The NHS says trans women should breastfeed babies. This is unforgivable

There are a fair few trans women – men who want to be seen as ladies – who long to breastfeed real babies, and some who actually give it a good go. A few years ago this would have seemed unthinkably surreal, but I’m afraid this is the new reality and you’ll just have to get used to it.

A man who wants to breastfeed first takes hormones to grow breast tissue. Then he uses a technique adapted from something called the Newman-Goldfarb protocol, which was designed to help adoptive mothers breastfeed: he takes hormones and a hefty dose of an anti-nausea medication called domperidone and then begins an intense breast-pumping routine after which, if he’s lucky, he produces something a bit like milk.

After more time than I care to admit in forums for trans women online, I have a weary half-understanding of why a trans woman might want to try to breastfeed a baby. Many trans women (these are men, remember) have been in the grip of their obsession for decades. They’ve spent furtive years fossicking about in their wives’ knicker drawers and a small fortune on hormones and often unspeakable surgery. From what I can gather, they fancy breastfeeding because they crave ever more definitive female experiences, chasing a feeling of final validation which recedes, like a mirage, as they approach.

I have some sympathy for these poor men. They’re driven mad by hormones and the mental strain of trying to believe they’re female. The people I have no sympathy for – only cold, vengeful loathing – are the activist medics of the NHS: doctors who have sworn to do no harm and should care for babies before all others, but who instead choose to prioritise the feelings of cross-dressing men.