26-year-old Swedish man Ragnar Bengtsson has failed in his much publicised attempt to generate breast milk. Instead, the products of his efforts have seen him rewarded with a trip to the United States to appear on The Tyra Banks Show.
In September, Bengtsson’s would-be milking milestone began with him using a breast pump on a daily basis for three hours at a time, much to the bemusement of fellow students at Stockholm University.
The Local reports that Bengtsson had been attempting to do his part for gender equality by reasoning that if men were able to breastfeed then women would be freed up to rejoin the workplace quicker, secure in the knowledge that their newborns were still receiving parental nourishment.
The experiment ultimately proved fruitless for the man dubbed ‘The Milkman’ whose television appearances and blog ‘One Drop at a Time’ both fascinated and disgusted audiences.
“We never expected the enormous reaction we got; a lot of people were almost blinded with disgust,” stated Magnus Talib of the Aschberg Show’s editorial team, when the ordeal began. The Local was inundated with requests from overseas media for details of Bengtsson with some 50 countries following his progress. When Tyra Banks called Aschberg’s producers decided that an appearance on one of television’s most popular talk shows was too good to pass up. “Ragnar just said, ‘oh cool’. Personally I would have crapped myself,” said Talib.
Bengtsson has so far not commented ahead of his appearance but was apparently relieved to finally lay his pump to rest. “All he got was sore breasts,” claimed Talib.