Superannuation will be added to Paid Parental Leave scheme | The Australian

Mums and dads will receive superannuation on top of government-funded paid parental leave payments, in a major spending commitment ahead of the May budget aimed at bolstering Labor’s gender equity credentials.

Women’s Minister Katy Gallagher will on Thursday unveil a plan to increase the nearly $900 a week payment by 12 per cent, which will go into superannuation accounts for the 180,000 parents who access the scheme every year.

Senator Gallagher said the measure would “close the super gap”, with men generally retiring with about 25 per cent more superannuation than women.

The announcement comes almost a year after the government’s Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce recommended it take “urgent” action to add super to PPL, which Senator Gallagher said she was actively considering ahead of the May 2023 budget.

Source: Superannuation will be added to Paid Parental Leave scheme | The Australian

A child of a surrogate mother, now a fighter against the industry

Something was just wrong, but Olivia Maurel did not know what. Until she found out that her parents paid for her. She found her biological mother after a long search.

Olivia Maurel always knew something was “off” about her birth. The secretive behaviour of her mother made it clear to her: the woman who raised her did not give birth to her. “There were no pictures of my pregnant mother, and I am five days old in the first pictures of me.”

Despite the DNA test and recognition of her biological mother, Maurel is officially a child of the parents she grew up with. Immediately after her birth, her birth certificate was sealed, and she was given a new one. There, her intended parents are listed as biological parents, allowing them to take little Olivia to France. “Swapping birth certificates should be completely illegal when you think of it.”

Maurel’s parents came into contact with her biological mother in the early nineties through a surrogacy agency. Because of the age of her intended mother, surrogacy was the only option left.

All these question marks over her head caused Maurel psychological problems, she says. She fears rejection and has difficulties in her relationships with older women. Apart from that, she has bipolar disorder, giving her depressive episodes. However, that is not because she was born from surrogacy, Maurel warns. “I inherited it from my biological mother, who is not mentally stable. The surrogacy agency should have rejected her because of that, but they did not.”

Maurel is still in touch with the family that raised her and her biological family. However, she is convinced that surrogacy is a bad thing. The births of her children, now aged between two and five, made her even more determined to fight against surrogacy. “I was so scared during my pregnancies because I did not know 25 per cent of my children’s genes. I did not know what medical issues I could transfer to them.”

Source: A child of a surrogate mother, now a fighter against the industry

CANADA: HIV Positive Trans-Identified Male Boasts of ‘Breastfeeding’ Infant with Professional Support

A trans-identified male residing in Canada who claims to be HIV positive and inserts progesterone rectally has been allegedly “breastfeeding” his child with the support of established medical clinics. Former men’s rights activist Murray Pearson, 52, who uses the name Margaret (Margie) Fancypants on social media, has been criticized after he shared an image of himself at a lactation clinic holding a young infant.

Disturbingly, Pearson has also revealed that he is HIV positive and is aware that the deadly virus can be transmitted through breastfeeding.

In a shocking display of further disregard for the child’s health, Pearson speculated as to whether his experiment would qualify him as a candidate for the participation in academic research.

Reduxx reached out to Dr. Klein to request information on her involvement in Pearson’s experimental lactation, and she confirmed that she had been monitoring Pearson for his HIV infection at the Chronic Viral Illness Service of the McGill University Health Centre.

Dr. Klein further states that Pearson had expressed a desire to breastfeed and then had been referred to an endocrinologist.

Prior to identifying as transgender, Pearson was involved in politically advocating for the US-based, anti-feminist men’s rights non-profit A Voice for Men (AVFM).

The organization was founded in 2009 by Paul Elam, who has said that there would no longer be “any place to hide on the internet” for “lying bitches,” and members associated with the group have previously published personal information about women who opposed their activities.

Criticism of Pearson’s claims to be “lactating” and “breastfeeding” have focused on concerns that he is “motivated… to experience sexual arousal from lactation” . . .

This is not the first controversy that has involved trans-identified males breastfeeding babies, with a number of recent examples triggering concern over the past year.

Last year, a lactation professional in Australia along with a women’s rights campaigner were warned that they had broken the law after criticizing a trans-identified male who had boasted of breastfeeding his infant. Shortly after, a trans-identified male in the UK dismissed critics of the practice as “transphobes” after he posted images of himself with a baby latched to his nipple.

Source: CANADA: HIV Positive Trans-Identified Male Boasts of ‘Breastfeeding’ Infant with Professional Support

For the BBC, sorry seems to be the hardest word | Milli Hill

On Tuesday I wrote a post that has since had 20 thousand views and caused a bit of a storm. The post was a response to a BBC News item on Monday night in which the presenter Rajini Vaidyanathan claimed that, according to the NHS, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and numerous studies, ‘transgender women’s milk is just as good for babies as breastmilk’. Vaidyanathan’s guest, a woman completely unqualified in the area of breastfeeding, Kate Luxion, not only supported this claim but built on it, stating that male ‘milk’ was not just equivalent to, but potentially of ‘higher quality’, than women’s.

To summarise my findings:

  • All of the news coverage came from one letter written by an NHS medical director, now no longer in post.
  • Nowhere has it been stated that this letter represents the position of the NHS itself.
  • The WHO guidance that the letter refers to concerns the benefits of women breastfeeding over formula milk and is not about induced lactation.
  • The letter refers to five academic studies that support induced lactation but four out of five of these studies are on females.
  • The BBC referred to ‘one case found what it called no observable effects in babies fed by induced lactation’. This study was in fact into the effects of a female person taking testosterone whilst breastfeeding.
  • The one study in the NHS letter that was into male ‘milk’ was a case study of a single male. (more on this in a moment)
  • This was the same study that Kate Luxion suggested showed male milk was of ‘higher quality’. In fact, that study found the male ‘milk’ to have a higher fat content. This is not an indicator of quality.

But in spite of the huge numbers of people who have been reading and sharing my piece, the misinformation at the heart of the story has continued to be spread globally.

An article in ‘Futurism’, who I hoped might be a niche bunch but who in fact have 1.2 million instagram followers, went with:

As averse as I am to conspiracy theories, it’s been tempting at times to wonder if this misinformation is intentional. Why would the state broadcaster effectively rubber stamp this story, allowing false claims that males can breastfeed to be spread far and wide?

It is disheartening that no media outlet including the BBC has seen fit to correct this story, which is truly ‘fake news’.

Source: (3) For the BBC, sorry seems to be the hardest word

When trans rights trump babies’ rights | The Spectator

Over the weekend a letter came to light written recently by a Dr Rachael James in her role as medical director of Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. In this letter, Dr James insisted that the milk a man can sometimes induce is just as good for babies as their biological mother’s breast milk. They’re both ‘human milk’, says Dr James, and therefore ‘ideal food for infants’. She includes in her letter, by way of proof, a link to the WHO page on the subject of breastfeeding.

Dr James is engaging here in a truly ballsy bit of subterfuge. Yes, the WHO says that breast milk is best, but it’s referring only to ordinary breast milk produced by actual women. It makes no mention of man milk. But Dr James knows that. She’s a senior consultant in the NHS and there’s not a chance she doesn’t also know that the milk produced by a baby’s biological mother is by far its best bet. Unlike man milk, a mother’s milk at first contains colostrum, which has all the antibodies, antioxidants and nutrients a newborn needs and it changes magically, in response to the needs of a child. No man has ever produced colostrum, hard as he pumps, nor anything like enough milk to feed a baby.

But Dr James’s really unforgivable omission is not to mention that domperidone, the drug used to induce lactation, might well be unsafe for a child. Domperidone has not been licensed for use in America because of concerns that it causes heart problems. Trans activists can insist till they’re blue in the hair that the small amounts of domperidone in chest milk are unlikely to harm a baby, but they just don’t know.

In all studies cited, much is made of the ‘affirmation’ a trans woman (man) feels when he’s allowed to breastfeed. It helps with his dysphoria, we’re told. There must be some official NHS document that shows how to weigh the brief satisfaction of a trans woman against the possibility of lifelong harm to an infant. I’d love to see it.

On Monday night, the BBC chose to discuss the man-milk affair with a young woman called Kate Luxion, an unqualified ‘trainee lactation consultant’ and a researcher at UCL. With a composed and serious expression, Luxion insisted that not only was man milk safe, but ‘studies’ had actually found that a trans woman’s milk contained more nutrients than the milk of a baby’s mother.
The BBC didn’t think it necessary to quiz the trainee consultant, to examine the study she cited or to ask how it could possibly be true that trans milk is actually suddenly more nutritious than the milk from a biological mother. Neither the babies nor the truth matter any more.

Source: When trans rights trump babies’ rights | The Spectator

Kerala: The transgender couple whose pregnancy photos went viral – BBC News

A pregnancy photoshoot by an Indian transgender couple – who paused their hormone therapy to have a baby – is being widely shared on social media.

Ziya Paval, 21, and her(sic) partner Zahad, 23, who live in the southern state of Kerala, were in the process of gender transition when they decided to have a baby.

Ms Paval, who says she(sic) always wanted to be a parent, was recorded male at birth and now identifies as female.

Mr Zahad, who uses only one name, was observed as female at birth and now identifies as male. He(sic) is currently pregnant, and the couple expect to welcome their baby soon.

“It is very difficult to survive,” Ms Paval says, adding that she(sic) will have to take on more dance students.

“Zahad will go back to work about two months after the baby is born. Then I will take care of the baby.”

Source: Kerala: The transgender couple whose pregnancy photos went viral – BBC News

Why You Should Only Take Folate and Never Folic Acid

Too much synthetic folic acid from supplements and fortified foods may harm brain development and could be involved in rising rates of neurodevelopmental disorders in children.

Story at a Glance

  • It’s extremely rare to get too much folate from foods, but it is possible to get too much folic acid, the synthetic version of folate found in supplements and fortified foods.
  • In pregnant mice, high levels of folic acid harmed brain development in offspring, and low levels of vitamin B12 made the damage worse.
  • The combination of low vitamin B12, which often occurs in people eating vegan or vegetarian diets, along with high folic acid, could be increasing neurodevelopment disorders in children.
  • Due to prenatal supplements and fortified foods, many people have abnormally high levels of folic acid.
  • Studies looking into the effects of folic acid on autism development are conflicting, with some showing a protective effect, but a growing body of evidence points to potential harms when consumed in excess.
“There’s no doubt the introduction of folic acid diet fortification has been beneficial, substantially lowering the incidence of neural tube defects,” Ralph Green, University of California–Davis professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, said in a news release. “However, too much folic acid may have detrimental impacts on brain development, and that’s something we need to sort out.”7
Mr. Green and colleagues conducted a study that found excess folic acid is associated with neurodevelopmental risks, especially in concert with vitamin B12 deficiency8—a significant concern as folic acid intake has grown.

Source: 12ft

Global awareness of women’s health being ‘hijacked by vested interests’

The global drive to increase awareness of women’s health is being hijacked by major corporations promoting flawed or ineffective tests, treatments and technology, doctors and public health experts have warned.

[F]eminist health narratives are increasingly being co-opted by commercial interests to market products or interventions that are not backed by evidence, said researchers writing in the BMJ.

The surge in marketing risks harming women through inappropriate medicalisation, overdiagnosis and overtreatment, said Dr Tessa Copp, a public health researcher at the University of Sydney, Dr Minna Johansson, a GP in Gothenburg, and colleagues.

Companies have historically exploited health agendas by co-opting messaging about female autonomy to encourage women’s consumption of unhealthy commodities like tobacco and alcohol, they wrote. But this phenomenon has now expanded across women’s health.

They cited two examples of how feminist discourse was being hijacked to push non-evidence-based healthcare to healthy women.

The first was the anti-müllerian hormone (AMH) test, which measures levels of AMH in the blood, linked to the number of eggs in a woman’s ovaries.

The test does not reliably predict the chance of conceiving but fertility clinics and online companies globally are marketing it to the general public suggesting as much, the experts warned.

The second example cited was the view that all women having screening should be notified about their breast density, one of several independent risk factors for breast cancer.

Breast density notification can also increase women’s anxiety, confusion and intention to seek additional screening, while the unreliability of breast density measurement is another concern, they added.

In conclusion, they say: “We need to ensure the goals of feminist health advocacy are not undermined through commercially driven use of feminist discourse pushing non-evidence based care.”

Source: Global awareness of women’s health being ‘hijacked by vested interests’

Early Female Transgender Identity after Prenatal Exposure to Diethylstilbestrol: Report from a French National Diethylstilbestrol (DES) Cohort

In recent decades, a significant increase in the number of transgender people has been reported. Although, its etiology is unknown, biological, anatomical, genetic, environmental and cultural factors have been suggested to contribute to gender variation. In XY animals, it has been shown that environmental endocrine disruptors, through their anti-androgenic activity, induce a female identity.

In this work, we described four XY individuals who were exposed in utero to the xenoestrogen diethylstilbesterol (DES) and were part of the French HHORAGES cohort. They all reported a female transgender identity starting from childhood and adolescence. This high prevalence of male to female transgenderism (1.58%) in our cohort of 253 DES sons suggests that exposure to chemicals with xenoestrogen activity during fetal life may affect the male sex identity and behavior.

Source: JoX | Free Full-Text | Early Female Transgender Identity after Prenatal Exposure to Diethylstilbestrol: Report from a French National Diethylstilbestrol (DES) Cohort