An Australian woman is on trial for criticizing males who attempt to breastfeed. Jasmine Sussex was sued by trans-identified male Adrian “Jennifer” Buckley for alleged “vilification” after raising concerns online about biological males attempting to “chestfeed” newborn babies.
The conflict originated in 2019 when Buckley, a paramedic, posted on Facebook about inducing lactation in order to breastfeed his infant son. At the time, while Buckley’s wife was still pregnant, he publicly shared that he was taking hormones to grow breasts and explained: “For the past six weeks I have been taking a drug called domperidone to increase prolactin in an attempt to be able to produce breast milk so that I can have the experience of breastfeeding.”
Sussex subsequently made a series of public social media posts criticizing men’s attempts to breastfeed or “chestfeed,” as it is occasionally called: to induce lactation via the use of drugs and hormones in order for a male to nurse an infant. Sussex condemned the practice as “experimental” and at times, a “dangerous fetish,” to which Buckley took offense.
Sussex, a mother of three children, was formerly a volunteer breastfeeding counselor with the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) for nearly 20 years, where she assisted new mothers in inducing lactation and breastfeeding their babies. However, Sussex was dismissed from her role with the ABA in 2021 after pushing back against the adoption of “gender neutral” language in breastfeeding care.
Specifically, the ABA said that she had “overused” words such as “mother” and “mum” during consultations, though the ABA has since denied ever disciplining a counselor for using those terms.
In November of 2023, Sussex was officially notified by the Queensland Human Rights Commission that she was being investigated as a result of a complaint lodged by Buckley, who accused her of vilification and discrimination under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991, which was amended in 2013 under the Gillard government to include provisions regarding “gender identity.”
“I am a transgender woman who, under medical supervision was able to induce lactation and was able to feed my child breast milk for a very brief time in 2019,” Buckley wrote in his 2023 complaint.
“Jasmine Sussex is a gender critical (GC) Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist (TERF). She didn’t agree with the ABA’s Decision to be supportive of LGBTQI families, specifically Transgender Parents and did not agree with the use of gender inclusive language,” Buckley’s initial complaint read. “I also shared this experience on a Facebook post for the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) page in 2021 on mothers’ day and was met with mostly praise and support except for Jasmine Sussex, a ABA counsellor at the time.”
Buckley then went on to reveal that he was at least partially responsible for Sussex having been let go from her role with the ABA after he lodged a formal complaint against her.
“[Sussex] had made a post to the ABA, stating that I was a man pretending to be a woman. I was notified by other counsellors about her behaviour and was encouraged to put in a formal complaint which I did. She would later be terminated as a counsellor for the ABA. Since being let go, she has become increasing, hurtful, hateful, defamatory, vilifying, and discriminating towards transgender people both adult and children, and using public rallies and twitter as well as You Tube to promote her hate.”
In 2023, Sussex spoke to Reduxx about the ABA’s decision, and said, “I was sacked for. … ‘Engaging in Sectarian Controversy’ in breach of the ABA constitution,” she explains. “In other words, continuing to talk about the dangers of gender identity ideology for mothers and babies, including how men were forcing their way into the breastfeeding relationship by attempting to induce lactation.”
The ABA received a $20,000 grant from Rainbow Families in 2021 in order to develop a “trans-inclusive” booklet titled Breastfeeding, Chestfeeding and Human Milk Feeding, which the ABA currently sells on its website for $15. The booklet cautions that “transgender parents” may feel excluded from “women-only spaces,” such as mothers’ groups or breastfeeding support groups “if they do not pass as female.” It further advises that the “feeding experience” should be “affirming” for such individuals.
According to the 2023 complaint, Sussex first became aware of Buckley’s attempts to breastfeed his son after coming across an interview he participated in with The Daily Mail the previous year. Buckley was dissatisfied with how he felt he was represented in the article and was successful in having it pulled; however, archived versions of the article continued to be shared among women who criticized the practice as harmful to the infant.
Additionally, Buckley cited a social media post made by women’s rights group Standing for Women Queensland in May 2023. The post, which Sussex shared, published the archived version of The Daily Mail interview with Buckley in a critical light. In his complaint, Buckley stated that he had reported the post and Sussex’s comments to Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant.
As previously reported by Reduxx, Sussex and Standing For Women Queensland (SFWQ) were both contacted by Twitter (now X) on May 16, 2023, with the platform informing the two accounts that specific content they had posted would be censored to Australian users in order to comply with Australian law.
Twitter sent two emails to each user, the first explaining that the platform had received “official correspondence” from a“government entity or law enforcement agency” which had claimed that their content had violated Australian law. A second email was sent shortly after to each user advising them that the content was going to be withheld in Australia.
Sussex had one tweet withheld, while SFWQ had five tweets censored in total. All of the content referred to Buckley and criticized him for his attempts to breastfeed his son.
Buckley further cited, as evidence of vilification, that Sussex had spoken with Reduxx after being censored by the Australian government. As Reduxx is not under the jurisdiction of the country’s eSafety Commissioner, Buckley is unable to have the article taken down.
“Jasmine and the page owner of Standing for Women Queensland spoke to an independent news site called Reduxx, claiming that they had been censored by the government, even though it was due to cyber abuse,” Buckley wrote in his initial complaint. “In the article, both talked as if I had done harm to my wife and child with Jasmine referring to me as a man and using male pronouns. Jasmine always calls me a man or male.”
As the case against Sussex progressed, her legal team called on five expert witnesses to provide testimony on the various issues presented by male chest secretions being fed to infants. Among them: a pediatrician, a leading midwife, and a bioethicist. The witnesses testified that secretions produced by males who induce lactation via the use of hormones appear to be of lesser quantity, and quality, than the breastmilk naturally produced by nursing mothers. Lawyers representing Sussex presented medical evidence to the court last week arguing “biological males” could only produce “sweat or pus” from their chest.
According to Stephanie Bastiaan of Women’s Forum Australia, doctors at the hospital where Buckley was receiving estrogen and domperidone were “reportedly warning Buckley that attempting to feed the newborn baby from Buckley’s chest could put the child at risk.” Ignoring the advice from medical professionals, “Buckley signed a waiver and pursued it within the first hour of the baby’s birth while Buckley’s wife was being treated for a haemorrhage.” However, he would later claim that he stopped trying to “chestfeed” the infant within days of leaving the hospital due to a short supply of “milk.”
Despite Sussex’s criticism of attempts to breastfeed by men constituting a risk to infants, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) determined that Buckley’s legal team did not have to provide medical evidence regarding the chemical makeup of the fluid given to his baby, and stated that it was not of relevance to whether Sussex had vilified him in her social media posts.
In a January 13 decision, QCAT member Peter Bridgman referred to Buckley with feminine pronouns, and stated, “Whether or not Ms Buckley received the medical treatment, the nature and effects of the treatment, the composition of various bodily fluids and the qualifications and experience of those working with her are not elements of the alleged vilification… [Buckley’s] recent medical treatment is simply not relevant to the matter.”
During a QCAT hearing on June 24 appealing that decision, Buckley’s legal representative Kathleen Foley said they would not be advancing a case on the makeup of the liquid produced by his chest, whether it qualified as “lactation,” and whether or not there was medical supervision involved in the process.
Despite Sussex being investigated for vilification over comments linking male “breastfeeding” to sexual fetishism, Buckley has on multiple occasions claimed that women become sexually aroused when nursing infants. He has since deleted the posts, though concerned women have saved and shared screenshots of his remarks.
In April last year, Buckley said on X, “Natal women do experience arousal while breastfeeding. It’s nothing to be ashamed off [sic] and normal. Doesn’t make them evil.”
For his part, Buckley has used social media to vilify his critics as “TERFs”, a slur frequently used by trans activists against detractors, and particularly against women who criticize gender identity ideology. The acronym stands for “trans exclusionary radical feminist” and has repeatedly been used to call for the censorship of, and violence against, women who refute the idea that men can become women. In June 2025, Buckley boasted that he “ended up making more breast milk” than his wife was able to produce, which he claimed “pisses off TERFs.”
Sussex told Reduxx that her primary motivation for questioning the legitimacy of male “chestfeeding” is the health and safety of babies.
“I’m very lucky to have compassionate, pro-bono lawyers and some wonderful world renowned expert witnesses to support the tribunal in understanding the marvelous maternal capacity to nourish our young. But being pursued through protracted litigation by a fixated activist is hard going on my well-being and resilience,” Sussex said. “I struggled to suppress spontaneous tears during the recent medical records appeal listening to my barrister explain my many concerns for the harms from male attempts to lactate not least the disruption of the loving bond between mother and her nursing baby.”
She added: “The attack on mothers by some men who claim to be women, or worse mothers, leaves me feeling physically grief stricken. It is the mothers alongside their babies in these broken relationships who compel me to stand firm and repeat again: No, men cannot breastfeed.”
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