Pregnant F-to-M Transsexual

Granted, this is not a "legal" blog entry, but I wanted to weigh in on this interesting cultural development. An F to M transsexual man is pregnant. His wife was unable to carry a child and he still had his female organs in place, so he was artificially impregnated to carry their child.

If you watch the video-news coverage, you can see the joy in the couple's faces when they learn that they are having a baby girl.

The thing that bothers me about the event is not the fact that a happy couple is about to enter parenthood, but the public spectacle that is being made out of this otherwise joyous occasion. Yes, the pregnancy itself is unconventional. But, the fact that a loving couple wishes to raise a child together is the most conventional practice around.

This exact kind of public shock surrounded intersex births. Doctors and parents were uncomfortable with the truth: sometimes, sex is not black and white. In the past, doctors treated intersex births as "emergencies" and encouraged parents to make a quick decision and "choose" a gender/sex for their child. Little boys with micropenises were transformed into girls. This type of quick decision-making is now discouraged in the medical community. Doctors and parents now recognize that sex is not always clear at birth.

Nor, as we can see today, is it always clear during pregnancy. (In the past, we could assume that a pregnant individual was a woman). As the boundaries between male and female blur we have the opportunity to become enlightened and to accept people for who they are. This pregnancy is one such example. Instead of treating these loving parents like a spectacle, we should wish them well and leave them alone.

Granted, the natural response to these comments is: but they chose to go public with their story. Why shouldn't we (the general public) be spectators in this event? True enough. However, I have a feeling that this pregnancy would have made the news with or without the couple's cooperation. At least they were able to present their side of the story by coming forward voluntarily. In any event, we can choose to continue to dwell on this unusual event or we can congratulate the couple, recognize that sex and gender are not binary categories as many insist, and move on. I choose the latter.