MPREG Monday
In honour of MPREG Monday (sponsored by aelora) I'm going to include some links to MPREG lists, some of my favourites and a bit of commentary/thoughts.
Mpreg (or male pregnancy if you hadn't picked it up by now) has some interesting implications for writing stories about gender. In a really obvious way it's feminising male characters: placing men into a woman's body.
Pregnancy is one of the really obvious differences between the sexes and even people (like my mum) who suggest that there really isn't any fundamental difference can't escape the impact that pregnancy has on women's bodies. We're constantly pre-pregnant (even if that term is being used in a ideologically suspect way, it's kind of useful too). The decision whether to have children or not is more immanent in a woman's body: every act of heterosexual sex carries the possibility of pregnancy and reproductive technologies extend that option to any woman (with enough money/access to resources) irrespective of the sex act. Infertility and the biological clock don't actually release the pressure to become pregnant but reinforce the idea that our bodies are biologically predetermined to become breeding machines. Our choices about what we do with our lives, and our bodies, are ideologically-oriented around our ability to breed.
For me fanfic can be about exploring possibilities and Mpreg can be a pretty powerful tool for looking at Gender. We're taking male characters and giving them the experience of being a woman in a really visceral way. It allows us to actually question what gender means, what the body means, what being pregnant means by highlighting the way bodies and gender intersect. When a male is pregnant, how are they going to react to the changing bodies? How are they going to be affected by the way people around them react? And the way that we answer these questions in the fic reflects a lot about the way that we percieve the experience of pregnancy.
Mpregs can surprisingly reflect a lot of our cultures values about the family and the roles of fathers and mothers. Often the fics actually play out quite traditional family models with the 'mother' taking time off work and the (more modern) 'father' wanting to take a hands on role in the pregnancy. Rather than radically transforming family structures, Mpreg often replicates the nuclear family model and the hetero-normative bias of modern family ideologies by implicating one of the parents as female in a nominally gay couple (and yes, slash <> gay). What I mean is that the idea that we need to have children to make us complete (which is central to a lot of romance novels) gets played out in these stories by making one of the couple become pregnant. These stories reflect the cultural idea that we need to have children to make our lives complete and this can often be seen in Harry Potter mpregs, for example, where they start with the 'mother' running away because they believe they are unwanted by the 'father/s' but the idea of having a baby will somehow complete a need the parent has for a family.
The fics that I'm going to introduce here explore some of these themes in Mpreg.
Diana William's Misconceptions is a Duncan/Methos (Highlander) fic where Methos becomes pregnant after the infamous double quickening (and have I ever mentioned how erotic that scene is?) causes Duncan and Methos to have sex. It's a long story that deals with a lot of the details of the actual pregnancy: Methos has mood swings and we get detailed descriptions of all the stages of the pregnancy including sonograms in the gallery.
BJ Sandburg by Gillian is a The Sentinel fic where Blair becomes a woman for a year due to a family curse and ends up pregnant to Jim. This novel length story is quite interesting in its play with gender as it plays with some of the ways that gender is experienced through Blair's sudden reappearance as BJ. Despite their love for each other the issues of whether they will be able to carry their relationship when Blair returns and the legal implications for their children are all dealt with.
Tim (Robin) gets pregnant to Bart (Kid Flash) after having sex in an alternative dimension in Mpreurgh by Derry and Propaganda. A straight forward Mpreg where Robin has to deal with being pregnant and the implications of the experience to two 15 year old boys is dealt with. This story is actually really quite funny and I like the parasite/baby implications.
In He's Having Her Baby Rodney is convinced that John's pregnant and in its sequel, He's Having His Baby, John actually is. This is another fic that mixes the changes in the way the body functions with the social implications of the pregnancy. All of the Atlantean crew rally around John to support him while Rodney staunchly doesn't believe his cry wolf. And the whole Cesarean, Cesarean, Totally A Cesarean day is a great way of dealing with one of the fundamental differences in the plumbing.
There are quite a few Harry Potter Mpregs and just randomly, Pain of Misunderstanding by Betsanne is a good example where Harry doesn't think that Snape and Lupin love him when they have each other. Its one of the Harry disappears to have his baby stories. Reaching for Rainbows by missfortune stars a Harry who feels that Ron and Draco can't love him when they have each other. And for something a little different Just Tie a Knot by Lin W (Nesting Hedwig) has Harry pregnant after the final battle believing that everyone will hate him for being a single 'mother'.
Some Links
Crossroads - SGA Mpreg theme
Painless J's Harry Potter Lists - scroll down for links to HP Mpregs.
The Fic
BJ Sandburg - Gillian - Jim/Blair - Long (34+extras) - NC17
Blair falls under the Sandburg family curse on his thirtieth birthday: he becomes a woman.
+
Misconceptions - Diana Williams - Duncan/Methos - Long (60) - NC17
After the shared quickening, Duncan and Methos end up conceiving.
+
Mpreurgh - Derry and Propaganda - Bart/Tim - Short - MA
Bart and Tim had sex while in an alternative dimension which resulted in a baby - and now they have to tell the family.
+
Pain of Misunderstanding - Betsanne - Harry/Snape/Lupin - Medium - NC17
Dumbledore decides to take matters into his own hands when he sees how unhappy Harry is.
+
Reaching for Rainbows - Missfortune - Draco/Ron/Harry - Medium - NC17
Draco and Ron become bonded in the final battle and Harry, Ron's lover, doesn't feel included.
+
http://hpmpregfqf.design-of-decadence.net/wave1/justtieknot.html
Just Tie a Knot - Lin W (Nesting Hedwig) - H/BW - Short - NC-17
When Harry discovers that he is pregnant after being abducted and raped by Voldemort and his Death Eaters, he runs away to a small village in Scotland.
Mpreg (or male pregnancy if you hadn't picked it up by now) has some interesting implications for writing stories about gender. In a really obvious way it's feminising male characters: placing men into a woman's body.
Pregnancy is one of the really obvious differences between the sexes and even people (like my mum) who suggest that there really isn't any fundamental difference can't escape the impact that pregnancy has on women's bodies. We're constantly pre-pregnant (even if that term is being used in a ideologically suspect way, it's kind of useful too). The decision whether to have children or not is more immanent in a woman's body: every act of heterosexual sex carries the possibility of pregnancy and reproductive technologies extend that option to any woman (with enough money/access to resources) irrespective of the sex act. Infertility and the biological clock don't actually release the pressure to become pregnant but reinforce the idea that our bodies are biologically predetermined to become breeding machines. Our choices about what we do with our lives, and our bodies, are ideologically-oriented around our ability to breed.
For me fanfic can be about exploring possibilities and Mpreg can be a pretty powerful tool for looking at Gender. We're taking male characters and giving them the experience of being a woman in a really visceral way. It allows us to actually question what gender means, what the body means, what being pregnant means by highlighting the way bodies and gender intersect. When a male is pregnant, how are they going to react to the changing bodies? How are they going to be affected by the way people around them react? And the way that we answer these questions in the fic reflects a lot about the way that we percieve the experience of pregnancy.
Mpregs can surprisingly reflect a lot of our cultures values about the family and the roles of fathers and mothers. Often the fics actually play out quite traditional family models with the 'mother' taking time off work and the (more modern) 'father' wanting to take a hands on role in the pregnancy. Rather than radically transforming family structures, Mpreg often replicates the nuclear family model and the hetero-normative bias of modern family ideologies by implicating one of the parents as female in a nominally gay couple (and yes, slash <> gay). What I mean is that the idea that we need to have children to make us complete (which is central to a lot of romance novels) gets played out in these stories by making one of the couple become pregnant. These stories reflect the cultural idea that we need to have children to make our lives complete and this can often be seen in Harry Potter mpregs, for example, where they start with the 'mother' running away because they believe they are unwanted by the 'father/s' but the idea of having a baby will somehow complete a need the parent has for a family.
The fics that I'm going to introduce here explore some of these themes in Mpreg.
Diana William's Misconceptions is a Duncan/Methos (Highlander) fic where Methos becomes pregnant after the infamous double quickening (and have I ever mentioned how erotic that scene is?) causes Duncan and Methos to have sex. It's a long story that deals with a lot of the details of the actual pregnancy: Methos has mood swings and we get detailed descriptions of all the stages of the pregnancy including sonograms in the gallery.
BJ Sandburg by Gillian is a The Sentinel fic where Blair becomes a woman for a year due to a family curse and ends up pregnant to Jim. This novel length story is quite interesting in its play with gender as it plays with some of the ways that gender is experienced through Blair's sudden reappearance as BJ. Despite their love for each other the issues of whether they will be able to carry their relationship when Blair returns and the legal implications for their children are all dealt with.
Tim (Robin) gets pregnant to Bart (Kid Flash) after having sex in an alternative dimension in Mpreurgh by Derry and Propaganda. A straight forward Mpreg where Robin has to deal with being pregnant and the implications of the experience to two 15 year old boys is dealt with. This story is actually really quite funny and I like the parasite/baby implications.
In He's Having Her Baby Rodney is convinced that John's pregnant and in its sequel, He's Having His Baby, John actually is. This is another fic that mixes the changes in the way the body functions with the social implications of the pregnancy. All of the Atlantean crew rally around John to support him while Rodney staunchly doesn't believe his cry wolf. And the whole Cesarean, Cesarean, Totally A Cesarean day is a great way of dealing with one of the fundamental differences in the plumbing.
There are quite a few Harry Potter Mpregs and just randomly, Pain of Misunderstanding by Betsanne is a good example where Harry doesn't think that Snape and Lupin love him when they have each other. Its one of the Harry disappears to have his baby stories. Reaching for Rainbows by missfortune stars a Harry who feels that Ron and Draco can't love him when they have each other. And for something a little different Just Tie a Knot by Lin W (Nesting Hedwig) has Harry pregnant after the final battle believing that everyone will hate him for being a single 'mother'.
Some Links
Crossroads - SGA Mpreg theme
Painless J's Harry Potter Lists - scroll down for links to HP Mpregs.
The Fic
BJ Sandburg - Gillian - Jim/Blair - Long (34+extras) - NC17
Blair falls under the Sandburg family curse on his thirtieth birthday: he becomes a woman.
+
Misconceptions - Diana Williams - Duncan/Methos - Long (60) - NC17
After the shared quickening, Duncan and Methos end up conceiving.
+
Mpreurgh - Derry and Propaganda - Bart/Tim - Short - MA
Bart and Tim had sex while in an alternative dimension which resulted in a baby - and now they have to tell the family.
+
Pain of Misunderstanding - Betsanne - Harry/Snape/Lupin - Medium - NC17
Dumbledore decides to take matters into his own hands when he sees how unhappy Harry is.
+
Reaching for Rainbows - Missfortune - Draco/Ron/Harry - Medium - NC17
Draco and Ron become bonded in the final battle and Harry, Ron's lover, doesn't feel included.
+
http://hpmpregfqf.design-of-decadence.net/wave1/justtieknot.html
Just Tie a Knot - Lin W (Nesting Hedwig) - H/BW - Short - NC-17
When Harry discovers that he is pregnant after being abducted and raped by Voldemort and his Death Eaters, he runs away to a small village in Scotland.