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(Wo)man has baby
I'm sure most of you have heard the recent news report of a man being pregnant.
The article linked above details how the pregnant parent is scared for the unborn daughter's life.
The only thing that bothers me about this whole story is that they keep referring to the mother of the child as a man. As long as the mother has ovaries she is still a woman to me. When I first heard the story of the "amazing pregnant man" I thought it was a hoax. What man has a uterus?
I have seen some strange pictures on the Internet of people with sexual organs that do not match their outward appearance (penis+breasts, vagina no breasts, penis, vagina and breasts as well as some guy with two peni!) but I did not know that many woman who go through the sex reassignment process opt to leave their female organs in place due to issues with penis construction and loss of sensation. That's all fine, it's your body and you can pretty much do what you want with it.
I do find a problem with the way the media is running this story as a "man" being pregnant. According to the legal system she is legally a man but according to biology she can not fulfill the role of being a man under the system of reproduction. Thus, to me, she is still a woman, albeit devoid of breasts.
I think it is a great thing if these two are happy together and I wish only the best for their unborn daughter. I just have to wonder why they are publicizing this story. It can't be an issue of gender rights because the case shows that when the choice came to be made she kept her female reproductive organs intact.
So there you have it. I don't feel the story warrants the excessive reporting it has received and I further think the media attention may be harmful in the long run for the family and the child. If I had encountered them on the street I would have assumed the "guy" had a beer belly and thought nothing more of it. If I lived near them I might wander how a baby suddenly appeared in their home while the "wife" was never pregnant and what amazing diet "dad" went on to lose that beer belly!
The article linked above details how the pregnant parent is scared for the unborn daughter's life.
The only thing that bothers me about this whole story is that they keep referring to the mother of the child as a man. As long as the mother has ovaries she is still a woman to me. When I first heard the story of the "amazing pregnant man" I thought it was a hoax. What man has a uterus?
I have seen some strange pictures on the Internet of people with sexual organs that do not match their outward appearance (penis+breasts, vagina no breasts, penis, vagina and breasts as well as some guy with two peni!) but I did not know that many woman who go through the sex reassignment process opt to leave their female organs in place due to issues with penis construction and loss of sensation. That's all fine, it's your body and you can pretty much do what you want with it.
I do find a problem with the way the media is running this story as a "man" being pregnant. According to the legal system she is legally a man but according to biology she can not fulfill the role of being a man under the system of reproduction. Thus, to me, she is still a woman, albeit devoid of breasts.
I think it is a great thing if these two are happy together and I wish only the best for their unborn daughter. I just have to wonder why they are publicizing this story. It can't be an issue of gender rights because the case shows that when the choice came to be made she kept her female reproductive organs intact.
So there you have it. I don't feel the story warrants the excessive reporting it has received and I further think the media attention may be harmful in the long run for the family and the child. If I had encountered them on the street I would have assumed the "guy" had a beer belly and thought nothing more of it. If I lived near them I might wander how a baby suddenly appeared in their home while the "wife" was never pregnant and what amazing diet "dad" went on to lose that beer belly!
Comments
Science is fun!
Seems like the term "Gender" is suddenly starting to have a gray area.
I think it's awesome. Definitely a lot better than that Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.
Regardless, I watched Oprah (hey, my mom always has it on!) when this guy was on it, to see what the hell it was all about. And yeah, that's not a man. That's a flat woman with a beard and a gay-guy sounding voice.
The guy also said he "can have intercourse" with his wife with his "enlarged" clitoris...*shudder*
Then they got this guy injected with sperm so they can have a kid? What the bloody hell were they thinking?
IMO, the guy isn't even the worst part. It's the wife. She started dating "Thomas" (the guy's legal name at the moment), when "he" was a female. So she's a lesbian. Whatever. I'm not anti-lesbian. But then she not only knew about the half assed sex change, but encouraged it? What the fuck?
I really don't get it. Maybe she's bi (but IMO, bi is just a term used by attention whores and 13 year old girls who haven't quite made up their mind yet, but that's for a different argument)....but it's still creepy as all hell.
He's a man legally, spiritually, and on the outward appearance (penis!, no breasts); and yet has woman organs. In my books, that makes him a man, period, regardless of his having a child. A friend of mine is also a transexual, but without the money for the operation, but because she considers herself to be a woman, I refer to her and think of her as a woman, even with the appearance of a man. Basically, whatever the person considers themselves to be, man or woman, I think of them as that.
And the whole point of males and female existing is BECAUSE of their genitalia and it's functionality. Doesn't matter what you think, believe or think is politically correct, if someone is able to incubate a fetus and then produce offspring, they are female in the human species, everything else is just details.
However, I think the important issue morally that you should try to treat people the way they want to be treated, and so if someone wants to be treated as a woman or man, then that's how they should be treated
</devils advocate>on the end of my above message which got filtered out I guess! =P
I think that this discussion boils down to people still wanting to separate people cleanly into "male" and "female" groups. Why does this person have to be concretely one or the other? The scientist who looks at their DNA would say "They have two X chromosomes, therefore they are female," but the person themselves has created the external physical characteristics of the male, and would prefer to be considered a man. Female genetically, male socially. I'm not sure if you realize how many people are actually born with characteristics of both sexes. There is a book I recommend, a work of fiction called Middlesex, by Jeffery Eugenides, author of The Virgin Suicides. The title refers to both the area in Michigan where the story is set, and the narrator, Cal, who, due to the absence of male genitalia, was raised from childhood as a girl but discovers later that he is genetically male. The writing is excellent and it provides some insight onto the tendency of people to want to classify people by sex and gender. (This is what I was talking about when I said gender is quite mutable) Grey area? Of course there's a grey area. That's one of the reasons I like Utena so much. The protagonist is comfortable with her body and her sex, but rejects her assigned gender. (Boy's Uniform, et al.) "I'm a girl, but I'm going to be a prince instead of a princess." I really really really like Utena. Whatever, homophobe. People like what they like, so shou ga nai.
If a person doesn't feel like they fit in their assigned sex role, why is the first impulse to assume that there is something wrong with their sex, and not something wrong with the role?
On the other hand, if a person wants to undergo the hormones and surgeries and it is not getting paid for out of my pocket somehow, they should be allowed to go for it. Miracle of a free country.