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It is about time that this current tabloid sensationalism claiming a spate of men are having babies, stopped. It is misleading, it is untrue.
As far as I have read every one of them is someone who has been born female, and then chosen to undergo various treatments to effect a sex-change to become a 'man'.
Each of the individuals concerned have been only part way through the process, and in several cases ceased to take the hormone treatment so that the process, at least in part, is reversed; deliberately so in order to have the baby: in other words their body was deliberately manipulated to stall the masculinisation and to strengthen and restore their body's female nature.
There was no operation to remove the female sex organs, even though there might have been a process being undergone to create a phallus as a part of their body. They still had their ovaries and uterus and vagina: they were biologically still women. Whatever outward appearance they may have exhibited that might have made them visually appear to be masculine, the fact remains they were still women.
Did they have functioning testicles? No. Did they still have functioning ovaries? Yes.
If they had been born hermaphrodite (which happens not infrequently in nature), then there might have been some real story, although it really would not be that sensational. A fair few people are born hermaphrodite and are operated upon at birth to decide their gender one way or the other, as appears most apt in each case.
Many hermaphrodites are born without it being obvious and might even spend most of their lives without themselves or anyone else being aware of the fact that they carry both male and female gonads. Usually only one set of gonads is in a location that makes them functional, i.e. accessible; the other set is usually isolated deep within the body. However it can thus lead to either a clear dominant gender identity in their body, or a mixture of both male and female identities.
Had these 'men' through the sex-change process they were undergoing, achieved fully functioning testicles (unlikely as this is), and had had their ovaries removed, then there might have been grounds for a story. Perhaps the uterus might have been left in situ, as any man who became pregnant would have to have some cavity that acts as a uterus, no matter how make-shift.
There is no additional 'miracle' in these pregnancies, other than the miracle that conception and birth and life is anyway. There may be a personal miracle for the individuals concerned, because they thought they had lost the ability to conceive as a result of the sex-change treatments they had chosen to have.
But as it is, these 'men' were fully biological females, whatever their preferred gender and gender ambition: it is a 'none' story.
Jane Fae: Men Giving Birth: Media Nonsense, Or an Opportunity to Raise Awareness of Trans Issues?
'Pregnant Man' Who Gave Birth To 3 Babies Reveals Life At Home
Calling it 'bigoted' doesn't really add much to the discussion.
The author is basically chiding the newspapers for introducing sensational headlines that are obviously incorrect and fly in the face of reason.
Kind of sums it up, don't you think?
Peter Martindale
Human Rights Activist
does this impressive title come with a duty to report accurately?
"A fair few people are born hermaphrodite (sic) and are operated upon at birth to decide their gender one way or the other, as appears most apt in each case."
The stigmatising term 'hermaphrodite' is no longer used to describe human beings, usually replaced by 'intersex'. In the strict biological sense hermaphroditism could only apply to a person in whom two fertilised ovum had fused together, vanishingly rare occurrence.
Also unless health is likely to be endangered few sensible specialists should recommend surgery until the individual concerned sold enough to make that decision. It's reprehensible to assume their gender should be decided at birth or that a surgeon has the right to decide what is most 'apt'.
The Huff Post has published some well-informed and sensible articles about trans issues recently ... viz Diane Ehrensaft on trans children. Why was this highly insensitive article by somebody with no specialist knowledge thought suitable for publication? It's crass on the issue of transgender and ignorant about intersex.
The only thing I'd agree with Mr Martindale on is these occurrences should not be news. They are private matters for the individuals concerned whose right to privacy and family life should be respected. Mr Martindale is billed as a 'human rights activist' yet succeeds in trashing these people's human rights and personal autonomy which should be the only issue. His prurient discussion of private medical histories has no relevance to any human rights argument whatsoever.