Womanhood is a Reality, Not a Feeling

How La Leche League Failed to Defend Single-Sex Spaces and Biological Truth

You are free to believe what you want, just as I am. However, no one has the right to compel others to participate in their beliefs, particularly when those beliefs deny biological reality. Demanding that people affirm a falsehood—that sex can be changed—is neither compassionate nor just. It’s akin to telling someone with bulimia that their distorted view of their body is correct. Such affirmations do nothing to help the person and instead reinforce a harmful delusion.

People should feel free to dress and express themselves however they like—I dress in a gender nonconforming way myself—but expression doesn’t override reality. Sex is immutable, written into every cell of our bodies. No amount of surgery, makeup, or clothing can change that. The concept of “gender identity” often boils down to nothing more than outdated stereotypes. To suggest that wearing a dress or makeup is what makes someone a woman reduces women to appearances and behaviors. It’s wearing “woman-face”—an appropriation of womanhood that is as offensive as it is reductive. Women are not a costume or a feeling. Womanhood is biology, not a performance.

This appropriation of womanhood erases what it actually means to be female and gaslights women into accepting that their sex-based rights should no longer exist. It’s Orwellian. Words like “woman” and “female” are being redefined to suit an agenda, and the reality of biological sex is treated as if it’s bigotry to acknowledge. This isn’t just an intellectual exercise; it has real-world consequences, particularly when it comes to women’s single-sex spaces.

Photo by Katherine Hanlon on Unsplash

Witness the Latest Female-Only Space to Fall to the Pressures of "Chestfeeders" - The La Leche League

In 2021, La Leche League (LLL) International, supporting 300,000 families yearly, adopted ‘chestfeeders,’ mirroring trends in organizations like the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, diluting its focus on biological motherhood. The leader of LLL Great Britain came under fire, in 2024, when she resisted the edict to allow men who want to experience breastfeeding into the meetings which she says are the places where women “bare all – emotionally and physically.” Once a sanctuary for mothers, LLL has now succumbed to the pressures of inclusivity. This move undermines the biological essence of motherhood and breastfeeding, reducing them to acts that can be performed by anyone, regardless of sex. It's a stark example of how even spaces dedicated to the very nature of womanhood are being redefined, diluting the unique experiences and roles of women in society.

Societies across the world have established single-sex spaces for a reason. These spaces aren’t about hatred or exclusion—they’re about safety and dignity. Women have historically fought for the right to have spaces away from males, not because all men are violent, but because males as a group have a statistically higher propensity for violence. Bathrooms, locker rooms, shelters, and prisons exist as female-only spaces to protect the vulnerable from potential harm. Forcing women and girls to share these spaces with males who identify as women violates their human rights.

Erasure of Sex-Based Rights is a Human Rights Violation

Asking women to forgo their safety, privacy, and dignity in the name of “inclusivity” is not progressive—it’s regressive. It prioritizes male feelings over female rights and dismisses the very real reasons why these spaces exist. Women are not obligated to sacrifice their boundaries or accept male intrusion into their lives simply because someone claims to “feel” like a woman.

Erasing sex-based rights and denying biological reality is a profound injustice. Women are not a feeling, a costume, or a stereotype. To deny our biology is an affront to our humanity, and asking us to compromise our safety in the name of someone else’s identity is nothing less than a human rights violation.