A Man Did Not Get Pregnant, Stop Lying

There are a plethora of topics that are newsworthy. Topics that people should hear about. I am appalled that topics that should be reported are being forsaken for a mendacious propaganda designed to bamboozle readers and make money.

There are "stories" that are stealing airtime from far more important, pressing, and real topics.

For example, just about every channel is saturated with the pregnant "man."

How simpleminded do you people think we really are? That "man" is not a man. It's a woman.

A woman who underwent various procedures in order to look like a man, sort of like the myriad of porn stars that had various surgical enhancements to make them look more like something they are not. This woman has been injected with enough hormone to allow her to grow a mustache. This woman's egg was then fertilized with sperm and she became pregnant.

We are then lied to and told that a "man" (it must be a man, they tell us, since there is clearly a beard) has become pregnant. Has given birth. Has become pregnant again.

Call me kookie, but has the media lost all sense of honor?

That Donald Trump put up Ms. Hudson's family after their traumatic and horrific experience, that is news. The first woman four star general is news.

A woman who got pregnant, gave birth, and got pregnant again is not news, at least not in the way it is presented, and not to all of us. Don't get me wrong, I am happy for her. It's great news (for her and her family). Congratulations. I hope the both kids are healthy and happy and have a long and prosperous life.

But please don't tell me a man got pregnant. Please stop wasting our time. Stop dumbing us down.

I beseech you to set the example, to raise the bar, to have journalistic standards. There are so many more things that we should be bringing to the attention of the general public.

I would rather know how many civilians have been killed in Iraq since our invasion instead of hearing about a woman (with muscular arms like a man) getting pregnant.

I would rather hear about the battle for Alzheimer's disease and how they need money from me and you for further research instead of a woman (pretending to be a man) getting pregnant.

Hell, I would even rather hear about the new first puppy than about a woman (with a mustache) getting pregnant.

Please don't tell me that a man has gotten pregnant just to get readers to your site.

It's dishonest, ugly journalism, and quite frankly, makes me lose faith in you.

It's condescending and insulting and we are better than that, you have to see that.

Comments

[BonnieBeeMee]

"There are a plethora of topics that are newsworthy." Exactly.

Why does there have to be competition between these stories? There is room for stories such as these, with plenty of room left over. There's room in newspapers and on the hundreds of internet, cable and radio stations desperate to fill air time, and they show whatever will attract viewers/readers. If you don't like it, here's your remote.

[nee]

When a man with real man parts delivers a baby - then that will be news. I agree that this is a "man" with woman parts having a baby. Women have babies every day. This is not a story.

[Metienne]

It seems that people fall into two categories here. Those like Shoabear, LucyTBee, RBDixon who "get" the complexity of gender identity and those like Mr. Baqi who simply don't get it.

So sad that those who get it are in the minority.

[hbrahmbh]

I agree with you regarding Mr. Beatie who was born a woman and had a sex change. However, recent news is about a Mr. Lee who had an embryo and placenta transplanted in him and is pregnant. Check out "http://www.malepregnancy.com/"

[AshleyMarie]

I am pregnant right now.

I dressed up like Wonder Woman for Halloween.

Does that mean that Wonder Woman is real and that she is pregnant???

NO! If She gets her female parts changed out for male parts and STILL manages to get pregnant... then I'll be impressed. Until then, she is simply playing dress up, in this WOMAN'S opinion.

[RBDixon]

This is the kind of "it's just common sense" tripe that gets pushed by social conservatives speaking to socially conservative audiences about gender or sexuality topics. The same kind of tripe that people use to justify banning gay marriage, a real "Adam and Steve" line of thought.

Part of the transgender movement involves the idea that gender identity isn't fixed and doesn't go one way or another. It is a person's right to define their own identity, whether it be masculine or feminine and to what degree. Doon Baqi, you do not get to decide my gender identity and you should not be afforded the role of judgment to define this man's.

[zanzig]

Hardly a "judgment"; seems to be factual. The reproductive system in this person's case is female, although obviously he identifies as male.

[MYSHA0405]

God, Science, Chromozomes, are the things that decide your gender identity not You. Thats like me a Black man waking up one day and saying I'm white and you dont have the right to tell me I'm not. just something to think about. I dont agree with alot of things and I reckognize a persons right to choose; I'm all for equal rights for everyone but this is pushing it a little

[dollphingurl]

i am in total agreement with you, Doon. FINALLY someone says it!

i'm cool with the sex-change and all that, i'm cool with her not going the full way male 'cause she figured she'd wanna have kids someday, and i hope she gets all the publicity, cash, Extreme Home Makeovers and free diapers that big ol' belly mowing the lawn can get her, but the story itself is not at all intriguing.

[ESC]

It seems to me this person getting pregnant runs against what I understand as the reason people undergo sex-change procedures (hormonal, surgical, etc.), which is that their identity is one gender but their physiology is the other. If that's the case, wouldn't it be a little emasculating to walk around pregnant? I mean, maybe one day medical science will have the technology to allow transgender people to reproduce as their chosen genders, but until then I feel like if you're going to live your life as the opposite sex, maybe you ought to have your kids before you start popping testosterone and growing a mustache.

[elan4444]

I'm with you, Doon. It isn't a good idea to present this instance as normal. The woman had her breasts removed, therefore she won't be able to nurse the infant. Men are not giving birth, period, and I feel the same as you that it's just plain strange.

[queotic]

Harshly blunt, respectful and necessary. Thank you for saying it.

[peithecelt]

On one hand, Mr. Beattie has chosen to live his life as male, and I will be the first to refer to him as such if he has stood solid by his feeling that he is male. And it would be very disrespectful of *anyone* to disregard his feelings regarding his actual gender (as opposed to his biological reality).

On the other, Ms. Beattie expects everyone to think of her as male - reinforcing the dichotomy herself - and yet she engages in the single MOST female act available (no, being pregnant and carrying a child is NOT what makes a woman - HOWEVER - the male half of the species cannot get pregnant). Although getting pregnant takes two, carrying it to term does not.

She has chosen to bring the question of her gender to the public - any man out there whose wife could not get pregnant would have only the choice of adoption, or surrogacy. I absolutely respect his right to live as a man - if he chose to actually LIVE AS A MAN. She has chosen not to live as a man, THEREFORE, by publicizing her choice, she has opened herself up to the public questioning her status as male. Gender identity and genetic gender are not be the same thing - however - if biology doesn't make who you are - actions can make who you're not.

[gaelfire]

THANK YOU!!! This person remains chromosomally female, in spite of what his/her outside appearance is--and anyone who says otherwise is just trying to milk a lie for a fast buck.

[shoabear]

you don't get it. Its NOT about being genetically female or male. Gender identity is a different matter!!!!!! Wake UP!!!!!

[libbygirl]

This is another person/story that I would like to go away along with Palin and Joe the Plumber. What is wrong with the media?!

[LucyTBee]

There is nothing disingenuous about reporting a "pregnant man." "Man" is a social construct, a gender, and not a biological assignment (that would be "male"). Every article on the pregnant man has plainly stated that this particular man was not born biologically male but, rather, biologically female and therefore physiologically capable of bearing children. What's the problem? I think the story is important; gender norms are dynamic, and even as we discuss this story they are rapidly changing and expanding. As trans people become more accepted, more visible, better understood in our society, we are going to be seeing more pregnant men. Not pregnant biological males, but pregnant men who were born biologically female. This story goes a great distance toward challenging outdated assumptions about gender versus biological sex, and we need more of it.

Issues surrounding gender are incredibly complicated and I don't expect to explain in a single post why "man" and "biological male" are not synonymous. If you are interested in considering how gender can function irrespective of biology, Kate Bornstein's "My Gender Workbook" is a user-friendly guide to reframing gender as a spectrum rather than a binary. There are plenty of wonderful documentaries on the topic as well.

All biological sex identifies about us is our particular reproductive organs and chromosome pairings. The pregnant man may be biologically female, but to society he is, in fact, a man. And he is pregnant. I think that's pretty wonderful.

[DMSmith]

His being a man is a legal matter, and the news is honoring that.
What is crap is that he's the 'first.' It is THIS they should not be reporting. The mid-wife interviewed in the Barbara Walters piece said she knew of at least 35 herself. I personally know a female to male transexual who gave birth - also with a beard - in the same part of his transition as in this case.
Whether he's a man or a woman giving birth is possibly debatable, but he has been declared legally a man. What IS NOT fact is that he's the first.
It is for THIS reason that it's non-news and old news.

[Courtney250]

I agree with the article completely. It is not true to say that a man has become pregnant. I even had to explain it to my 12 year old son who heard about this nonstory at school.

If the couple would like to say that the 'man' of their relationship is pregnant that is fine with me but I agree that main stream media should not do the same. This does not make me intolerant of transgender people either. Why couldn't the media write that a transgender person has become pregnant? And why exactly is this even a big news story?

I wonder about the effect of male hormones on the fetus, since this is apparently a rare situation (and therefore somehow newsworthy.) I also wonder about how they can claim to be concerned about living a "normal" life when they parade all of this in public every chance they get.

They should have every right to make a family but for goodness sakes, the biology here is the same as it has been throughout history. The only difference is some facial hair and lack of breasts...oh and donor sperm.

[elan4444]

Good point about male hormones effect on the fetus. I still don't understand why someone who denies their physiology, then wants to facilitate it.

[RRuin]

Beattie stopped taking make hormone before becoming pregnant so
that is probably a non issue.