I watched the Oprah.. well, I tried to and here's what I got out of it as far as concerning the issue of the healthy pregnancy.

Thomas' OB/GYN was on the show and said that he had been off the testostrone two years before conception was tried and the horomone levels are now normal, also as far as she can tell, the baby is healthy. Ok, fine. The OB/GYN also said it is obvious that the testostrone injections made permanent changes to Thomas' body.

*Edit* I just read that excessive ovarian androgen (i.e. testostrone) can lead to Polycystic Ovarian Disease, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular disease. Whether or not this will effect a human egg two years after it's been subjected to testosterone injections, I don't know.

Now here's my problem. Not all health issues can be detected with an ultrasound. Some can be done through genetic testing, but nothing was said about that. With all the testostrone that went through Thomas' body for eight years, this baby girl may have reproductive problems or higher-than-normal testostrone levels.. who knows?? These things won't be known until the baby is born. My parents thought I was a healthy baby up until I was two years old, but I'm not. Only time will tell for sure on that one.

The thing that made me stop watching this Oprah show was when she was discussing how the pregnancy happened. She was saying, "how did they get pregnancy since he's the one with the penis?" For fucksake, there is no penis! It's an enlarged clitoris. Now ignorant people are going to be walking around thinking Thomas is truly a man and that it's plausible for a man to carry a baby full term. This just drives me nuts. It is not a man. Thomas has the lower antatomy of a female, and yet legally married to another female. It's not fair to other homosexuals. Thomas and Nancy are reaping the benefits that other homosexuals aren't permitted to. I guess every homosexual couple should consider one partner have a semi-sex change so they can become legally married as well.

Fuck this, I'm irritated.

I'm sorry, but I think it's sick the lengths that people will go to get media attention. Any other normal couple, after realizing the woman couldn't get pregnant, would adopt or use a surrogate.

This is just pathetic, and the kid, if it sees the light of day, is going to be made fun of for the rest of its life.

Has anyone seen the load of rubbish published on the telegraph site about this? It's basically hyping the idea of men getting pregnant and how horrible it is, but seems to forget that Thomas Beattie is female, by my standards, despite being masculine in many respects. To me, you are female if you are born with ovaries and a womb. Sugarless Cancerous, you're right about the Oprah thing, it is annoying that people don't seem to understand the difference. What a lot of writing about this issue relies upon is the 'eeugh' factor of a man having a baby, asking men to identify with this. Yet it disregards the likely fact that most men wouldn't identify with a woman who gender-identified as a man, or perhaps accept this person as 'one of their own'.

All the frantic debate about this story is really about people's issues with gender roles, not to do with the biology or concern for the child. People are shocked by the fact that someone can have an in-between gender identity, dressing like and being for all intents and purposes in life, a man whilst doing the most female thing, carrying a child. I recognise the concern about male hormone treatment/pregnancy, but if there's no problem with that then there isn't a justifiable reason why a masculine person shouldn't have a baby.

What I really really want to read is what Judith Butler thinks about this.

I'm sorry, but I think it's sick the lengths that people will go to get media attention. Any other normal couple, after realizing the woman couldn't get pregnant, would adopt or use a surrogate.

They had a viable reproductive system between them, why not make use of it? Perhaps they have pandered a little too much to the media's morbid fascination, but medical treatment is expensive. I hope people are actually thinking beyond the 'eew' factor and actually questioning why they have such views about gender identites..