Give me the breast (milk)
posted by M. LeBlanc
This article (via Jezebel) claims that men have all the necessary equipment to breastfeed: mammary glands and pituitary glands. And as we all know, they have nipples. Apparently the pituitary gland is necessary because it produces prolactin, the hormone responsible for triggering the body to secrete milk. The article says that men naturally produce small amounts of prolactin, but their minds can "demand" that the gland produce more under unique circumstances.
But why couldn't we trigger breast-milk production by administering doses of synthetic prolactin? It wouldn't surprise me if a synthetic prolactin is already in existence--wouldn't it be useful for women who are having trouble breast-feeding? I don't know, I'm not a scientist or a doctor, but given that there are all kinds of synthetic hormones that are manufactured, it seems like they could at least try.
And that way, men would be able to breast-feed, right? Which would be really awesome. There are a ton of reasons I can think of that this would be beneficial for families and children. Sometimes women die in childbirth and thus can't breast-feed. Sometimes they are unable to breast-feed for whatever reason (e.g. breast reduction surgery can fuck up the milk ducts). It could be a huge step toward gender-equality in child-rearing. People always talk about how women are just "naturally" closer-bonded with babies, as a justification for why the responsibility of child-care should fall to them, but a good part of this has got to be that mommy's the one from whom food springs eternal. It seems like it would be awesome to have a family arrangement where both parents could breast feed.
Of course, I'm sure the idea of breast-feeding sends men all across the world into fits of nightmares about the loss of their masculinity. But hey, what's more macho than manning up and giving your kid the tit so he or she can be healthy? Not much, I say.
I demand research!
But why couldn't we trigger breast-milk production by administering doses of synthetic prolactin? It wouldn't surprise me if a synthetic prolactin is already in existence--wouldn't it be useful for women who are having trouble breast-feeding? I don't know, I'm not a scientist or a doctor, but given that there are all kinds of synthetic hormones that are manufactured, it seems like they could at least try.
And that way, men would be able to breast-feed, right? Which would be really awesome. There are a ton of reasons I can think of that this would be beneficial for families and children. Sometimes women die in childbirth and thus can't breast-feed. Sometimes they are unable to breast-feed for whatever reason (e.g. breast reduction surgery can fuck up the milk ducts). It could be a huge step toward gender-equality in child-rearing. People always talk about how women are just "naturally" closer-bonded with babies, as a justification for why the responsibility of child-care should fall to them, but a good part of this has got to be that mommy's the one from whom food springs eternal. It seems like it would be awesome to have a family arrangement where both parents could breast feed.
Of course, I'm sure the idea of breast-feeding sends men all across the world into fits of nightmares about the loss of their masculinity. But hey, what's more macho than manning up and giving your kid the tit so he or she can be healthy? Not much, I say.
I demand research!
Posted at 10:37 AM
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