Pregnant with Discrimination
Many people, myself included, have been intrigued by the story of Thomas Beatie, Nancy Roberts, and their new daughter. When the couple decided to have a child and that they would like that child to be biologically connected to them, Thomas elected to become pregnant and carry their daughter since Nancy was unable to.
Given the still-ossified popular understanding of gender and biology and the continued prevalence of sexism, I suppose that the tempest of public wig-flipping and anger over this story should not be a surprise. The reaction is simply following an old pattern. Whenever popularly accepted cultural assumptions are challenged, people react out of surprise, confusion, and anger. Trans people will achieve cultural and political progress in some places, and this will be followed by two or three rounds of ugly political backlash, loss of some of their gains, and a gradual increase of the public and cultural space open to them. Sound familiar yet? I do pity them the existential experience of it, though. It's a hard, painful journey.
The following article from The Guardian is one of the more thoughtful pieces on this topic.
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Pregnant with discrimination
Jane Czyzselska
Sunday July 6, 2008
Ultimately it is prejudice about Thomas Beatie's perceived gender transgression that lies at the root of the objections to his decision to give birth.
For many it's the stuff of pure science fiction. But when Thomas Beatie gave birth to a baby girl in Oregon on Friday, he also gave the world a strong message: gender identity isn't as simple as Adam and Eve.
Dubbed "the pregnant man" Beatie had legally become a male, yet he opted to keep his female sex organs when he switched gender because his partner Nancy was unable to have children.
Beatie's case has sparked controversy. Interviewed on the Oprah Winfrey show, he said he believed that the desire to have a child is not gendered but rather it is a human need. He told Oprah, "I see pregnancy as a process and it doesn't define who I am. I'm a person and I have the right to have a biological child."
Doctors have discriminated against the couple, turning them away on religious grounds. Healthcare professionals have refused to call Beatie by a male pronoun or recognise Nancy as his wife. Friends and family have been unsupportive, most of Nancy's family unaware that he is transgender.
His first successful insemination ended in a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy with triplets, resulting in the loss of all his embryos and his right fallopian tube. When his brother found out about the loss, he said, "It's a good thing that happened. Who knows what kind of monster it would have been?"
The balance of the article can be read here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/06/gender.usa
Given the still-ossified popular understanding of gender and biology and the continued prevalence of sexism, I suppose that the tempest of public wig-flipping and anger over this story should not be a surprise. The reaction is simply following an old pattern. Whenever popularly accepted cultural assumptions are challenged, people react out of surprise, confusion, and anger. Trans people will achieve cultural and political progress in some places, and this will be followed by two or three rounds of ugly political backlash, loss of some of their gains, and a gradual increase of the public and cultural space open to them. Sound familiar yet? I do pity them the existential experience of it, though. It's a hard, painful journey.
The following article from The Guardian is one of the more thoughtful pieces on this topic.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pregnant with discrimination
Jane Czyzselska
Sunday July 6, 2008
Ultimately it is prejudice about Thomas Beatie's perceived gender transgression that lies at the root of the objections to his decision to give birth.
For many it's the stuff of pure science fiction. But when Thomas Beatie gave birth to a baby girl in Oregon on Friday, he also gave the world a strong message: gender identity isn't as simple as Adam and Eve.
Dubbed "the pregnant man" Beatie had legally become a male, yet he opted to keep his female sex organs when he switched gender because his partner Nancy was unable to have children.
Beatie's case has sparked controversy. Interviewed on the Oprah Winfrey show, he said he believed that the desire to have a child is not gendered but rather it is a human need. He told Oprah, "I see pregnancy as a process and it doesn't define who I am. I'm a person and I have the right to have a biological child."
Doctors have discriminated against the couple, turning them away on religious grounds. Healthcare professionals have refused to call Beatie by a male pronoun or recognise Nancy as his wife. Friends and family have been unsupportive, most of Nancy's family unaware that he is transgender.
His first successful insemination ended in a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy with triplets, resulting in the loss of all his embryos and his right fallopian tube. When his brother found out about the loss, he said, "It's a good thing that happened. Who knows what kind of monster it would have been?"
The balance of the article can be read here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/06/gender.usa