Actually in this specific case maybe not. As I perused the articles today I was rather bored and didn’t feel like reading a whole hell of a lot. Just before finishing up I came across an article that seemed interesting, to say the least. It seemed that a man was having a baby and not in the traditional way that you would think like his wife was having it or something like that. Nope Thomas Beatie is the one actually having the baby.
Even if you haven’t read the article, I figure that you can assume how a man can have a baby. Thomas was born a girl. Hell Thomas was girl enough to have won herself some beauty pageants in her teens. As she got older though she traded in her crown and sceptre for a razor and a jock.
She had her breasts removed and began taking hormones to grow facial hair and drop her voice a few octaves. But she never wanted her female plumbing removed and replaced with some new equipment. This means that she/he is considered transgender.
But the transgender issue is not what I want to focus on. As far as I am concerned I try to keep an open mind and to be brutally honest whatever your sexual preference is, that is your business and it doesn’t bother me in the least. If you have been born in the wrong body, I can understand having sex changes as well. And sure I was taking a few liberties when explaining her slight transformation, but that was merely b/c a) I can be a jerk and b) I can not understand the getting pregnant thing.
Her partner has two children from her previous male partner and was wanting another. Thomas always wanted to have a child through the ‘natural’ process’ so that she could have one of her/his own. So their natural process began with her wife going to a veterinarian and acquiring a syringe. They also had their container of sperm all ready to go -not sure if there is a drivethru sperm bank but seems to be rather easy to get some sperm. They then injected the white glob of life into his vagina.
So now 6 months later Thomas is pregnant and telling the world. She has been on Oprah spreading the word to make people understand and feel more comfortable about this natural birth. And/or the motive behind spreading the news could be based on narcissistic reasons and for attention as she may just want the world to know that he is doing this and is the first one and so on. Oh by the way good job Oprah almost down to the level of Gerry Springer aren't you?
Finally why I am actually bringing this up. It terrifies me to think of what this childs life could be like. Oh I know you are going to say "well at least the child will have two loving parents and siblings to grow up with." And to that I completely agree. Many children grow up in broken homes no matter if there is a mommy and daddy, daddy and daddy, mommy and mommy, and so on.
So yes this could be good in that respect. But what I fear is the possibility that this child will go through some severe mental confusion once mom and ‘dad’ explain the ‘natural’ process of his or hers' birth. Can you imagine what that conversation would be like; "so I then placed the syringe inside dad's vagina..." Could you imagine the kind of complete and utter mind fuck that would be? Enough to make you completely mental and wonder what the hell they were thinking.
Furthermore this child attempting to explain this to friends as they grow up? Either they will suffer terrible humiliation along with severe beatings or will be completely shunned and ignored as many individuals will consider this child to be a complete and utter freak.
So I think this is a mistake in my opinion for the child's sake anyway, but hope it works out. But with my open minded way and in our changing times who knows by the year 2030 stories like this will not sound weird as generations will be growing up with all kinds of families. But I tell you this right now, if they figure out how to get a man pregnant, after gender reassignment surgery, I am officially checking myself out.
7 comments:
"May Contain Nuts". That's classic! Anyway pal, this is really bizarre, and if you read in 2030 this kid had issues growing up and turned to a life of crime of something, well, would any of the world be surprised? Let's hope things don't turn out that way for this kid.
I think it's ridiculous to frame a kid's entire life outlook based on the method of conception or to say it's a bad idea to even attempt it because of the possible psychological effects it *might* have later in life.
I don't know if my kid will be looked at differently because of how she was brought into this world, but I do know that, as parents, we see that she learns about it, understands the circumstances, and realizes that everyone's definition of normal varies. She'll be loved by her parents and given the tools to deal with any bullying or persecution that may follow.
And I can't speak for the couple in this article, but I'm fairly confident that if they had so much love to give a child of their own to go through this ordeal, that they would almost certainly equip their little one with the ability to deal with life on his/her own terms, without having to worry about it being the central cause of becoming a serial killer or a criminal mastermind.
I'd rather see the article condemming people for drinking, smoking and doing crack while pregnant, and the harm that may come to those kids, before you start handing out caution tape to string around this family's house.
Unfortunately from your comment you missed the point I was making with this entry.
“I think it's ridiculous to frame a kid's entire life outlook based on the method of conception or to say it's a bad idea to even attempt it because of the possible psychological effects it *might* have later in life.”
I never said that I was framing “a kid’s entire life based on the method of conception”. If you think that I was hacking on artificial Insemination or any other method for pregnancy then you are completely wrong. I think that is amazing and if we ever decide to have a kid who knows what assistance I will need?
I also stated myself that this child will at least be in a home with two parents’ and hopefully they will give it love and kindness regardless of gender and so on. And as I stated I hope that it works out.
But the point was that this story did blow my mind that a women posing as a man would have a baby. Plus this is not your normal insemination she went to a VETERNARIAN to get the syringe. And if your dad and mom are PHYSICALY the same person you can not tell me that this will be an easy pill to swallow no matter the amount of love or preparation you have had.
Finally I wish there was more done and said about mothers and fathers mistreating their children in any way. I cringe and it sickens me to hear horrible stories of unfit mothers smoking, doing crack, or hitting the bottle during pregnancy. But you don’t hear of many cases any more b/c in this creepy, messed up, morally defunct world we live in it is all to common to hear of mom wasting babies brain before baby even has a chance to see the world.
Nope sorry the story about the mawomen having a child was merely about that and nothing to do with artificial insemination and to me it just merely stood out as a little different then the norm and hence why it is being discussed by the masses
Don't worry Forts, I didn't think you were saying anything against IVF, I was just drawing a parallel from my own experience.
I was replying to both your article AND BP's comment, but you do say something like "I don't think it's a good idea, but I hope it works out". I just don't think that the method should be considered the biggest factor in this kid's future development.
You're looking back as someone who grew up in a normal/traditional family situation, but I think a kid who grows up in this admittedly-unique environment isn't going to wrestle with feelings of how weird it is, because it'll be the only thing they would have known. It'll seem normal to them... the kid's mom will be his mom, and the dad will be his dad.... And really, how many conversations have most of us had with our folks about the method and circumstances of our conception?
As for going to the vet - Syringes are pretty hard to obtain apparently, vets are a lot easier than going to a doctor or pharmacy in the states, they'd all think he was exhibiting drug seeking behaviour...
No worries, I figured you were point out BP’s comment as well. When you said
"And really, how many conversations have most of us had with our folks about the method and circumstances of our conception?"
Don’t you think it will be a little different in this case? I mean I didn’t want to know about my conception but from sex-ed I pretty much figured it out.
I think like most homes their parents talk about sex and you figure out how you came into this world. But in this case the discussion will have to come up when your mom is your mom and your dad is also your mom with a beard, I don’t remember that day in sex-ed.
I read that story before I had a chance to read your blog. My first response... now there is a guy with balls!!! I also thought that he was pretty smart to leave his female plumbing intact on the chance that he'd want kids. It's a painful thing to want to have kids and not be able to have them. As for the kid... all that his peers will really know for the longest time is that he has a Mom that looks like a Mom... and and Dad that looks like a Dad. Little kids don't get or dwell on things that happened before they were born. I suppose there will be lots of questions when the child is older and the pregnancy pictures come out. Hopefully he or she will have the support of a loving family to help them understand the great gift (and sacrifice) that his Dad gave him.
Kerri
I guess in the end it really doesn't matter as we will all go on about our lives and will forget about this story in the next few days. We will take care of those around us and that child’s development will be the furthest thing from our minds. Then the day of the birth there will be some coverage no doubt and we will remember this tale.
Soon after the stories of the birth people will state their joy for this family or their concerns of the whole ordeal and in no time after that this will be forgotten from our minds and filed under some old story that we were positively touched by -in a good way-, maybe shocked by, felt indifferent by, or merely wanted to discuss just to discuss and all the feelings or lack thereof we get from stories in the same realm.
So as most things in the end it means nothing except those involved, so to them I say best of luck.
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