Mar 29, 2008

The Pregnant Man ... or, XX vs. XY

The other day I heard about a man who claimed to be pregnant. It was in the paper that day and my co-workers were talking about it. I didn't read the article, but I found it online and read about it at my desk.

Here's the condensed version:
A "man" who was formerly a woman, underwent gender re-assignment but kept her(?) uterus and ovaries. She (now a "he") is married to a woman who is unable to get pregnant, so the "husband" had artificial insemination.... and is now about 5 months along.
Interesting.

Normally I don't use really foul language on here because I try to keep this an all-ages atmosphere... plus my mom might be reading it... but I think FUCKED UP comes to mind.

Your life is your's to live as you see fit. A pregnant man isn't going affect me or my home, so really... whatever. Knock youself out. (or "up" in this case)
But really, if you were born with female chromosomes (XX) and kept your ovaries AND uterus even though you are taking testosterone and had gender re-assignment, that doesn't make you a pregnant "man". It makes you a pregnant transgender, so let's be accurate okay?

And how exactly DID the husband get artificially impregnated? They don't mention that she had her 'lady bits' removed and a working 'johnson' installed, and if that's really the case (that "he" doesn't have penis) how can you call yourself a "man"?
Sure, she had constructive (or is it DEstructive?) surgery to appear as a man. She had breast removal (or at least severe reduction), is on testosterone and dresses like a man. So if I saw this person on the street I probably wouldn't think twice about whether or not it WAS a man.
But she kept her womb and all the working equipment inside. What for? If you want to change your sex because you feel you're in the wrong gender, go all the way. None of this half-way crap.

"Well, I know I was born a woman, but I really feel like I should've been a man. So I'm going to start taking hormones to increase my body and facial hair and go through painful and multiple surgeries to correct what nature gave me... oh! except I'll be keeping the plumbing. Yeah, that's right. I want to become a man but I don't want that icky 'thing' attached to my body."

To add insult to injury, was this really necessary to begin with? Couldn't they have adopted?
Why did the "husband" have to get pregnant? Was it for notoriety and to garner media attention? Sure, it'll make a great book and possibly an ABC miniseries, but c'mon... is that really worth it?
There's a good chance that the baby, who's supposedly a girl, will be born and grow up with more masculine features. Great. As if it isn't already hard enough for kids to find self-identity nowadays, their F'd up parents have to load even more emotional baggage on them to carry throughout their life.

I'm not going to to their neighborhood and protest outside their house or anything. But I do have to shake my head and ask... WHY?

-----------
Not enough weirdness for you?
Then check these out:

0 things people had to say: