Pregnant Man Brings Back Memory of Pregnancy Suit

Pregnant Man Sparks Thoughts of Pregnancy Suits



The "pregnant man", Thomas Beatie--who is actually a woman who had her breasts, but not her uterus, removed and now lives as a man, got that?--is in the news, and seemingly basking in the glow of his/her/whatever 15-minutes of media fame.

Beatie was on Oprah this week for the expected "ohhs" and "ahhhs" of the studio audience. For more on that, see "Pregnant 'Man' Due in July after Wife Unable to Conceive" and "Pregnant Man on Oprah: Complete 2nd Phase of Media Trifecta".

It was about that time that a letter was received by a real man, one Darren Garnick, who apparently wasn't interested in the transgender experience, but wanted to empathize with his pregnant wife by strapping on an "empathy belly".



He then wrote about the experience for the Boston Herald. Here's a bit to get the reader started.

Two weeks before my daughter was born, I strapped on a pregnancy suit called “The Empathy Belly,” and chronicled my experiences for the Boston Herald.

I participated in a birthing class, went to restaurants in the suit (surprisingly difficult to pull a chair close to the table), and even slept in it. Although there is no way to prove what people do in the privacy of their own homes, the inventor of The Empathy Belly told me she believed I wore it for the longest consecutive period of time. I was the record holder.

Not so fast, my wife Stacy reminded me.

She was experiencing pregnancy far longer than a measley 24 hours. And her suit would only come off in the delivery room.

You can read the rest of Darren's interesting media experiment at "Labor of Love: 24 Hours of Male Pregnancy"

This is where we empathize.

With Darren.

You see, no matter how many "empathy bellies" a man straps on, he's always going to catch abuse--by both men and women.

The men, typically, are dismissive with good reason. Who knows when next someone will propose this idea and want you to participate in it?

So that reaction is to be expected.

But the women are the ones who really sneer. Typical female reactions are usually: "Oh sure, you had it on for 24 hours. Try it on for nine months, Buster, then we'll talk."

Or something on that order.

So poor Darren, aspiring to be emphatic, ends up being dissed by the ladies for the audacity of entertaining the very idea. The only one who makes out in this whole deal is the manufacturer of these pregnancy suits.

Which, one can only hope, goes the way of the Pet Rock and platform shoes.

And soon, Thomas Beatie's fleeting media fame.

by Mondoreb
image: Darren Garnick's Media Lab; DBKP file
Sources:
* Labor of Love: 24 Hours of Male Pregnancy
* Pregnant Man, Pregnancy Suits and Over-rated Empathy
* Pregnant 'Man' Due in July after Wife Unable to Conceive
* Pregnant Man on Oprah: Complete 2nd Phase of Media Trifecta


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Pregnant Man on Oprah: Reactions in the News

The pregnant man completes the second phase of his media trifecta: he/she appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show Thursday. The first phase is to call a press conference: check.

The third phase involves the book deal and the TV movie.

Then well-deserved obscurity, broken only by appearances as an answer to trivia questions and "Where are they now" stories 10 years later.

Reactions to Thomas Beatie and wife Nancy's second phase.

"An American man who claims he is six months pregnant said it was a "miracle" in his first TV interview. Thomas Beatie, 34, of Bend, Oregon, used to be a woman before undergoing gender reassignment surgery.

He first claimed he was pregnant in an article headlined "Labour of love" in a gay magazine, the Advocate, last month. Many were sceptical, particularly after Beatie said he would not give any interviews until April Fools' Day."
--Pregnant Man Goes on Oprah Winfrey show

"When Thomas Beatie’s wife Nancy was unable to conceive, the Bend, Oregon resident stepped up to the biological plate and the now five months pregnant man is due in July with the couple’s first child.

“Wanting to have a biological child is neither a male nor female desire, but a human desire,” he wrote. “To Nancy, I am her husband carrying our child. I will be my daughter’s father, and Nancy will be her mother. We will be a family.”

Beatie, a female-to-male transexual, decided to keep his/her female reproductive organs even though he was now considered legally male after his female-to-male gender switch ten years ago. He and his wife Nancy moved to the town of Bend, Oregon two years ago where he operated a screen printing business."
--Source: Pregnant “Man” Due in July After Wife Unable to Conceive



"Oprah was clearly nervous during the interview. But she did Thomas, the pregnant man, and his wife Nancy justice in his first TV interview. The couple decided to go on Oprah because they wanted to tell their own story before the media got out in front of them with outrageous claims and insensitive coverage."
--Source: Pregnant Man on Oprah

"Thomas Beatie, a former woman who is now a pregnant man, defended his decision today to have a baby, saying he has a "right to have a biological child." Despite removing his breasts, growing a wispy beard and legally having his gender changed from female to male, Beatie, 34, kept his female sex organs intact because he hoped to have a child some day."
--Source: It's my right to have a baby, pregnant man tells Oprah

* * * * *

There are two types of parents: the first type wants a better life for their children then they had; the second type lives by the credo, "If it was good enough for me, it's good enough for you".

Beatie appears to belong to the second type. "Confused about his gender" means starting his/her/whatever child out in the same way.

"It's my right!"

The new Great American Battle Cry for a new century.

Damn the kid.

"It's all about me"--another Battle Cry for the 2000s--and getting to the coveted third phase.

by Mondoreb
Source: Pregnant Man on Oprah; Completes 2nd phase of Media Trifecta
images: huffingtonpost



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Pregnant "Man" Due in July After Wife Unable to Conceive

When Thomas Beatie's wife Nancy was unable to conceive, the Bend, Oregon resident stepped up to the biological plate and the now five months pregnant man is due in July with the couple's first child.

"Wanting to have a biological child is neither a male nor female desire, but a human desire," he wrote. "To Nancy, I am her husband carrying our child. I will be my daughter's father, and Nancy will be her mother. We will be a family."

Beatie, a female-to-male transexual, decided to keep his/her female reproductive organs even though he was now considered legally male after his female-to-male gender switch ten years ago. He and his wife Nancy moved to the town of Bend, Oregon two years ago where he operated a screen printing business.

Neighbors were shocked and skeptical to discover he was not only a male transsexual but a pregnant male transsexual when reporters descended upon the town after Beatie announced his pregnancy last week in the publication The Advocate.

Read the rest of Pregnant "Man" Due in July After Wife Fails to Conceive at DBKP.com


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