Michael Abrahams | Chestfeeding ... seriously?

In 2021, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine decided to call breastfeeding ‘chestfeeding’ and refer to women as “human milk-feeding individuals”. Since then, some hospitals in the United Kingdom have instructed nurses and midwives to use the term ‘chestfeeding’ and to replace ‘breast milk’ with ‘human milk’, and ‘mothers’ with ‘parents’ or ‘people’.

These changes are not unique to the academy. There have been recent moves to replace the word ‘woman’ with gender-neutral terms, such as ‘womb-carrier’, ‘birthing person’, ‘uterus-bearer’, and ‘menstruating person’. Much of this originates from transgender advocates’ efforts to be more inclusive. Indeed, some persons who identify as men are biologically female, have not undergone gender-reassignment surgery, and still retain internal and external female genitalia. For example, my transgender patients identify as men but still require Pap smears.

The push for inclusivity is understandable. Transgender folks face many challenges. They are part of a vulnerable community and are at a high risk of being discriminated against, ridiculed, marginalised and physically assaulted. Not surprisingly, depression and suicide rates among transgender people are higher than average due to the stigmatisation and mistreatment they encounter.

Unfortunately, the push for inclusivity has the potential to negatively affect another vulnerable community: women. Cisgender women, to be exact.

Some issues disproportionately affect women and girls, including domestic and sexual violence, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, lower pay, lack of access to education, and inadequate healthcare. Because of these and other issues, cisgender women are also vulnerable.

Some insist that we agree with the narrative, “transwomen are women”. But the reality is that no matter how much a transwoman may feel like a woman, there are experiences that the overwhelming majority of cisgender women have that they have never had, and will never have.

For example, transgender women will never experience menstruation, pregnancy, breastfeeding or menopause. It is a fact that not all cisgender women will experience all the above-mentioned phenomena. Some women have hormonal or anatomical conditions that prevent them from menstruating, many will never conceive, and some go through menopause with little or no symptoms. However, cisgender women who never experience any of these belong to a tiny minority.

Women have fought long and hard for equality in many spheres. They have created their own spaces in sports and other areas where they feel comfortable associating with and competing against one another without interference, and the people they have fought for the right to these spaces have been men. After all, it really is a man’s world. Women are surrounded by patriarchy and men who are ‘running things’.

But now it seems as if women are facing a different fight. People born with penises are entering their spaces and threatening the very things they have fought for. This time, however, the people with penises are wearing make-up, dresses and lingerie.

EMPATHISE

I empathise with the transgender woman who feels uncomfortable being forced to use a male bathroom. Some transgender women look very feminine. If they stepped into a men’s bathroom, they would feel uncomfortable, and so may some men there as well.

On the other hand, some transgender women look biologically male, and walking into a women’s bathroom may cause discomfort among women there, especially if the transgender women have not undergone gender-reassignment surgery and still retain their male genitalia. Many women are survivors of sexual assault. A ladies’ room is supposed to be a safe space for them. So, it is understandable why a survivor of such an event may panic if they are alone in a bathroom designated for them and someone with male genitalia enters that space.

It is complicated.

The issue, however, is that there is a trend for the feelings of transgender folks to take precedence over those of cisgender women, and a tendency for decisions to be made to appease them at the expense of their cis counterparts. For example, a friend living in Canada was using the ladies’ room at her workplace when a masculine-looking transgender woman entered. My friend felt uncomfortable and had a conversation with her superiors about it. She was told that the person was a woman and that if she did not like it, she should use the gender-neutral bathroom instead. She is the biological female, but she is the one being misplaced.

There is also an instance where a transgender woman tied with a cisgender woman in a swimming race, and the trophy was awarded to the trans athlete. Some people are biologically male, with their anatomical advantages, and are comfortable running and swimming against biological females and even fighting them in sporting events, and there are people in positions of authority who enable this.

UNFAIR

It would be unfair to make generalised statements about the transgender community showing scant regard for the feelings of biological females, as all transgender folks do not display the same attitude. An example is popular transgender commentator Blaire White, who says she finds it “quite insulting” when members of the trans community consistently promote the idea that “trans women are women”. According to White, “trans women are trans women”, and being a transgender woman is a “specific state of being”.

I agree with Blaire White. I advocate for trans and cis women, both members of vulnerable communities. However, what I see happening are attempts to neutralise femininity and womanhood, and as someone who has spent over a quarter-century of my life taking care of biological females and witnessing their struggles firsthand, I am not up for it. So, I will not be using the term ‘chestfeeding’ any time soon. Also, I am married to a woman, not a ‘womb-carrying, menstruating person who chestfed their children with human milk’, and I appreciate and celebrate her femininity.

Michael Abrahams is an obstetrician and gynaecologist, social commentator and human-rights advocate. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and michabe_1999@hotmail.com, or follow him on Twitter @mikeyabrahams.