Australian Breastfeeding Association’s Push for Female Erasure Sparks Backlash

Australian breastfeeding counsellors face bullying to change their language to “gender-neutral.”

A breastfeeding counselor in Australia has come forward with concerns over an anti-woman ideological shift occurring within the Australian Breastfeeding Association – a group intended to support new mothers and their babies. ABA was foundedin 1964 by six Melbourne mothers and currently has more than 1100 volunteers.

Brenda, a volunteer lactation consultant who has been certified with the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) for 15 years, said the recent release of training modules which encouraged breastfeeding language to be more “inclusive” is stirring discontent within her field.

In May of this year, it was revealed the ABA had partnered with Rainbow Families, paying them $20,000 to assist with the creation of a booklet aimed at neutralizing the experience of breastfeeding and motherhood. The booklet, titled Breastfeeding, Chestfeeding, and Human Milk Feeding, was released this month.

The first substantive chapter of the 124-page guide opens with a line stating that “Many parents can feed their baby or babies with human milk.” The introductory erasure of mothers is continued throughout the document, the role’s title is replaced by “pregnant person,” “birthing person,” or “feeding parent.”

Brenda says she has been struggling against the ideological shift in the ABA since last year, and she isn’t about to stop anytime soon.

“We don’t need to be gender neutral because breastfeeding is not gender neutral. It is sex specific.”