Thank you a hundred times over for this article. It needs screamed from the rooftops!
I had a double mastectomy 10 years ago because of breast cancer. I was 36. I hate it being minimised as ‘top surgery’. It’s major surgery which leaves you with a variety of problems from scar tissue to reduced mobility.
It is not a simple or straightforward option for gender dysphoria and it makes my blood boil when I hear it being described as life saving for trans people.
I had to wait 2 months for my surgery on the NHS and that was with a cancer diagnosis. Needless to say, I do not think this should ever be available for trans people on the NHS and certainly never for children.
I have even witnessed doctors telling women that if they changed their mind they could just get implants in the future. Giving the completely wrong impression of what this surgery does.
I’ve actually been speaking to a lovely girl in America who has de transitioned and is wondering about whether to have a reconstruction. Utterly heartbreaking.
Great article, very informative. However I do disagree on one point, which is that breastfeeding for me has been one of the most empowering, grown up, affirming and independence making as an adult woman experience that I have ever had. I’ve spent 5 years doing it with 3 babies and it’s on my list of top ten all time pleasures, even though it hurts like hell to start with. I think we need to teach young women about the privilege of nourishing new life and the joy that goes with that. It puts having periods into a gloriously different perspective.
I also breastfed my own two kids, and loved doing so - my point isn’t that it’s bad, or horrible, or anything like that - it’s that it’s the most ‘entangled’ thing a human being does with/to/for another. We glorify independence in our culture, and teenage years are exactly when kids are most likely to want to strike out.
It's not how _I_ define it that matters - it's what young women think. But also - when you're breastfeeding you're not independent, it's just a fact. Nobody else can do it for you. You can't head off for a few days - heck you can't even get an unbroken night! It's the most interdependent thing there is. That's precisely what's beautiful about it, but also what is so terrifying for girls and young women in flight from adulthood, responsibility and reality.
That’s really true Helen. Young women are terrified about interdependence, not realising that they are already totally interdependent with social media (for example) and don’t really understand what ‘independence’ is at all.
However, I think those young women who have their breasts amputated probably don’t even think along those lines. They have been brainwashed by the trans ideology and hate their bodies.. just like those who feel “whole” only when a limb is removed. It is illegal to remove a healthy limb and very few doctors will do it. So why is amputation of healthy breasts not illegal? Why does the trans community have special rights?
I love the article and learn so much. But the root cause lies in the evil propagandists who started this delusion of a mutable sex by any means. These are the satans we must rid of before we can talk sense into the teens.
We have to hold government and ngos plus that evil mayor to account by lawsuits (you mentioned it), by legal means, hurting them financially and reputationally.
I also breastfed my three children, and to deny an infant this nourishment is selfish. The bonding with your new baby is a wonderful experience . The girls who throw away their womanhood are to be pitied!
Those who are proud of their scars and parade them around are mentally ill.
I don’t think profit has ever been the main motive. Incentives are messed up in the US of course but elective mastectomy has never been at a scale to really move the dial.
I think these people actually believe what they say.
I think profit is the only reason. Trans ideology is a billion dollar industry, especially in pharmaceuticals. That's why they want to hook their future patients young. Do you honestly think the whole western world is just captured by queerness out of the goodness of their hearts? Especially when the "trans genocide" they tried to tell us was happening turned out to be nonexistent.
When you have millions of dollars in profit from an industry, it is a factor in the success of that industry. The trans business is a huge money maker for Big Pharma and for unethical doctors.
And that’s why it’s so hard to stop this insanity.
Exactly, Melissa. I want to see medical malpractice lawsuits out the wazoo. And it isn't "a conservative issue," as my clueless liberal confrères paint it. It's a human issue.
Nobody with more than two synapses snapping in his or her brain can possibly approve of this mutilation and the glorification of it.
Thank you for this enormously powerful essay, and yes, sadly, still timely. I am another among those commenting here who had to have a bilateral mastectomy due to breast cancer. I chose against reconstruction because I wanted nothing more to do with hospitals and surgeons—I wanted to be free to get back to my life. Later, a friend went through several surgeries for reconstruction and died of breast cancer shortly after. These experiences underscore, for me, how heinous it is on every level that anyone would lure young, healthy women down this destructive, unnecessary path.
Yes! To all of this and having Helen on Substack!💜💚 Not sure why the sexual pleasure of having breasts isn't discussed here. Because you’re British, maybe ;)? Regardless of whether a woman experiences the life giving, bonding, oxytocin enhancing experience of feeding her baby, natural breasts are highly sensitive organs for sexual purposes too. There's a kind of dreamy look that men get when gazing at attractive cleavage that can be arousing in the appropriate circumstances, over candlelight say. I can't imagine sex without breasts, frankly. It would be possible of course, but with so much missing. I sympathize with women who have had to have them removed and wish the young women who are considering this optional self mutilation would listen to them. Also to me: breasts are sexy and sex can be one of life's greatest pleasures. Enjoy the life, and the body, you have been blessed with!
Thanks Brigid, I raised the same issue without having read this. On further reflection I realised how little discussion there is, in our society generally, of the role of breasts in female sexual pleasure. Not at all surprising, but still worthy of some feminist attention
Yes, this is exactly what young trans identified men experience when they take estrogen and grow their own breasts - the same pleasurable experiences you just described. You may fault young trans identified women for wanting to get rid of theirs, but how can you fault young TIMs for wanting to grow them?
Dana, I wouldn't say I fault anyone exactly, but I think they're on a dangerous fool's errand if they are trying to be something they aren't. I'm not a believer in gender theory, so reject the premise of your question, that there is such a thing as a person born in the wrong body. I long to be able to stretch my wings and soar into the air like an eagle, and I've had many dreams in which I do, but if I wanted surgery or pharmaceuticals to create wings from my human body, it would be called delusional. Men have nipples that can bring pleasure, but artificial breasts in men or women are less sensitive and a kind of consumer fraud in my view. Ain't nothing like the real thing.
And how do you know my artificially mimicking the opposite sex (as opposed to not medicalizing I suppose) will not give me lifelong joy, and will not give me improved health?
I’m not talking about breast implants, I’m talking about “natural” breast development in a male body via taking exogenous estrogen. I’m totally agreeing with the erogenous pleasure that breasts can give one, whether they are grown as part of female puberty or grown by a TIM from estrogen. The joy that a young TIM experiences when he realizes how sensitive and yes, beautiful, his budding breasts are, is as legitimate as the joy any woman feels about her breasts. Breasts are wonderful erogenous organs, they are beautiful, and I don’t begrudge anyone of either sex wanting to have them.
Men don't grow breasts, hormone induced gynaecomastia, ie fatty deposits around their pectoral muscles, are not breasts. Those weird looking chest lumps are no claim to femininity, just more projection of delusion.
You are incorrect, men are born with mammary tissue, including all the ducts and other structures that women are born with. Estrogen sends the message to these tissues to grow & become active, testosterone sends the message to remain dormant. Yes, mammary glands are mostly fatty lumps, but they also have structure and glandular tissue. My breasts are the same as a woman’s. Call it gynecomastia if you want, it’s just semantics; it’s mammary tissue, same as a woman’s.
Also, I don’t believe in gender ideology either, but there are simply males drawn to femininity, and repulsed by their own masculinity, starting from a young age. They will pursue feminizing themselves regardless of the risks, and the shaming by parents and society. The obverse is undoubtedly true of trans identified women, though I am not one so can’t speak to their experiences.
Hormones have risks and side effects, so not natural or harmless in my view. I don't believe it's honest to tell people they can buy (or have others pay for) optional physical alterations that will satisfy their urge to be something they aren't. Maybe I have less faith in doctors and their motives. I don't believe the "joy" one gets from artificially mimicking the opposite sex will be lasting or healthy in the long run.
It’s given me joy for 30 years. I enjoy excellent health. The main risks from taking exogenous estrogen - blood clots & increased breast cancer risk - has not affected me. I get a yearly mammogram. Just as most women would hate to have their breasts removed, so would I, though I am not a biological woman.
I recommend watching the video called "The Plastic Surgeon's Verdict: 'Gender Surgery is Mutilation not Medicine'"on Stella O'Malley's Substack. The guest being interviewed is reconstructive plastic surgeon Dr. Patrick Lappert. Dr. Lappert explains that a woman's nipple is connected by a dedicated nerve to the part of the brain that produces oxytocin, and the "top surgery" procedure irreparably destroys that connection.
I think the entire interview is amazing, especially with respect to
Dr. Lappert's crystal clear explanation of the medical ethics that are supposed to guide the practices of plastic surgeons. Dr. Lappert shared horrifying personal observations of vendors at plastic surgeons' conferences pitching GAC training programs, using the lure of bringing increased income into the doctors' already highly lucrative practices.
It is so vile, what therapists and physicians are doing, and surgeons even worse. I wish every one of them would lose his or her medical license and be criminall prosecuted. They are butchers. But I know it will never happen. If I believed in Hell I would pray that they would all rot there.
I agree that an avalanche of medical malpractice lawsuits is the only thing that's going to end this madness.
I attended an opera performance a few months ago where a young woman -- a very beautiful young woman -- performed who clearly had had her breasts cut off. Her costume was such that you could see the scars. She was listed in the program as a "male soprano." She isn't male; she's female. Even her voice gave her away. It wasn't the voice of a male soprano. It was the voice of a young woman. It was so sad to see this beautiful girl so mutilated.
Well, actually, male soprano is a completely legit voice; some call it a subset of countertenor.
But this singer isn't male, no matter how much she wants to pretend she is. As I said, I found it terribly sad that this beautiful young woman had cut off her breasts.
There was an article in the NYT recently that said that 40% of women who get mastectomys experience some form of chronic pain following on from the surgery.
This was not about trans stuff so I suspect it would have primarily been women with cancer or high cancer risk. It seems absolutely bananas to me that we would be performing this surgery on healthy women.
It also struck me as remarkable that we are willing to talk about these side effects when they arise as the result of a necessary surgery that may save your life, but not when it's an experimental treatment for a poorly defined condition that has exploded in recent years.
Thanks for this insightful article Helen. As someone who had a mastectomy after breast cancer I find it heartbreaking that young women undertake this surgery so lightly.
I’m a total Helen Joyce groupie.I love all her writings for their thoughtful and caring nature.This subject is so horrifying to me when I know how glorious the human body was designed to work.Children,breastfeeding and the whole maternal bond are what holds civilization together and maybe that is the sole point of trying to destroy it.
That London billboard is incredibly idiotic. They/them #WEareeverywhere... "Who are WE?" "Um..They/them" So shouldn't it be #Theyareeverywhere? That's more like it.
Those f*ckers steal EVERYTHING! "We are everywhere and we will be free!" Is a classic GAY Rights chant/slogan from the very early days of the GAY rights movement and has always been my favorite. G-ddammit!
Exactly right. The use of ‘top surgery’ hides the horror. The amputation of healthy breasts to create a masculinised chest is a major surgical intervention which strips the nerves from a woman’s chest to leave their skin lacking in physical sensation. It removes both the sexual function and breastfeeding function from young women.
Thank you a hundred times over for this article. It needs screamed from the rooftops!
I had a double mastectomy 10 years ago because of breast cancer. I was 36. I hate it being minimised as ‘top surgery’. It’s major surgery which leaves you with a variety of problems from scar tissue to reduced mobility.
It is not a simple or straightforward option for gender dysphoria and it makes my blood boil when I hear it being described as life saving for trans people.
I had to wait 2 months for my surgery on the NHS and that was with a cancer diagnosis. Needless to say, I do not think this should ever be available for trans people on the NHS and certainly never for children.
I have even witnessed doctors telling women that if they changed their mind they could just get implants in the future. Giving the completely wrong impression of what this surgery does.
I’ve actually been speaking to a lovely girl in America who has de transitioned and is wondering about whether to have a reconstruction. Utterly heartbreaking.
Great article, very informative. However I do disagree on one point, which is that breastfeeding for me has been one of the most empowering, grown up, affirming and independence making as an adult woman experience that I have ever had. I’ve spent 5 years doing it with 3 babies and it’s on my list of top ten all time pleasures, even though it hurts like hell to start with. I think we need to teach young women about the privilege of nourishing new life and the joy that goes with that. It puts having periods into a gloriously different perspective.
I also breastfed my own two kids, and loved doing so - my point isn’t that it’s bad, or horrible, or anything like that - it’s that it’s the most ‘entangled’ thing a human being does with/to/for another. We glorify independence in our culture, and teenage years are exactly when kids are most likely to want to strike out.
It’s really interesting how we define independence though, don’t you think? Maybe that needs more reflection? 🤔
It's not how _I_ define it that matters - it's what young women think. But also - when you're breastfeeding you're not independent, it's just a fact. Nobody else can do it for you. You can't head off for a few days - heck you can't even get an unbroken night! It's the most interdependent thing there is. That's precisely what's beautiful about it, but also what is so terrifying for girls and young women in flight from adulthood, responsibility and reality.
That’s really true Helen. Young women are terrified about interdependence, not realising that they are already totally interdependent with social media (for example) and don’t really understand what ‘independence’ is at all.
However, I think those young women who have their breasts amputated probably don’t even think along those lines. They have been brainwashed by the trans ideology and hate their bodies.. just like those who feel “whole” only when a limb is removed. It is illegal to remove a healthy limb and very few doctors will do it. So why is amputation of healthy breasts not illegal? Why does the trans community have special rights?
I love the article and learn so much. But the root cause lies in the evil propagandists who started this delusion of a mutable sex by any means. These are the satans we must rid of before we can talk sense into the teens.
We have to hold government and ngos plus that evil mayor to account by lawsuits (you mentioned it), by legal means, hurting them financially and reputationally.
I also breastfed my three children, and to deny an infant this nourishment is selfish. The bonding with your new baby is a wonderful experience . The girls who throw away their womanhood are to be pitied!
Those who are proud of their scars and parade them around are mentally ill.
The trans ideology is an ideology of the insane.
Yes the bonding is very precious ❤️
Agree. I am so glad that I was able to feed my children. It was exhausting but an amazing bonding experience.
Mastectomy is an unfortunately common treatment for breast cancer.
It is a major surgery which can leave patients with prolonged recovery and chronic pain. Still, it’s better than breast cancer.
So I have zero idea why mastectomy is performed for patients basically as a lifestyle choice.
Zero idea? How about 1. profit 2. Malice (I am convinced that, for example, Dr Gallagher is a sociopath who despises young women)
I don’t think profit has ever been the main motive. Incentives are messed up in the US of course but elective mastectomy has never been at a scale to really move the dial.
I think these people actually believe what they say.
I think profit is the only reason. Trans ideology is a billion dollar industry, especially in pharmaceuticals. That's why they want to hook their future patients young. Do you honestly think the whole western world is just captured by queerness out of the goodness of their hearts? Especially when the "trans genocide" they tried to tell us was happening turned out to be nonexistent.
When you have millions of dollars in profit from an industry, it is a factor in the success of that industry. The trans business is a huge money maker for Big Pharma and for unethical doctors.
And that’s why it’s so hard to stop this insanity.
I’ve seen what Frankenstein Ghallager says about getting your breasts back! What a liar! She should have her medical license revoked!
I think of her more as Mengele.
She should be in jail.
Exactly! In my case it was life saving.
Brilliant article—thank you, Helen!
How to stop the body modification cult?
Stop paying for it. Surgeons won’t perform these cosmetic surgeries without compensation. No to trans interventions via public or private insurance.
An aside: not that long ago, women were required to wait until age 35 to have a tubal ligation.
Detransitioners, keep up the lawsuits.
Journalists, do your part to show the harms. This isn’t a conservative issue.
Exactly, Melissa. I want to see medical malpractice lawsuits out the wazoo. And it isn't "a conservative issue," as my clueless liberal confrères paint it. It's a human issue.
Nobody with more than two synapses snapping in his or her brain can possibly approve of this mutilation and the glorification of it.
Well said, Lisa!
Thank you for this enormously powerful essay, and yes, sadly, still timely. I am another among those commenting here who had to have a bilateral mastectomy due to breast cancer. I chose against reconstruction because I wanted nothing more to do with hospitals and surgeons—I wanted to be free to get back to my life. Later, a friend went through several surgeries for reconstruction and died of breast cancer shortly after. These experiences underscore, for me, how heinous it is on every level that anyone would lure young, healthy women down this destructive, unnecessary path.
Yes! To all of this and having Helen on Substack!💜💚 Not sure why the sexual pleasure of having breasts isn't discussed here. Because you’re British, maybe ;)? Regardless of whether a woman experiences the life giving, bonding, oxytocin enhancing experience of feeding her baby, natural breasts are highly sensitive organs for sexual purposes too. There's a kind of dreamy look that men get when gazing at attractive cleavage that can be arousing in the appropriate circumstances, over candlelight say. I can't imagine sex without breasts, frankly. It would be possible of course, but with so much missing. I sympathize with women who have had to have them removed and wish the young women who are considering this optional self mutilation would listen to them. Also to me: breasts are sexy and sex can be one of life's greatest pleasures. Enjoy the life, and the body, you have been blessed with!
Thanks Brigid, I raised the same issue without having read this. On further reflection I realised how little discussion there is, in our society generally, of the role of breasts in female sexual pleasure. Not at all surprising, but still worthy of some feminist attention
The trans cult is not concerned with pleasure!
Yes, this is exactly what young trans identified men experience when they take estrogen and grow their own breasts - the same pleasurable experiences you just described. You may fault young trans identified women for wanting to get rid of theirs, but how can you fault young TIMs for wanting to grow them?
Dana, I wouldn't say I fault anyone exactly, but I think they're on a dangerous fool's errand if they are trying to be something they aren't. I'm not a believer in gender theory, so reject the premise of your question, that there is such a thing as a person born in the wrong body. I long to be able to stretch my wings and soar into the air like an eagle, and I've had many dreams in which I do, but if I wanted surgery or pharmaceuticals to create wings from my human body, it would be called delusional. Men have nipples that can bring pleasure, but artificial breasts in men or women are less sensitive and a kind of consumer fraud in my view. Ain't nothing like the real thing.
And how do you know my artificially mimicking the opposite sex (as opposed to not medicalizing I suppose) will not give me lifelong joy, and will not give me improved health?
I’m not talking about breast implants, I’m talking about “natural” breast development in a male body via taking exogenous estrogen. I’m totally agreeing with the erogenous pleasure that breasts can give one, whether they are grown as part of female puberty or grown by a TIM from estrogen. The joy that a young TIM experiences when he realizes how sensitive and yes, beautiful, his budding breasts are, is as legitimate as the joy any woman feels about her breasts. Breasts are wonderful erogenous organs, they are beautiful, and I don’t begrudge anyone of either sex wanting to have them.
Men don't grow breasts, hormone induced gynaecomastia, ie fatty deposits around their pectoral muscles, are not breasts. Those weird looking chest lumps are no claim to femininity, just more projection of delusion.
You are incorrect, men are born with mammary tissue, including all the ducts and other structures that women are born with. Estrogen sends the message to these tissues to grow & become active, testosterone sends the message to remain dormant. Yes, mammary glands are mostly fatty lumps, but they also have structure and glandular tissue. My breasts are the same as a woman’s. Call it gynecomastia if you want, it’s just semantics; it’s mammary tissue, same as a woman’s.
Also, I don’t believe in gender ideology either, but there are simply males drawn to femininity, and repulsed by their own masculinity, starting from a young age. They will pursue feminizing themselves regardless of the risks, and the shaming by parents and society. The obverse is undoubtedly true of trans identified women, though I am not one so can’t speak to their experiences.
Hormones have risks and side effects, so not natural or harmless in my view. I don't believe it's honest to tell people they can buy (or have others pay for) optional physical alterations that will satisfy their urge to be something they aren't. Maybe I have less faith in doctors and their motives. I don't believe the "joy" one gets from artificially mimicking the opposite sex will be lasting or healthy in the long run.
It’s given me joy for 30 years. I enjoy excellent health. The main risks from taking exogenous estrogen - blood clots & increased breast cancer risk - has not affected me. I get a yearly mammogram. Just as most women would hate to have their breasts removed, so would I, though I am not a biological woman.
I recommend watching the video called "The Plastic Surgeon's Verdict: 'Gender Surgery is Mutilation not Medicine'"on Stella O'Malley's Substack. The guest being interviewed is reconstructive plastic surgeon Dr. Patrick Lappert. Dr. Lappert explains that a woman's nipple is connected by a dedicated nerve to the part of the brain that produces oxytocin, and the "top surgery" procedure irreparably destroys that connection.
I think the entire interview is amazing, especially with respect to
Dr. Lappert's crystal clear explanation of the medical ethics that are supposed to guide the practices of plastic surgeons. Dr. Lappert shared horrifying personal observations of vendors at plastic surgeons' conferences pitching GAC training programs, using the lure of bringing increased income into the doctors' already highly lucrative practices.
It is so vile, what therapists and physicians are doing, and surgeons even worse. I wish every one of them would lose his or her medical license and be criminall prosecuted. They are butchers. But I know it will never happen. If I believed in Hell I would pray that they would all rot there.
I agree that an avalanche of medical malpractice lawsuits is the only thing that's going to end this madness.
I attended an opera performance a few months ago where a young woman -- a very beautiful young woman -- performed who clearly had had her breasts cut off. Her costume was such that you could see the scars. She was listed in the program as a "male soprano." She isn't male; she's female. Even her voice gave her away. It wasn't the voice of a male soprano. It was the voice of a young woman. It was so sad to see this beautiful girl so mutilated.
We are living in Bizarro World.
Wow. I'm always curious about what happens with singing voices and the roles attached
Wow! I love opera , but that would not have been an enjoyable experience for me! A “ male” soprano? Ugh!
Well, actually, male soprano is a completely legit voice; some call it a subset of countertenor.
But this singer isn't male, no matter how much she wants to pretend she is. As I said, I found it terribly sad that this beautiful young woman had cut off her breasts.
Excellent article. I feel so bad for young girls who are victims of this.
There was an article in the NYT recently that said that 40% of women who get mastectomys experience some form of chronic pain following on from the surgery.
This was not about trans stuff so I suspect it would have primarily been women with cancer or high cancer risk. It seems absolutely bananas to me that we would be performing this surgery on healthy women.
It also struck me as remarkable that we are willing to talk about these side effects when they arise as the result of a necessary surgery that may save your life, but not when it's an experimental treatment for a poorly defined condition that has exploded in recent years.
Thanks for this insightful article Helen. As someone who had a mastectomy after breast cancer I find it heartbreaking that young women undertake this surgery so lightly.
I’m a total Helen Joyce groupie.I love all her writings for their thoughtful and caring nature.This subject is so horrifying to me when I know how glorious the human body was designed to work.Children,breastfeeding and the whole maternal bond are what holds civilization together and maybe that is the sole point of trying to destroy it.
Y
Thanks for all you do, Helen.
I read your book the day it came out. Cool and cogent in debate. You’re very much appreciated.
That London billboard is incredibly idiotic. They/them #WEareeverywhere... "Who are WE?" "Um..They/them" So shouldn't it be #Theyareeverywhere? That's more like it.
Those f*ckers steal EVERYTHING! "We are everywhere and we will be free!" Is a classic GAY Rights chant/slogan from the very early days of the GAY rights movement and has always been my favorite. G-ddammit!
Thank you! You are such a clear thinker and not afraid of the very scary and creepy!!
😭🥲
Thank you for speaking up, Helen.
God bless you! 🙏
Exactly right. The use of ‘top surgery’ hides the horror. The amputation of healthy breasts to create a masculinised chest is a major surgical intervention which strips the nerves from a woman’s chest to leave their skin lacking in physical sensation. It removes both the sexual function and breastfeeding function from young women.
We cover this and other harmful gender interventions in our blog https://open.substack.com/pub/biologyinmedicine/p/gender-language-hides-the-horror?r=5ics92&utm_medium=ios
Do you happen to know if the normal male nipple is connected to the brain in the same way that a woman's nipple is?