Here are four amazing women in one episode, with some others behind the scenes, to be sure. I have so many thoughts and levels of outrage about this, but I'll focus on one for now. While the men claiming to be women and insisting on forcing a chemical cocktail into their babies' vulnerable, trusting mouths absolutely enrage me, the women supporting this, and the women claiming to be men partaking in all of this, also enrage and deeply sadden me. Since breastfeeding is and should be all about the needs of the infant, I would never say that a woman who has "Fled Womanhood Like a House on Fire" (acknowledgment to Vaishnavi Sundar) shouldn't be supported in breastfeeding, but I'm conflicted. If there is exogenous testosterone in her body, then it is a hard no. Is anyone else starting to hear accounts of medical conditions in babies born to male identified and medicalized women? Also, as I painfully tried to explain to my male identified daughter when she was applying to college and considering a few all women's campuses, if you say you're a man and are jumping ship on all the complications and difficulties of womanhood instead of joining in the fight, I think you give up the right to the special places and privileges that a few extraordinary women like Marian Tompson have devoted their lives to securing.
You express my own unease re trans identifying women. It is, am afraid to say, a bit of having your cake an eating it, and a kick in the teeth to your fellow female human beings.
But it goes both ways, when my son (who has dabbled in gender but is not struggling terribly) wanted to audition for a female part in his school production, I expressed my concern about him taking a part that a female student could take, when there were already very few female characters. I don't know if this is what convinced him, probably not. And then at the show, 70% of kids were female, doing both male and female parts, so perhaps I worried about nothing.
It is clear that a woman/mother breast feeds for her baby and a man who tries to breast feed does it for himself and some sort of fetish or mental issue with no care of the harm and toxins that is being inflicted on the baby.
Helen Joyce is so smart and articulate. I have often said that seeing someone successfully refute her arguments is my standard for admitting I was wrong about biological realism and thus far no one has come close. I am so glad that you had her on again. And as some who successfully breastfeed my two children for almost twelve months in the 2010s I appreciate hearing from Marion about the women who paved the way forward here. I am fortunate that I had so much support and that breastfeeding came naturally due to the work of Marion and others and it is shameful what has happened.
I think many women have a strong drive to nurse their babies. For me nursing was the easiest way to sleep at night and especially with my oldest, who is a fall baby, I would cuddle and nap and feed him during those cold days. He is autistic with severe speech delays but unlike a lot of autistic kids he sleeps well through the night, so perhaps the breastmilk gave him an edge in knowing when wake time is and when sleep time is, and I think this also helps him to emotionally regulate well.
I am grateful for the work that Marion and others have done and it saddens me that more people are not listening to her years of wisdom.
Here are four amazing women in one episode, with some others behind the scenes, to be sure. I have so many thoughts and levels of outrage about this, but I'll focus on one for now. While the men claiming to be women and insisting on forcing a chemical cocktail into their babies' vulnerable, trusting mouths absolutely enrage me, the women supporting this, and the women claiming to be men partaking in all of this, also enrage and deeply sadden me. Since breastfeeding is and should be all about the needs of the infant, I would never say that a woman who has "Fled Womanhood Like a House on Fire" (acknowledgment to Vaishnavi Sundar) shouldn't be supported in breastfeeding, but I'm conflicted. If there is exogenous testosterone in her body, then it is a hard no. Is anyone else starting to hear accounts of medical conditions in babies born to male identified and medicalized women? Also, as I painfully tried to explain to my male identified daughter when she was applying to college and considering a few all women's campuses, if you say you're a man and are jumping ship on all the complications and difficulties of womanhood instead of joining in the fight, I think you give up the right to the special places and privileges that a few extraordinary women like Marian Tompson have devoted their lives to securing.
You express my own unease re trans identifying women. It is, am afraid to say, a bit of having your cake an eating it, and a kick in the teeth to your fellow female human beings.
But it goes both ways, when my son (who has dabbled in gender but is not struggling terribly) wanted to audition for a female part in his school production, I expressed my concern about him taking a part that a female student could take, when there were already very few female characters. I don't know if this is what convinced him, probably not. And then at the show, 70% of kids were female, doing both male and female parts, so perhaps I worried about nothing.
Calling it out as ‘toxic empathy’ really resonated
It is clear that a woman/mother breast feeds for her baby and a man who tries to breast feed does it for himself and some sort of fetish or mental issue with no care of the harm and toxins that is being inflicted on the baby.
Helen Joyce is so smart and articulate. I have often said that seeing someone successfully refute her arguments is my standard for admitting I was wrong about biological realism and thus far no one has come close. I am so glad that you had her on again. And as some who successfully breastfeed my two children for almost twelve months in the 2010s I appreciate hearing from Marion about the women who paved the way forward here. I am fortunate that I had so much support and that breastfeeding came naturally due to the work of Marion and others and it is shameful what has happened.
I think many women have a strong drive to nurse their babies. For me nursing was the easiest way to sleep at night and especially with my oldest, who is a fall baby, I would cuddle and nap and feed him during those cold days. He is autistic with severe speech delays but unlike a lot of autistic kids he sleeps well through the night, so perhaps the breastmilk gave him an edge in knowing when wake time is and when sleep time is, and I think this also helps him to emotionally regulate well.
I am grateful for the work that Marion and others have done and it saddens me that more people are not listening to her years of wisdom.
Loved this conversation, what a sharp, clear mind. I treasured my 'womanly art of breastfeeding', so much to thank Marian for.