7 Replies to “The Pregnant Man Show”

  1. Not to be a contrarian, but I think this type of logic plays right into the hands of the Transexual Empire crowd, and is one of the reasons why I maintain that transgendered should be proud to retain their original sexual identity. Males do not give birth; ergo this is not a male. This is a woman who is living as a man.

    There was a time when queer was a dirty word, until queer logic showed the awesome positive power of the word. So too I believe that Shemale and Hewoman are not only accurate descriptions, but they empower us to be who we are: males who are NOT females but who feel and love to live as women; and women who are not males, but who feel and love to live as men.

    Hewomen can give birth. Males cannot.

  2. I agree with you Helen. I was horrified when I first heard of this and worried about the publicity. After reading the article in The Advocate I felt better. The Oprah show today only confirmed that they were not crazy. They were just doing what any couple does, have a baby. Just not in the usual way.

    But did you see the comments on Oprah’s Message Boards?

    http://www.oprah.com/community/thread/44940?start=0&tstart=0

    The folks are going crazy. Most are upset and mad at Oprah. There are 838 comments as I write this, and they are coming in at the rate of several several each minute. OMG

    Hugs,

    Vickie

  3. Marci — I don’t know who the “Transexual [sic] Empire crowd” are (I don’t know who the “pregnant man” is either), but what do you mean specifically by “original sexual identity”? Is that the sexual identity my brain tells me is mine? Or the one implied by my genitalia or the hormone balance dictated by my chromosomes? Which is original? Which is actually my sexual identity?

    Given my own situation (I tend to be pragmatic and results-based), I think it’s the one my brain tells me, not the one people usually would perceive when they looked at me. Which did you mean?

  4. Dear Lady in Waiting,

    The Transsexual Empire crowd are those who look at transsexuals–MTF’s especially–as not only suffering from delusions but having a compulsive arrogance to redefine male and female; to wit, to usurp the legitimate right of females to define themselves, and by MTF’s doing so perpetuating an ages-old pattern of males defining females. Of course I don’t agree with much of the feminist rant that they attach, but I do agree with them on one point: just because we have an overwhelming feeling of “femaleness” does not give us the right to redefine what female is, no more than Michael Jackson could legitimately say “I’m a caucasian.” There are no “sex changes” anymore than there are “race changes.”

    But my argument is more than that. By insisting that others define us as “female” we erase who we REALLY are: males who “feel” like females. But, we are not females. We are males by birth, by DNA, and by natural state. We should not deny that; instead we should embrace it, albeit in a part of the male sexual spectrum that enjoys all things feminine. In that sense, we proudly assert that the She-male is a form of maleness, not femaleness. Hormones and surgery notwithstanding, most post-ops will tell you that you never lose your sense of transsexualness, and many are depressed because of that. I guess, in short, what I’m trying to say is that it is wonderful to feel feminine in all its expression and that it is a blessing and that is enough. We need not re-write the language or deny biological certainty, and that when we do, we submit to delusion. Shemale is not a dirty word. I am a shemale and I am proud of that.

  5. Marci — Sorry, I meant to sign that comment. Moved too quickly!

    OK, I’m clearer on the concept now. And I would never want to impose a definition on you or anyone.

    I just see things differently. I was born with XY chromosomes, but then so are women who have Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, and they are women. I still have male genitalia, but hopefully men and women can’t be reduced to their genitalia, considering the possible variations and all the things that can go wrong. Until I started hormone therapy, I was dominated by testosterone. However, there are many women whose estrogen comes in pill or patch form, again they are no less women because of it.

    I did not, of course, grow up with people thinking I was female, most of the time. I grew up as a boy and later as a man, of a sort, and so my socialization has been mainly male. I wasn’t all that good at being male, and frankly there’s plenty of male socialization that I never had. All my life, I have mainly been perceived as a man, but also sometimes as a woman. Still, I would never claim to have a history of being a woman.

    From the start, however, my brain has said that I am female. Someday, science will figure out why that happens. I even have a mental body map that corresponds with typical female characteristics, not male. That’s why I am now doing what I’m doing, first with hormones, later, possibly, with surgical procedures.

    Which is my “original” sex and my natural state? According to my chromosomes, which imposed a certain hormone balance on me? According to my genitalia? According to my socialization? Or according to what my brain tells me? The brain part is, after all, just as biological as the rest. Even if someone claims that transsexualism is “just psychological,” psychological is in fact physiological, since in the end everything is.

    I will never have grown up as a girl. I will never have had the experiences of a young woman. At the same time, I will never have had many of the experiences that most boys and young men have. When I am in public now, people say “ma’am” and “ladies” (when I’m with my spouse or a girl friend), and I say they are perceiving my gender correctly, just as they sometimes did when I wasn’t even trying. Although I do, sometimes, forget that I’m trans, I realize that of course I am. I never forget where I came from, but neither will I forget where I am now or where I am going.

    If you wish to consider yourself to be a male who feels like a female, that’s your right. If you wish to call yourself a she-male or whatever and be proud of it, that’s your right too. You can also express the opinion that this is the correct way to perceive the situation. And I can disagree without being part of any empire.

    – Veronique

  6. Marci — I thought of an analogy. Like all analogies, you can eventually go too far with it, but I think it’s applicable in this case.

    I was not born in Canada. I was born in the United States. I lived the first 40 years of my life in the United States, then I migrated to Canada. I am a citizen of both Canada and the United States, but I live in Canada full time by choice. By choice, I am steeped in Canadian culture. I feel much more at home here than I do in the US (nothing against the US, which is a great country with wonderful people, and one I love to visit).

    I did not grow up Canadian. I did not have Canadian childhood experiences. I did not live any of my early life in Canada. But I am Canadian, because I chose to move here and became a citizen. In other words, I paid the price, and I walk the talk. I don’t just feel Canadian. I am Canadian, as much as any native-born Canadian. My being Canadian does not take anything away from the native-born. They had experiences I will never have. I was not Canadian all my life. But I am now.

    I am not redefining Canadian to include me. Native-born Canadians and naturalized Canadians are all Canadian. Only the adjective differs, not the noun.

    – Veronique

  7. Veronique,

    I’m not sure the two are analogous, but I think you make a point.

    marci

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