'Pregnant' man stuns medical profession

[Charade]

I just don't know what to say (that wouldn't get me points).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/26/wpreg126.xml

 

[momof3disneyholics]

Wow. I don't agree with this at all. First of all, if you want to be a male, then be a male. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

 

[Beth76]

Seems to me the article got it wrong. The quotes shouldn't be around "pregnant", but around "man".

 

[crz4mm2]

HE is not a "man" HE is a "transgender".

Ridiculous.

 

[smartestnumber5]

What is there to say? Two people are having a baby and because they are doing so in an unconventional way they are being treated badly by the medical community and "family" and "friends" around them. Not uncommon at all in the GLBT community--and very common for transgender folks to get substandard medical care and ridicule from supposed medical professionals.

There have been cases of transgender people (Tyra Hunter, who died in 1995, is one such person) who were denied treatment by paramedics when it was discovered they were trans. The paramedics simply stopped treating Tyra and called her names instead.

I feel for them.

 

[WDWRocksMySocks]

Wow! I understand the idea of wanting to have a child. But, why not consider adoption instead of this?

 

[Miss Jasmine]

While unconventional, it is his right to do with his body as he wishes. It's a shame that some people can't put their own issues aside.

 

[DisneyJosh]

 

[Laura]

Seems to me the article got it wrong. The quotes shouldn't be around "pregnant", but around "man".

That was my first thought!

I say who cares. Many couples go through a lot to conceive a child.

 

[Cantw8]

Oh come on...that's just messed up I really wish people would stop monkeying around with nature like this. I'm sure his decision had nothing to do with the media attention it would generate thereby opening the door for monetary possibilities sickening

 

[JR6ooo4]

While unconventional, it is his right to do with his body as he wishes. It's a shame that some people can't put their own issues aside.

Well lets see if the baby is born healthy after growing inside a person that is all hopped up on two different kinds of hormones.

Mikeeee

 

[Cup Cake]

I don't see a huge problem with this. It is extreme, but this child is truly wanted.

What I do wonder about is the effect of the hormones on this man. Stopping the testosterone, plus all the hormones involved in pregnancy, and then he'll probably go back on the testosterone. I hope his health holds up.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Well lets see if the baby is born healthy after growing inside a person that is all hopped up on two different kinds of hormones.

Mikeeee

He had stopped taking the hormones, THUS the menstrual cycle returning.

 

[Beth76]

The article states that "he" is legally a man. What does it take to become that if this person still has important female parts? Because essentially here we have two women who are married. How is this allowed but not gay marriage?

 

[laurajetter]

Seems to me the article got it wrong. The quotes shouldn't be around "pregnant", but around "man".

Ha! I was about to write the EXACT same thing!!!

 

[smartestnumber5]

Hmm, I guess I should monitor this thread since it should tell me the kinds of attitudes GF and I have to look forward to when we have kids in a few years.

We are both women--neither of us is changing our body in any way. But since GF wears a lot of men's clothes and likes to keep her hair short people often mistake her for a guy when they don't look closely enough to notice that she has breasts. I'm not feminine at all either, but I have a much bigger chest and I usually keep my hair at least to my shoulders, so people never misread my gender.

GF is the one who will be bearing the children and we have already gotten many surprised looks when we've told people about that--they seem to assume that I'm the one who's going to bear the child just because I look a little more feminine . I guess people assume that somehow long hair and wearing female clothing is a requirement for having a baby? I don't understand this at all. A uterus is a uterus. GF likes short hair and men's clothes AND she very much wants to experience pregnancy and breast feeding. I like longer hair and men's clothes don't fit me and I show more cleavage, AND I have absolutely no interest in using my uterus or breasts for reproductive purposes.

Maybe when we go to OB/GYN appointments we should dress GF all in pink so that they don't refuse to treat her .

 

[NY Disney fan]

The article states that "he" is legally a man.

Wouldn't this pose a problem with Human Resource/disability/maternity leave issues at work? I mean daddies do get parental leave after a new child enters the family but maternity leave is a whole different ballgame (legally) than parental leave.

 

[smartestnumber5]

Oh come on...that's just messed up I really wish people would stop monkeying around with nature like this.

Ah so you're against all those fertility drugs and IVF right?

The article states that "he" is legally a man. What does it take to become that if this person still has important female parts? Because essentially here we have two women who are married. How is this allowed but not gay marriage?

In most states one can change one's legal sex after having top surgery (which you usually can't have until you've been diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder by a psychiatrist and had a certain amount of counseling) and taking hormones. Many, many trans people do not get bottom surgery--it is expensive, it is much more complicated than top surgery, and it can affect sexual functioning. This is probably largely a matter of providing some level of safety for the trans person. If you get stopped by a police officer and your license says "female" but you have a beard and no breasts there's probably going to be a big problem for you.

This isn't just a trans issue--there are also lots of intersex people who are born not clearly one sex or the other. Since we don't have any sex designations other than "male" or "female" these babies have be assigned one way or the other for legal purposes even if their genitalia/reproductive organs/chromosomes do not "match." If there were some requirement for marriage that you must have been born the opposite sex of the person you are marrying, then intersex people couldn't get married because they are not born clearly one sex or the other.

 

[poohandwendy]

I don't understand the hype. It's not a man having a baby, it's a female who wants to be a man. There is nothing medically exceptional about this case at all.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I don't understand the hype. It's not a man having a baby, it's a female who wants to be a man. There is nothing medically exceptional about this case at all.

Yep, that pretty much sums it up.