BBC: Trans and pregnant: How one man gave birth to his own baby

[Kazooboohoo]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-49596060/trans-and-pregnant-how-one-man-gave-birth-to-his-own-baby

"Freddy decided to carry his own baby after wanting to start a family, but he faced a highly unusual challenge – he is a gay transgender man."

Or, Freddy is a straight woman, with XX chromsomes, a vagina, a womb, all the things that are instrinsic to being a woman, all the things that are intrinsic to being able to give birth.

I'm not so much fussed by a trans man in his delusions saying "I am a man and I gave birth" (thereby being the first in 200,000 years of homo sapiens) as I am by the BBC pushing yet another trans story on their front page seemingly every day.

[Mumoftwoyoungkids]

Yes if the story was “despite the fact that Freddy had a fully functioning uterus and so could easily have carried a baby, Freddy found the idea of doing something so intrinsically womanly absolutely abhorrent so Freddy is adopting / not having kids / fostering / being a wonderful uncle to his sister’s children” then I would find it a bit more sensible.

But for this it is “Freddy is a man, absolutely, definitely a man, except when it would be more convenient to be a woman, but after that he is a man again and god forbid anyone who goes “ummmmm hang on here”.....

[NeurotrashWarrior]

he is a gay transgender man.

I wonder how the gay community will
take to this?

Perhaps Freddy claiming to be gay might peak a few more who need to understand what Get The L Out are trying valiantly to get across to pride.

[Redshoeblueshoe]

Wasn't Freddy the person who wanted to sue a newspaper for revealing his identity ?

[NeurotrashWarrior]

Trans women get the fame for sports, business accolades, tv shows etc.

Transmen get the fame for pregnancy.

Same old story really...

[testing987654321]

Is this the seahorse person? I feel I should watch that film just to try to understand their mentality and that of those around them.

Obviously the claim that they are a man giving birth is nonsense, but how they justify that claim is interesting.

[Ereshkigal]

But for this it is “Freddy is a man, absolutely, definitely a man, except when it would be more convenient to be a woman, but after that he is a man again and god forbid anyone who goes “ummmmm hang on here”.....

I know. The absolute avoidance of the fact that Freddy is biologically female is such bizarre gaslighting.

[BeMoreMagdalen]

How one man gave birth to his own baby?

This person gave birth to their own child the exact same way millions of other female bodied people (ridiculous language restriction observation to comply with guidelines) have done for millennia.

To say that a man gave birth to his own child would imply that said man provided the sperm for the creation of the child and gestated the child too, which is obviously nonsensical and impossible.

This only sounds like a story of note because of the butchering of language. The actual story is that this person is actively trying to use the courts to control the media and the language of others. Couldn't care less about them reproducing. Do care about them being a controlling litigant curtailing everyone else's, and in particular, women's freedom.

[OhHolyJesus]

Freddie is (or was?) a guardian journalist that lost the right to anonymity in the media due to the seahorse documentary being filmed, I think slightly before, the court case where Freddie is arguing for Freddie to be named as the father (or was it just as parent?) on the birth certificate of Freddie's child.

(Asking for privacy whilst filming something for public broadcast is a bit of a stretch, like Yaniv asking for the same whilst live tweeting from the tribunal.)

Does anyone know where the judge landed on this? The decision was expected a few weeks ago I think but it's been quiet, unless I've missed it? It's a landmark case, if agreed Freddie's child would be the first person born in the UK not to have the mother listed on the BC.

[OhHolyJesus]

This only sounds like a story of note because of the butchering of language

I agree, only I'm quite interested in the timing of IVF whilst seeking gender reassignment (for both being legally recognised as a man and as I don't think it is known what impact the synthetic hormones could have on a pregnancy).

[Voice0fReason]

Highly unusual challenge?
That's not a challenge. Many couples do have real challenges getting pregnant.

[JoyceJeffries]

What the actual fuck is happening with the BBC? It’s turning into laughing stock. Total joke.

[Melroses]

Whatever happened to that judgement? Does it tell us?

[ErrolTheDragon]

Sounds almost as though Freddie is a closet heterosexual woman.

[aliasundercover]

This only sounds like a story of note because of the butchering of language
Absolutely correct.

The story is, of course, "woman gives birth".

[JanesKettle]

Sorry, if you conceive, gestate and birth a baby, you are a female. You may decide on a gender presentation that is masculine, but you're still female.

Of course, as a female who has had a double mastectomy, breastfeeding is not an option. Hardly makes you a man, though, unless you belief, erroneously, that femalehood resides in the boobs.

[JanesKettle]

And yeah, if you are female and in a relationship with a male man, then you're just bloody straight, and as boring as you find the rest of us het women.

[viques]

I want to know if Freddie has managed to find a gay man who is interested in having a relationship with someone who is essentially a woman from the waist down.


I am pretty damn sure that if I was a gay woman I would not be interested in having a relationship with a transgender woman who was hanging on to her penis.

[ChattyLion]

There’s another thread on this same topic at the moment: (www.mumsnet.com/Talk/in_the_news/3686996-Transgender-gay-man-gives-birth)

Sorry to recycle posts but this is an interesting subject due to the documentary itself and coverage around that and of course for the massively important lawsuit brought by the document subject around their baby’s birth certificate and who is given as ‘mother’ on that and all the issues around that. I am just going to repost what I said on there, here, because I am assuming that the monitors will pull that other thread due to some of the language used, which is a shame because it is an interesting discussion (and it’s also nice to see a discussion on this issue going on outside of FWR too.)


//www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3564619-The-Dad-who-gave-Birth-Seahorse-Documentary?pg=1&order=

This documentary (made with the Guardian and BBC) was previously on cinema release also advertised by the Guardian via an interesting interview with the parent who is the subject of the film.. who also works at the Guardian. There’s a link to this interview in the thread link above.

I’m not sure whether I want to watch it or not, there’s some uncomfortable journalistic ethics and politics around how the Guardian have handled this story so far in print. I am not sure their film will be any more comfortable to watch.

On the other hand, birth is always an interesting and complex subject and views about pregnancy and birth are not often captured in feature-length documentary film form. (I wonder why..hmm) in fact I can’t think of any other such feature documentary film on cinema release.

(Someone should make those films, maybe the BBC and Guardian will back them?)

[ChattyLion]

I messed up the link:
Other thread here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/in_the_news/3686996-Transgender-gay-man-gives-birth?pg=1&order=

[ErrolTheDragon]

The link is fine, it looks messed up due to something being interpreted as markup but it works on browser and app for me.

[thisonehasalittlecar]

Sorry BBC, Channel 4 did this 11 years ago. Old news, yawn...

[OccasionalKite]

Yes, as PP have said - the whole story is all just an exercise in mangling language.

No change whatsoever in material reality - a woman gives birth to a baby. Everyone in the whole world knows that babies are gestated and birthed by women, exclusively, and never ever by men, in the whole history of humanity.

It's just using a very nasty crowbar on language for ideological purposes.