My husband says yay, I say nay. What are your thoughts?

  • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    Depends on your rationale.

    If it’s to avoid all animal products no matter what, then it’s not, because it’s an animal product.
    If it’s to avoid exploitation of animals, than it is, because it’s given willingly.

    • UndecidedYellow@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      11 months ago

      There are definitely moments when I don’t want to breastfeed, but I still do because I think it’s best for the baby, it’s free, and it requires no washing up of bottle parts. In those moments, I’m not being forced, but I’m not 10000% willing either. Still vegan at those times?

      • rah@feddit.uk
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        11 months ago

        I’m curious where this question is coming from. Why does it matter whether you attach the label “vegan”?

          • rah@feddit.uk
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            11 months ago

            In that case, I’ll try and answer: I think that for 99.999% of vegans the question wouldn’t even occur to them. Veganism is about avoiding hurting animals for food, not about human breastfeeding practices. The question seems bizarre.

            • UndecidedYellow@sh.itjust.worksOP
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              11 months ago

              I’ve known a handful of folks who abstain from animal products for religious reasons. One or two did not breastfeed because they view any food produced by/in any body as tainted. Ital eating–but hyper restrictive. They never referred to their practices as veganism, but there is that “don’t eat animal products” overlap.

              I thought some vegans don’t consume animal products because they think they are unhealthy, not because of the suffering associated with it, but like I said in other comments, I really don’t know much about veganism, but am open to it.

      • Firipu@startrek.website
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        11 months ago

        So you still out of your own free will decide to give milk to your kid. It’s not as if your husband pins you down and forces you to give milk to your kid… You might not enjoy it, but nothing is stopping you from not giving it.

        Use some common sense…

        • UndecidedYellow@sh.itjust.worksOP
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          11 months ago

          I’m not vegan. I don’t know how members of the community view the boundaries of consent, etc.

          If someone performed a sexual act out of obligation rather than enthusiasm, I’d wonder about consent. That’s why I asked.

      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        That’s why I said it matters what your criteria is.
        To me, it is. You’re not being forced or coerced, you’re just not enthusiastic about what you chose.

        A moral system that doesn’t allow people to feed their children is broken.

  • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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    11 months ago

    Either you want to breastfeed or you do not and the question ends there and then.

    The baby depends solely on you for food, warmth and connection. It’s a biological imperative. You either provide or you don’t.

    Debating if a fluid your own body produces to fullfil the needs of another life you - hopefully! - willing and actively created is anything but nonsensical.

  • greenteadrinker@midwest.social
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    11 months ago

    I asked my vegan friend if they “swallow” and they said yes, because there was consent to do so. I’d go as far to extend that logic to breast milk being vegan too

    If the former was for pleasure and is vegan, then surely the latter for nourishment is also vegan too. With the basis that both were consensual

      • jeffw@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        From human to human? The sole purpose is to reduce animal (human) suffering. It is done willingly.

  • streetfestival@lemmy.ca
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    11 months ago

    If it’s acquired in fair and consensual circumstances, then I think it’s vegan. But breastmilk is made to nourish newborns and it wouldn’t be vegan for anyone but the newborn to consume most of the breastmilk

    • Runwaylights@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I agree. It’s the same with cows, the milk is produced for calves. And with humans the milk is produced for the newborns and contains a lot of important nutrients and such.

    • UndecidedYellow@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      11 months ago

      Oh that’s an interesting wrinkle. It’s vegan if consumed by the infant for whom it was made (or willingly donated).

      What if I sell my milk to a body builder just so I have a little pocket money? Not an exorbitant amount of milk or money, and it’s something I willingly do without any coercion. Vegan then?

      • Dharma Curious@startrek.website
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        11 months ago

        I have no idea if that’s vegan or not, and honestly, no opinion on it’s veganitudiness, but I’m curious… Is this a thing? Do bodybuilders buy and consume human milk?

        • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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          11 months ago

          Some will because of street legends around breast milk being more protein rich and easy to assimilate than other proteins. Essentially false but keeping with the vein: the more brawn, the less brain.

          • Dharma Curious@startrek.website
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            11 months ago

            That is… Disturbing. It’s so easy to access information, why would you drink someone’s breast milk without doing the research first? >.<

            • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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              11 months ago

              Brawn, not brains.

              It’s a strange concept to approach but there are worst things in the world.

              Unless the drinker is allergic to milk, it’s safe. For a lactating woman it is also safe.

              I can’t see any harm coming to the world by this practice.

      • Io Sapsai 🌱@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        What if I sell my milk to a body builder just so I have a little pocket money?

        As long as you’re doing it of your own free will without taking it away from your child, yes, probably. There is consent involved.

        But if your breast milk gets mixed into a batch that was produced from selected specimens who produce extraordinarily high volume of milk, impregnated with their babies taken away, tied to machines and milked in filthy conditions, kept alive by being fed antibiotics every day… Yeah you get me.

        • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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          11 months ago

          Human milk could have potential to be more ethical than any other milk.

          Hyperlactation happens in human beings, as well as another condition where lactation is locked as a permanent bodily function.

          It can be extremely painful and regularly extracting the fluid is the best way to relieve the pressure. Medication can help but events where the lactation process re-emerged have happened.

          Lactation can also be triggered without need for impregnation in humans.

  • solrize@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    I knew a vegan activist who breastfed her kid so I figure from that, it is ok.

    • UndecidedYellow@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      11 months ago

      Why is that? I’m not vegan but it’s something I’m considering. This is my first attempt to connect with a vegan community. Might be my last 😕

      • jerkface@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        Because it wildly misunderstands the most very basic concepts of what veganism even is. Veganism has nothing to say about human breast milk or the ethical practices concerning it, just like it has nothing to say about bridge building, musical theory, or 1980s late night television.

        Post like this are helpful to people who are not vegans and are trying to figure out the absolute basics so that they can even begin to have a conversation. They are not useful to vegans, and in fact they are quite aggravating to a lot of us. You are simply not equipped to “connect with a vegan community” until you have done your basic due dilligence.

        !veganism@lemmy.ca is here to cater to vegans, not people who are curious about vegans and want to interrogate them about things that they could much more easily discover from the first paragraph of a Wikipedia article. Differentiating communities is useful.

        If you want to keep harming animals, then “vegans were mean to me” will sound like a reasonable justification to do that.

        • riccardo@lemmy.mlM
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          10 months ago

          !veganism@lemmy.ca is here to cater to vegans, not people who are curious about vegans and want to interrogate them about things that they could much more easily discover from the first paragraph of a Wikipedia article

          Originally, this was this community’s intent too. The rules in the sidebar are willingly shallow about this kind of posts because at some point we decided not to be too strict with submissions, considering that there wasn’t that much activity and the mods were mostly afk . So posts like this are tolerated unless they become an omnis cicrclejerk/backpatting fest

          • jerkface@lemmy.ca
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            10 months ago

            No disrespect. Like I said, differentiation is useful. There’s always going to be a “big tent” community that has to straddle between mainstream culture’s idea of veganism and actual veganism. And it’s probably going to be bigger and more successful than a more curated community. I just want a place to go to escape my throbbing vystopia.

  • rah@feddit.uk
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    11 months ago

    What are your thoughts?

    I think the question is banal. Either that you haven’t explained enough context to understand the question.