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Talking about "lactating individuals" is awful..
Firstly, it's just offensive. It reduces new mothers to a biological function. A new mother is not just a birthing machine and milk producer. She's a mother, with all of the implications for her, her family & baby. 1/8 https://twitter.com/theresaboyle/status/1351528846345039872
Firstly, it's just offensive. It reduces new mothers to a biological function. A new mother is not just a birthing machine and milk producer. She's a mother, with all of the implications for her, her family & baby. 1/8 https://twitter.com/theresaboyle/status/1351528846345039872
2nd - many women are shocked by the sexism they experience, overtly & covertly, when pregnant & breastfeeding.
3rd - some poor women are "lactating individuals" when suffering the trauma of stillbirth or neo-natal death. Removed the motherhood is cruel. 2/8
3rd - some poor women are "lactating individuals" when suffering the trauma of stillbirth or neo-natal death. Removed the motherhood is cruel. 2/8
4th - new motherhood is often utterly overwhelming. The intensity of it, the lack of sleep, the hormonal surges, the physical effects after childbirth, the feeling of vulnerability & being overwhelmed combined with joy & happiness are experienced by many women. 3/8
This tiny, helpless, fragile being is utterly reliant on YOU, and if you are breastfeeding, every aspect of the baby's welfare, well-being, physical and emotional existence are provided by the nursing mother. It's also sometimes very difficult to be apart from your newborn. 4/8
5th - "Lactating individuals" is exclusionary. There are many, new breastfeeding mothers who won't have a clue that this phrase means them. It's inaccessible to women who speak good English as a 2nd language, and those whose education / understanding means it's meaningless. 5/8
"Inclusive" language that means you need to fluent in tortured woke-speak is actually not remotely inclusive. It's inclusive of the well-educated chattering twitterati. Which, astonishingly, excludes a lot of new mothers. 6/8
Breastfeeding mothers, nursing mothers, etc, are phrases which are clearer, more easily understood, and make perfect sense to most of us. Tangling language up is a half-witted thing to do. 7/8
It's sexist nonsense. As others pointed out, the journalist who wrote "lactating individuals" has no problem with writing about the % of men who have prostate problems.
Women. Mothers. Breastfeeding mothers. Not offensive terms. "Lactating individuals" can get in the bin. 8/8
Women. Mothers. Breastfeeding mothers. Not offensive terms. "Lactating individuals" can get in the bin. 8/8
