On September 26th, my husband and I found out that we were expecting our first baby and on January 4th, we found out we are having a girl!
For any first-time parents, this life-changing news is both exciting and overwhelming. It’s exciting because we are going to be parents yet overwhelming because of how many questions there are regarding parenting and the plethora of resources to go through.
This is why La Leche League (LLL) is so beloved by so many moms.
In fact, this resource was recommended to me because of the amount of information and insight it provides for new moms so they can make the transition to newborn/baby life as seamless as possible.
More specifically, La Leche League specializes in the topic of breastfeeding, which for upcoming new moms like me can be an overwhelming topic to tackle, partially because the internet is oversaturated with advice, schedules, methods, and more.
This is why La Leche League was started– to give moms practical support with no stress:
“At the time [1950s] in the USA, many traditional breastfeeding practices were no longer the norm. Nursing your baby was not encouraged by the medical establishment, and not practiced widely enough for there to be practical support available. Seeing this gap in information and support, [La Leche League was born].”
La Leche League was widely known for decades for being pro-mom and pro-baby, a combination that is comforting for first-time moms.
However, in recent months, La Leche League took a surprising, shocking turn.
“La Leche League… supports everyone who wants to breastfeed or chestfeed in reaching their goals. We do not discriminate based on sex, gender or gender identity.”
Yes, you read that correctly.
La Leche League is now including so-called chestfeeders.
More specifically, the organization originally founded upon being pro-mom and pro-baby, has “opened their arms” to include biological men who want to participate in a sacred, bonding, and nurturing experience that God designed for women alone.
As a soon-to-be-mom, I find this “inclusion” insulting and debasing.
Marian Tompson, one of the founders of La Leche League, agrees with me and resigned in November of last year:
“[La Leche League] has become a travesty of my original intent.
From an organization with the specific Mission of supporting biological women who want to give their babies the best start in life by breastfeeding them, LLL’s focus has subtly shifted to include men who, for whatever reason, want to have the experience of breastfeeding despite no careful long-term research on male lactation and how that may affect the baby.
This shift from following the norms of Nature, which is the core of mothering through breastfeeding, to indulging the fantasies of adults, is destroying our organization.”
Men cannot breastfeed. Men cannot be mothers.
Marian Tompson is right– to believe otherwise is delusional.
This is a biological fact that should not be up for debate in any setting, especially one designed for mothers and their babies.
Pretending that men can breastfeed and be mothers is not only factually false, but it is intellectually dishonest and debasing to real moms everywhere.
Miriam Main, an LLL Scottish breastfeeding advocate, also resigned over the same issue and raised some serious awareness over the danger of allowing biological men in the LLL support group:
“Single-sex spaces for breastfeeding are necessary to protect what some refer to as the mother-baby dyad – that unique and symbolic relationship between woman and baby. I remember feeling a bit miffed that my husband couldn’t stay with me at the first LLL meeting I attended, but it didn’t take long for me to understand why. Women bare all emotionally and physically…
The dynamic would not be the same with men present.”
When Miriam Main and others raised serious concerns over not only the safety of women but also the safety of the babies in the group, they were ridiculed and verbally abused by leaders in LLL:
“We began to be told that as an inclusive organization we would have to welcome trans identifying men who wished to breastfeed to our meetings. Leaders then began to raise legitimate concerns about safeguarding issues. For example, the physical safety of a baby being breastfed by a man; the social and physiological safety of a mother separated from her baby so a man can breastfeed; the psychological safety of women in the room where a man is present; the need for privacy for women with certain religious beliefs. In raising such concerns, we were told we were transphobic, and we were compared to racists and Nazis – by other Leaders!”
Just as female athletes deserve to have their privacy and sports teams protected from biological men, mothers, and their babies deserve to have their privacy protected from biological men who would like to intrude on their space and overall feeling of comfort and safety.
A woman’s pregnancy and motherhood are unique to her alone, and these precious experiences must be protected from infiltration that comes from radical, fraudulent, and dangerous ideals.
La Leche League, please return to your senses and acknowledge biological fact for the sake of truth and the safety of mothers everywhere.
