A Maine-based breastfeeding group is facing major backlash for promoting “trans lactation” and displaying a disturbing image of what that looks like.
The Maine State Breastfeeding Coalition posted the image last week on Instagram in honor of National Breastfeeding Month.
“National Breastfeeding Month is for every family,” the group wrote. “We’re proud to celebrate and uplift trans lactation, chestfeeding, and Two-Spirit families during National Breastfeeding Month. Every family deserves affirming, respectful, and evidence-based care. Creating inclusive spaces means recognizing that parents use different words to describe their feeding journeys, and honoring each person’s identity and lived experience.”
“Milk makes families, and every family belongs,” the group added.
Predictably, comments on the social media post are turned off, but a screenshot of the post shared by Libs of TikTok set off a firestorm on X.
“You will live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension,” Libs of TikTok wrote in response to the image of a bearded woman, or possibly a man pumping fake (or actual) breast milk out of his or her chest.
“Those people are not just insane but pure evil. WTF?” one comment said.
“This is disgusting and wrong on so many levels,” another person agreed.
The Maine State Breastfeeding Coalition touts itself as having a mission to “empower and nurture Maine families throughout their human milk feeding journeys.” The group offers an FAQ document for “LGBTQIA2S+ Parents” which includes some instructions on “chestfeeding” for men and other abominations.
“Inducing lactation in transgender women is very similar to inducing lactation in cisgender women. While there are transgender women who have successfully established a milk supply, the amount produced varies from woman to woman,” the resource material says.
The document also downplays any risks of “chestfeeding” a newborn baby while taking testosterone.
“Currently, not much evidence exists as to the safety of taking testosterone while chestfeeding,” it says. “The studies that do exist show that taking testosterone (either via cream, gel, orally, or injection) does pass into human milk in low levels, but this low amount does not adversely affect the baby or increase the levels of testosterone in the baby’s blood. It is currently considered safe to chestfeed while on testosterone.”
The organization encourages “non-birthing parents” to bond with the baby by inducing lactation. This practice sometimes involves biological males using a breast pump to produce a milk-like substance from their bodies.
“It is important to know that inducing lactation can take a lot of time and energy, but it is worth it for many families,” the document states.
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