27 Comments

as a mum who breast fed my four babies (mastitis and cracked nipples never stopped me) and who loved breast feeding and who felt that i only really found myself and my power when i first gave birth.... i feel for you and i understand why you have had to leave. what you have been through hurts me to the core. men demanding to gate crash la leche and to subvert it's purpose. to waste it's precious resources. to pervert it's usefulness. it's just so wrong. what is happening to us all in the name of trans ideology is so wrong. it's inhumane. it goes against nature and all that is good and right in the world.

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Thank you for all your work to promote breastfeeding. I retired about 5 years ago over this and it still makes me so sad.

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This article encompasses the effects of LLL falling into the wrong hands. The BOD of LLLI needs to read this and reflect upon the damage they have caused. And then they need to answer for the damage they have caused the organization and acknowledge the mothers and babies who have been ignored in their crusade for political correctness and in the BOD’s misunderstanding about the definition of inclusivity. This is a mothering organization. It is inherently exclusive because it has to be. One cannot serve a specific population without focusing solely on that group. Let the truth ring out. Current BOD members who have pushed their personal agendas onto us all need to resign. Those with family members struggling with gender issues need to step down to end the bias. Excellent article.

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Its crazy to include men in breastfeeding groups.If anything women will stay away

Such a shame.Well written article.

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Since my name was mentioned, I want to share that, this past November, I informed the LLLI Board that I will be rejoining the Board as of the Annual Board Meeting, April 2023.

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That is awesome news! Thank you, thank you!

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What do you plan to do on the BOD to further this movement?

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Furthermore there were always random AGP males calling the Warm Line...

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100 % agree, I was a leader from 1992 - 2017 and I am appalled.

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I attended La Leche League training days as a midwife, they were great, babies and children all happily breastfeeding during the day. One great topic, sleeping 5 or more in the family bed. So sad but I understand totally how you feel. I am sure that Speech therapists are also feeling it as they have to now teach men how to speak in a more female way.

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You are a brave and brilliant woman. Many of us applaud you, please know this!

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Oh my goodness! I am speechless and heart broken. LLL gave me so much as a new mom. It is misogyny at a grand scale for the organization, the culture to go in this direction.

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👏🏻 beautifully written. I’m sorry that you had to lose your job but I’m confident you will still find a way to share your gifts.

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I quit as a Leader for the same reasons! I'd intended to be involved with LLL my whole life and was so sad to quietly quit! Thanks so much for writing this! I wasn't brave enough to speak out.

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Thank you for sharing your experience and your voice. I worked as a research assistant for Niles Newton, PhD, one of the original LLL founders, in the '70's. She was a warm, caring, brilliant woman. And I imagine she's turning in her grave right now at this crazy turn of events.

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Such a wonderful post and a great analysis of the colonization of women's identity. Thank you.

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Brava, Valerie! I whole-heartedly agree with everything you have written. As a former LLLLeader for over 25 years, your story could almost be mine too.

I have always seen breastfeeding as a feminist act and delighted in seeing other women grow into motherhood through breastfeeding. It is definitely empowering.

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My wife was in Colchester LLL. It's still going. I posted your link at https://www.facebook.com/lllcolchester

It was only in a comment to this post

https://www.facebook.com/lllcolchester/posts/pfbid02M5wfcLAcRXcEXbmFnxYMugnsAsZANPhwmyyiK9gLdWPEkmQJ4myArqm4PY8BAkz9l

Please Like my comment to boost its reach. Maybe they will take note.

Or find your local LLL social media and send them a link to Goodbye, La Leche League, A guest post by Valerie M. Hudson

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