The First Male Pregnancy
One of the greatest stories of our time?
What do you think?
Read some excerpts from an interview in Paperveins magazine.
Janice
Mr. Lee, as we just discussed, male pregnancy may prove to be an extremely dangerous medical procedure at this point – particularly when your doctors perform your Cesarian operation. Why have you chosen to do this?
Mr. Lee
A lot of people have cast this endeavor as something terribly monstrous – a startling example of how science and medicine have simply gone too far. From my perspective, however, I am simply bringing a child into this world. There is nothing more natural and beautiful on this earth than that. This is something that I've always wanted to do. ....
.... Janice
How would you respond to people who would consider you a pregnant transvestite and not a pregnant man?
Mr. Lee
Well, it's not really accurate. I'm still male afterall – biologically and anatomically. It's interesting that some people believe the definition of being a man is so precarious! And unlike the men who feel this strong desire to physically become women, I've never wished for that ... and I haven't done that. I have, however, always wanted to have a much stronger empathy with women. I love my mother and sister very much, and I'm very happy to share in something they have both experienced. Being pregnant is a wonderful feeling. It's something that all human beings – both men and women – should experience before they die. This process has been a spiritual rebirth for me.
What do you think?
Read some excerpts from an interview in Paperveins magazine.
Janice
Mr. Lee, as we just discussed, male pregnancy may prove to be an extremely dangerous medical procedure at this point – particularly when your doctors perform your Cesarian operation. Why have you chosen to do this?
Mr. Lee
A lot of people have cast this endeavor as something terribly monstrous – a startling example of how science and medicine have simply gone too far. From my perspective, however, I am simply bringing a child into this world. There is nothing more natural and beautiful on this earth than that. This is something that I've always wanted to do. ....
.... Janice
How would you respond to people who would consider you a pregnant transvestite and not a pregnant man?
Mr. Lee
Well, it's not really accurate. I'm still male afterall – biologically and anatomically. It's interesting that some people believe the definition of being a man is so precarious! And unlike the men who feel this strong desire to physically become women, I've never wished for that ... and I haven't done that. I have, however, always wanted to have a much stronger empathy with women. I love my mother and sister very much, and I'm very happy to share in something they have both experienced. Being pregnant is a wonderful feeling. It's something that all human beings – both men and women – should experience before they die. This process has been a spiritual rebirth for me.
Comments
The possibility of a man reproducing is strange to me. I’ve only seen it once in a 1994 film starring Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Emma Thompson called “Junior.” I cannot wrap my mind around such an idea, because the ideals of my culture defy it. Yes, women do want men to share a role in parenthood, but do a majority of women want men to dip into this territory? A territory that woman have dominated for over ten thousand years. My mom often makes jokes that my dad is three months pregnant because of his beer belly, but she and I both know that if such a concept could be brought into reality, it would score a place on the charts of controversial issues along with same sex marriage and stem cell research. Would such a “convenience” to women and men improve or degrade marriage and society as a whole? For women who are work-alcoholic and don’t want to slow down to start their pregnancies, could/would they ask their husband to take the “burden” instead? Because, as the video explained, the procedure has to be medically carried out, men cannot get “accidentally” pregnant. I feel that the possibility of men becoming pregnant would drastically change female and male roles in our society. For me, the main difference between my mom and dad is that my mom gave birth to me and my dad was sleeping on a bench in the hospital. If a man could give birth, would his child call him “dad” or “mom”? In my Vietnamese culture, the hardship that a mother endures to bring up her child is highly emphasized, especially in traditional songs and lullabies. Laboring on the field for hours is nothing compared to the adversity that a mother faces with pregnancy and raising her child.
When I discovered that the video was “art,” I was surprised. The subject was so compelling. The story was laid out so carefully and cleverly that I believed it. Of course, I was going to hop onto google later and find out more, but for that moment I was hooked. I can understand the range of people who angrily responded to this video without researching. Blind arguments are rarely safe.
Before finding the truth, I was disgusted and somewhat ashamed. Ashamed because a fellow human would dear to break such sacred barriers and also so that the definition of motherhood could be so easily crushed. Civilization was built around the delicacy of women, they were not sent to war, their jobs were not strenuous- EVER HEAR OF A THING CALLED "LADIES FIRST". Do you know why it's ladies first, because we can bear children! I can believe I feel for this I'm upset for being so susceptible...this storyteller is good
There were a few things that made me suspicious, but not enough to give it away. One was Mr. Lee's description of the pregnancy as a "project" which I just sort of wrote off as Mr. Lee being kind of an ass (you shouldn't get pregnant just for the experience--what about the child?! was my thinking). The next thing I thought was a bit off was the CT scan of Mr. Lee--it looked like the baby was in a uterus as opposed to just an amniotic sac in the abdominal cavity, but then I thought that perhaps that could be explained through some kind of transplant or whatnot required for the procedure to be more safe (since ectopic pregnancies are incredibly dangerous). Then I guess the last thing that stood out to me was simply the idea that there was no mention of previous research/experimentation aside from successful ectopic pregnancies in women and generally doing something that would be considered extremely unethical (especially if the child ended up horribly deformed or something) and probably illegal in the US. But again, I was willing to ignore it since I only had a limited amount of information.
In retrospect I'm kind of amazed at how much was off about it, yet I was still willing to believe it. The more I think about it, this sort of thing is just like executing a good troll on a message board, isn't it? It manages to hit all the sore spots without looking suspicious.
Even if men were able to bear a child; how many would actually want to? This could be a masculinity issue. Many straight men would think that this is a feminine thing, but they are right this is naturally for women.
This idea of male pregnancy would upset many people, but it would also make some really happy.