there are men in high places who are protecting other men or their own fetishes. I can't otherwise explain why the Mail would not want even one polite sentence in their paper suggesting that 'in some cases' this could be a child protection issue.
If men were demanding that babies be allowed to suck on any other part of their anatomy than their nipples, the abuse might be a bit more obvious.
Women, who may have brief erotic feelings while breastfeeding due to the oxytocin rush, feel incredibly guilty if this happens to them, even though it is normal and does not mean they have sexual feelings about their babies.
This is what men are looking for and trying to achieve, but pointing this out is apparently not polite and might hurt their feelings.
Hear hear Milli! The travesty of encouraging men to feed babies with a chemically induced liquid from their nipples in order to make them feel sexually excited is beyond disgusting. How this is not child abuse I do not know. I guess because it's the sacred caste who can do no wrong vs female outrage concerning something only women can do.
Womb envy has finally broken cover and we need to fight it to continue to exist in law and in society. This is not a drill.
I am sickened and saddened by this article. Thank you Milli, for keeping us informed. I fought for women's rights in the 70s and am disgusted at the loss of the word WOMAN and all that it entails, to some mentally ill men.
I understand that my choice of words may hurt some people, but that is what I know to be true. This gender ideology is magical thinking and must be dealt with in a compassionate manner. We cannot allow our grandaughters to think this is normal!
It is, as you say, about men not being able to stand women having anything of our own or even being able to do anything that they can't do with their different bodies. 🙄 The patriarchy (and handmaidens) that has told men they are superior in so many ways, and for so long, is to blame for breeding men as pathetic as this. Indeed much domestic violence begins when women give birth as their partners can't handle the shift of attention onto the woman and off them. Mother Nature is surely spinning in her grave at how this has worked out, a spinning that is probably contributing to global warming. Sorry, I felt the joke coming on and thought we might all need the laugh. 😕
Haha. Yes it's funny because I've always been fascinated in the obvious jealousy men feel for women's biology - most evident perhaps in the way they dismiss and undermine it - or at least it was, up til now - I never could have predicted the twist this has now taken!
Yes, I've heard various men complain that women are 'constantly celebrated' for pregnancy, which is very far from true. And if it was true; hello! It's worth a bit of celebration, if anything is. But some men don't want anything women alone do celebrated at all. Before women's sports got any public attention there was an endless, almost ritualistic public celebration of male sports in every news bulletin on TV, newspapers and radio. I used to tutor in the politics of the media (in the noughties) and one week spent twenty minutes of the tutorial playing the entire sports segment at the end of the 6pm national news just to make the point. It was 20 minutes long and entirely on men playing one or other sport, mostly at a national or regional level. Every single night! I can't imagine there was ever a single pregnant woman included in the nightly news for celebration. But now that women are allowed slightly more space in the public sphere, even when pregnant - and breastfeeding - and a bit more in sports, some men clearly cannot cope with the slight shift of attention that looks to them like us drawing shameless attention to ourselves and our bodies doing rather significant things that theirs can't do, or simply playing sport too. I even reckon the move to get men into women's sports is less about pushing trans than showing men are still 'better than' women at something. Shame on the BBC for that report a while back saying male 'breastmilk' is just as nutritious as women's milk. Brava to the older women of La Leche League who won't weesht for these most pathetic of all men demanding access to 'breastfeeding' support groups. Seriously? Good to see a fair amount of media coverage of this farce too.
The way that Marian has been treated by the majority of the LLLI Board is beyond shameful. Yes, Trevor was the perfect Trojan horse for the introduction of gender ideology into LLL, where it has NO place because breastfeeding is not a gendered activity, it is a sexed activity. At the time that Trevor was involved, "mothers" and "women" could be Leaders and as she chose to not identify as either of these, she was correctly told she did not qualify. But in the usual trans bullying fashion, she got publicity, mumbled about seeing a lawyer and the rest is history as they say. But at least she is a natal female who had given birth, even if the "chestfeeding" she could do was severely limited by a lack of breasts.
Sacrificing the mother/baby dyad must be the ultimate sin of following a flawed ideology that prioritizes men and their sexual fetishes, where they use babies as props for their "gender affirmation". The trauma to babies who are separated from their mothers for men to feed or people to purchase via surrogacy is incalculable and today's LLL often appears to be promoting and celebrating both of these. Alongside the fantasy of supporting "men" who have had their healthy breasts amputated so rendering themselves incapable of breastfeeding at all.
Marian Tompson and her six friends saved breastfeeding from disappearing at a point in American history where practically speaking, no one was doing this anymore because why would you since "modern" infant formulas are "so good"? They left the most amazing legacy of literally millions of healthier babies, women and societies by supporting women to do what evolution designed all mammals to do: feed their babies from their own breasts which produce milk tailored to that specific baby. A wonderful maternal benefit is that women who breastfeed are healthier than those who don't.
The usual trans position of "no debate" is one that shuts down meaningful discussions and leads to bullying. The inclusivity policy of LLL that includes men is one area where I agree there should be no debate because they should not have ever been included in the first place. https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/some-things-are-not-up-for-debate
Thanks for highlighting the massive positive impact that the 7 founders have had. Such a good point.
Marian’s resignation is the last straw for me in supporting an organization (LLLCanada) that has been dear to me for over 35 years. Marian must be heartbroken. How incredibly sad to see her legacy hijacked. I hope she lives long enough to see reason return to LLLI. 💙
She's done something great with her short but clear letter.
So well-written and clear - and yes, some close parallels with PBM.
Marion recognises this is a ‘fantasy’ of men, and happily, you can go further than she might want to and point out that this is sexual with babies used as a prop.
Also, we need to be clear that every time anyone introduces something else into a baby, it’s displacing, or undermining, the mother’s choice to breastfeed. Sometimes, we know, this may be needed for the baby’s well-being. But just for a man’s desire? Gross. Women breastfeed. That’s the ‘inclusive’ reality, because only women give birth & only women can sustain an infant with their own bodies.
More on this if anyone wants to know on the With Woman blog, for example
https://with-woman.org/2023/05/26/should-trans-identified-men-be-supported-to-breastfeed-why-we-say-the-answers-no/
Really interesting how shy even the Daily Mail is of writing in this angle of it being a fetish.
I do think there are men in high places who are protecting other men or their own fetishes. I can't otherwise explain why the Mail would not want even one polite sentence in their paper suggesting that 'in some cases' this could be a child protection issue.
If men were demanding that babies be allowed to suck on any other part of their anatomy than their nipples, the abuse might be a bit more obvious.
Women, who may have brief erotic feelings while breastfeeding due to the oxytocin rush, feel incredibly guilty if this happens to them, even though it is normal and does not mean they have sexual feelings about their babies.
This is what men are looking for and trying to achieve, but pointing this out is apparently not polite and might hurt their feelings.
It is interesting how NO media coverage hints that trans-identified men might be doing it out of fetishism. Women who mention it get scolded.
Hear hear Milli! The travesty of encouraging men to feed babies with a chemically induced liquid from their nipples in order to make them feel sexually excited is beyond disgusting. How this is not child abuse I do not know. I guess because it's the sacred caste who can do no wrong vs female outrage concerning something only women can do.
Womb envy has finally broken cover and we need to fight it to continue to exist in law and in society. This is not a drill.
Yes it has. Just at the moment that women were discovering some pride in their bodies as well. WHAT A COINCIDENCE!!
And just at a point in history where medical science is discovering that we women are not just faulty, smaller versions of men.
I am sickened and saddened by this article. Thank you Milli, for keeping us informed. I fought for women's rights in the 70s and am disgusted at the loss of the word WOMAN and all that it entails, to some mentally ill men.
I understand that my choice of words may hurt some people, but that is what I know to be true. This gender ideology is magical thinking and must be dealt with in a compassionate manner. We cannot allow our grandaughters to think this is normal!
Grandmothers Speak Out🧡
It's never been more important to remain grounded in reality. Thank you for your voice.
I see a female (UK)medic new to Insta posting about ‘parents’ doing
A/N colostrum expressing-not 1 mention of pregnant woman - in about 7 slides of the post
I did wonder why I hadnt been asking fathers to do this all along then..FFS
Everyone who has changed their language is complicit!!
It is, as you say, about men not being able to stand women having anything of our own or even being able to do anything that they can't do with their different bodies. 🙄 The patriarchy (and handmaidens) that has told men they are superior in so many ways, and for so long, is to blame for breeding men as pathetic as this. Indeed much domestic violence begins when women give birth as their partners can't handle the shift of attention onto the woman and off them. Mother Nature is surely spinning in her grave at how this has worked out, a spinning that is probably contributing to global warming. Sorry, I felt the joke coming on and thought we might all need the laugh. 😕
Haha. Yes it's funny because I've always been fascinated in the obvious jealousy men feel for women's biology - most evident perhaps in the way they dismiss and undermine it - or at least it was, up til now - I never could have predicted the twist this has now taken!
Yes, I've heard various men complain that women are 'constantly celebrated' for pregnancy, which is very far from true. And if it was true; hello! It's worth a bit of celebration, if anything is. But some men don't want anything women alone do celebrated at all. Before women's sports got any public attention there was an endless, almost ritualistic public celebration of male sports in every news bulletin on TV, newspapers and radio. I used to tutor in the politics of the media (in the noughties) and one week spent twenty minutes of the tutorial playing the entire sports segment at the end of the 6pm national news just to make the point. It was 20 minutes long and entirely on men playing one or other sport, mostly at a national or regional level. Every single night! I can't imagine there was ever a single pregnant woman included in the nightly news for celebration. But now that women are allowed slightly more space in the public sphere, even when pregnant - and breastfeeding - and a bit more in sports, some men clearly cannot cope with the slight shift of attention that looks to them like us drawing shameless attention to ourselves and our bodies doing rather significant things that theirs can't do, or simply playing sport too. I even reckon the move to get men into women's sports is less about pushing trans than showing men are still 'better than' women at something. Shame on the BBC for that report a while back saying male 'breastmilk' is just as nutritious as women's milk. Brava to the older women of La Leche League who won't weesht for these most pathetic of all men demanding access to 'breastfeeding' support groups. Seriously? Good to see a fair amount of media coverage of this farce too.