My team's research article about transmasculine individuals' experiences of lactation, chestfeeding, and gender identity has been published!!! It's open
access. Please share widely!
In this University of Ottawa study, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, I
interviewed 22 transmasculine individuals.
Here’s a quick overview of what’s new and exciting about this paper:
1) Discussion of
pregnancy and chestfeeding after top surgery. Out of 22 participants, 9 had
chest surgery before they became pregnant. They experienced different amounts
of mammary growth during pregnancy. Some chose to chestfeed and others didn’t. This
is the first paper to discuss experiences of chestfeeding after chest surgery!
2) The paper
includes the first academic reference to a transmasculine individual binding
during the lactation period, and taking testosterone during the lactation
period. As the paper states, the participant reported that his child had normal
testosterone levels, i.e., it appears that the child was not exposed to any
effects of testosterone through the milk. Also, the participant reported that
there seemed to be no decrease in his milk supply. Binding and taking
testosterone allowed the participant to chestfeed for longer because
these actions helped mitigate his gender dysphoria.
3) Zero of the
participants’ surgeons discussed the potential for future chestfeeding before
performing top surgery. Equally important, participants reported that they
didn’t feel comfortable bringing the topic up, either. They cited their
surgeons’ strong and obvious belief in the gender binary and the feeling that
they needed to tell the right story in order to access chest surgery.
4) Changes in
secondary sex characteristics during pregnancy. References in the academic and
medical literature state that a low-pitched voice and facial hair are permanent
results of taking testosterone. However, in this paper, we report the
experience of one participant who found that when he stopped taking
testosterone and became pregnant, his facial hair literally fell out and his
voice became higher in pitch.
5) Experiences of
gender dysphoria. As you might expect, some study participants reported
experiencing gender dysphoria when chestfeeding. Some of them stopped
chestfeeding due to gender dysphoria. However, others did not gender the
process of feeding their babies from their chests at all. Nine of 16 participants
who initiated chestfeeding reported experiencing no gender dysphoria while
chestfeeding. Three of them didn’t experience gender dysphoria during
chestfeeding but they DID experience it after they weaned their babies. The
usefulness of chestfeeding in terms of nutrition and bonding was cited
frequently as a reason for doing it.
6) Unexpected and
unwanted lactation. Several participants who had had chest surgery and chose
not to chestfeed their babies experienced problems with milk coming in. One had
early symptoms of mastitis. Both the participants and their health care
providers were unprepared.
7) How gender dysphoria
can be triggered by health professionals. We tend to think of gender dysphoria
as something that a trans person experiences because of their body. In
this study, we found dysphoria could be triggered, in a person who otherwise was not
experiencing it, by the way they are treated by others. From the paper: “care
providers and others are capable of causing
gender dysphoria in a patient by misgendering them. Conversely, care providers
can affirm a patient’s gender identity through appropriate language, respectful
touch, and other intentional actions, and thus alleviate distress associated
with gender dysphoria.” In other words, the act of chestfeeding itself might
not cause gender dysphoria for a transgender guy, but a health care provider
talking about putting baby to “mom’s breast” might do so.
8) Using donor
milk. Seven of the 22 participants said they used or intended to use donor
milk, and one donated milk to others.
9) The language.
This study was trans led, and the language used throughout the paper is
appropriate for our community. We didn’t say in this paper, “some trans men
use this word chestfeeding” and then ourselves use breastfeeding or nursing after that
when we wrote in our own words. We used chestfeeding throughout the paper, as
THE word. Why? Some trans guys are okay with “breastfeeding,” but some are very
triggered by it. We didn’t think any trans guys would be triggered by “chestfeeding,”
so we decided to use that term throughout.
What a way to celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia,
Transphobia and Biphobia!
With so much thanks to the study participants who made this possible,
and my research team members Joy Noel-Weiss, Diana West, Michelle Walks, MaryLynne Biener,
Alanna Kibbe, and Elizabeth Myler. Big thank you as well to Karleen Gribble for her detailed comments in the open peer review process!
