[ExI] Transgender man is pregnant

[David C. Harris]

I've been participating in the GLTB support/discussion group at the Palo 
Alto Unitarian-Universalist church, as a straight ("but not narrow", in 
fact kinda kinky) "ally" member.  As a biochemist by training, I've been 
very interested in the biology of transgender people.  So far my working 
hypothesis is that hormones during critical times of fetal development 
determine separately (a) what sex we feel we are and (b) what sex we are 
attracted to and of course (c) what our genitals look like.

The article seems to say that the transgender male still has female 
organs like ovaries and uterus, but takes testosterone to get male 
horniness, muscle development, and appearance (like facial hair).   If 
hormones are the explanation, it matters whether the baby is XX or XY.  
If XX, the exogenous (from outside) testosterone would act like the 
endogenous (produced inside) testosterone of an XY fetus, and would push 
development along the male path.   If the fetus is XY, the exogenous 
testosterone would add to the effect of the baby's own testosterone and 
push it quite firmly down the male path.

It is possible that testosterone was discontinued during this pregnancy, 
or even in order to  have this pregnancy.  I sure hope the medical 
details will be reported, as the baby's development --- even its 
conception --- has implications for a variety of questions. 

If the exogenous testosterone was not taken during the pregnancy, the 
hormonal environment would be like a typical fetal environment during a 
pregnancy, and XX would become female, with XY becoming male.

There is another set of hormonal cases that are probably much more 
common.  Before I met her, my ex-wife was a rather spacey young woman 
who took birth control pills but not reliably.  She became pregnant with 
an XY fetus, and did not know that she was pregnant for most of the 
fetal development.  She continued to take her birth control pills, 
dosing the XY fetus with female hormones.  Her son was adopted out after 
birth, but reunited with her in his early 20's.  My ex had told me the 
history and I recognized the possible battle between masculinizing and 
feminizing hormones, so I observed him closely during the few visits 
they had.  He seemed very emotionally expressive, like a young woman, 
but had a body shaped by his endogenous testosterone since he left the 
womb.  I respected his privacy and did not  inquire about his genital 
size or development.

 - David Harris

B.K. DeLong wrote:
> I've been really thinking about this a lot and while I think it's 
> wonderful that this is possible, I wonder how both the body of the 
> carrier and the fetus will be effected by the chemistry of the 
> transgendered body.
>
> On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 5:27 PM, Amara Graps <amara at amara.com 
> <mailto:amara at amara.com>> wrote:
>
>     Unbelievably cool.... The more body morphing, the better, for our wild
>     and wonderful future!
>
> ...
> -- 
> B.K. DeLong (K3GRN)
> bkdelong at pobox.com <mailto:bkdelong at pobox.com>
> +1.617.797.8471
>
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