A man is pregnant. That is an unbelievable sentence to write and as I read the news by-line I was immediately filled with doubt that this was a hoax. But after some research I am as sure as I can be without seeing him that this is true. The story is here http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3628860.ece and he is a transgendered man, born a woman and kept his reproductive organs when having sex reassignment surgery. How much does this rock your world?

Of course, because he was born a woman and kept his reproductive organs it isn't biologically astounding, but culturally, ethically, philosophically--it's rocking my world. I've been reading a lot of theory to gear up for Judith Butler's Gender Trouble and the idea of gender as a social construct is one I've been grappling with for awhile. But to see a man, a former woman who has gone through surgery and does self-recognize as a man, pregnant is mind boggling.

What does it mean to be man or woman? If a "man" can have a baby, what does it mean for the definition of gender? Can you be a man and be pregnant? Or does his choice to conceive immediately invalidate his identifying as a man and make him a woman?

I've always been pro-choice in almost all life decisions, and I don't think he shouldn't be able to make this decision. Nor have I been hesitant to allow transgendered women their full identity as female, but as I've done more and more work in feminists studies I've also began to place a lot of value and identity in my reproductive system. Not in my identity as a mother, but in my body--how it is biologically different from a man's. I'm forced to confront the question at this point--is it the body that makes a person a gender or sex, or is it society? Is my femininity threatened by this?

My gut instinct to that last question is of course not, but I am disturbed by the idea of science working to make a man pregnant. This man obviously carried the necessary reproductive organs, but in my research I found discussion of theories on how to make men pregnant. That bothers me a lot. On the one hand, it would be great not to have to carry a baby if I didn't want to; on the other hand, much of patriarchy has revolved around womb-envy, and the scientific ability to impregnate a man would be the culminating victory in this war on women. That isn't an "I hate men" statement, but a belief I carry about society's treatment of women.

This is going to require further thought and much more introspection.