Male pregnancy
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Male pregnancy is the incubation of one or more embryos or fetuses by organisms of the male sex in some species. Most species that reproduce by sexual reproduction are heterogamous—females producing larger gametes (ova) and males producing smaller gametes (sperm). In nearly all animal species, offspring are carried by the female until birth, but in fish of the family Syngnathidae (pipefish, seahorses and the leafy seadragon), males perform that function.[1]
In animals
Syngnathidae family
The fish family
Fertilization may take place in the pouch or in the water before implantation, but in either case, syngnathids' male pregnancy ensures them complete confidence of paternity.[3] After implantation in or on the brood pouch or brood patch, the male incubates the eggs. Many species osmoregulate the brood pouch fluid to maintain proper pH for the developing embryos. In at least some species, the male also provisions his offspring with nutrients such as glucose and amino acids through the highly vascularized attachment sites in or on his body.
This period of incubation can take much longer than the production of another clutch of eggs by the female, especially in temperate regions where pregnancies last longer,[4] leading to a reproductive environment in which sexual selection can be stronger on females than on males due to increased male parental investment. This reversal of traditional sex roles has only been found in pipefishes, whereas seahorses have largely been accepted as monogamous.[5] Some pipefish species display classical polyandry because of this unique situation. Male syngnathids usually prefer females with large body size and prominent ornaments such as blue skin pigmentation or skin folds. Syngnathid males in some species are apparently capable of absorbing eggs or embryos while in the brood pouch.[6] In these cases, embryos with the highest survival rate are those whose mothers display the preferred phenotype.
Syngnathidae is the only family in the animal kingdom to which the term "male pregnancy" has been applied.[1]
Other animals
In 2021, Chinese researchers at the
In 2023, Japanese scientists used skin cells from 2 male mice to create eggs and fathered a litter of seven babies.[11] The eggs were implanted in surrogate female mice.[11] The current downside is the success rate is 1% (7 mice were born out of 630 attempts).[11] This milestone in reproductive biology was published in Nature and should open more reproductive possibilities in the future.[11] The team was led by developmental biologist Katsuhiko Hayashi of the Osaka and Kyushu universities.[11]
In humans
Ectopic implant
Mammalian males, including humans, do not possess a uterus to gestate offspring.[1] The theoretical issue of male ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside the uterine cavity) by surgical implantation has been addressed by experts in the field of fertility medicine, who stress that the concept of ectopic implantation, while theoretically plausible, has never been attempted and would be difficult to justify – even for a woman lacking a uterus – owing to the extreme health risks to both the parent and child.[12][13]
Since 2000, several hoax web sites have appeared on the Internet[17] purporting to describe the world's first pregnant man. While some rely on legitimate scientific claims, no such experiment has ever been reported. Fertility clinician Cecil Jacobson claimed to have transplanted a fertilized egg from a female baboon to the omentum in the abdominal cavity of a male baboon in the mid-1960s, which then carried the fetus for four months; however, Jacobson did not publish his claims in a scientific journal, and was subsequently convicted on several unrelated counts of fraud for ethical misconduct.[13]
Uterus transplantation
Transplanting a uterus into a male body poses a challenge due to the lack of natural ligaments, vasculature, and hormones required to support the uterus. The uterus would either have to be donated by a willing donor or be tissue-engineered using the male's stem cells and then implanted into the pelvic region.[18] Afterward, an in vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedure would be followed to insert the embryo into the male's transplanted womb.
In 1931, Lili Elbe (identified male at birth) underwent a uterus transplant in an attempt to achieve pregnancy, but died of complications following the procedure.[19][20]
In popular culture
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Part of a series on |
Sex and sexuality in speculative fiction |
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Books
Some science fiction writers have picked up on these issues, in "cross-gender" themes—e.g., Octavia E. Butler's Bloodchild and Other Stories.[clarification needed]
Ursula K. Le Guin's novel The Left Hand of Darkness contains the sentence "The king was pregnant", and explores a society in which pregnancy can be experienced by anyone, since individuals are not sexually differentiated during most of their life and can become capable of inseminating or gestating at different times.
Lois McMaster Bujold's Ethan of Athos features an all-male society in which men use artificial wombs, but experience many of the psychological effects of pregnancy (anticipation, anxiety, etc.).
In Marge Piercy's feminist utopian novel Woman on the Edge of Time, neither men nor women get pregnant, leaving that to artificial wombs, but both sexes may lactate and nurse the infant; the specifically female experiences of pregnancy and nursing were opened to men in the cause of gender equality.[21]
Larry Niven's 1969 essay "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" ends with considering Superman as a carrier for his own baby, due to the difficulties a human female might encounter carrying a superpowered fetus. In A True Story by Lucian of Samosate, there are no women on the moon, and as such boys below 25 are considered wives bearing children in their calves.
Film
The concept of male pregnancy has been the subject of popular films, generally as a comedic device.
The 1978 comedy film Rabbit Test stars Billy Crystal as a young man who inexplicably becomes pregnant instead of his female sex partner.
The 1990 BBC television comedy drama Frankenstein's Baby features a Dr. Eva Frankenstein helping a male patient to become the “world's first” pregnant man.[22]
The 1994 science fiction comedy/drama Junior stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a fertility researcher who experiments on himself; the screenplay was inspired by a 1985 article in Omni magazine.[13]
The 2015 romantic comedy Paternity Leave explores the concept of a gay couple surprised with a miraculous pregnancy in feature length.
The 2017 film Mamaboy stars Sean O'Donnell as a teenager who decides to undergo an experimental procedure that enables him to carry his girlfriend's baby to term.
In 2019, as a social commentary on the issue of abortion,
Horror rarely dips into male pregnancy in depth. Minor appearances exist in the well-known
Television
The concept appears frequently as a comedic gag in numerous television programs as well.
In a 1981 episode of the Canadian sketch comedy series Bizarre, the show's resident daredevil character Super Dave Osborne (Bob Einstein) performs, as one of his many stunts, carrying and giving birth to a baby.
In the BBC science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf, the main character Dave Lister becomes pregnant after having sex with a female version of himself in an alternate universe.
In an episode of Sliders, the quartet "slides" into an alternate world in which babies develop during their final months in the father because a worldwide disease has kept women from being able to carry children beyond their first trimester.
In the popular fantasy series Charmed's fifth season, during a dream spell gone wrong, Leo ends up pregnant with Piper's baby for a good deal of the episode, leading to her referring to him as an "incubator" and at times berating him for "upsetting the baby".
The possibility of extraterrestrial life having different reproductive sexuality is the basis for many references. In the
The manga series He's Expecting takes place in the future where men are suddenly capable of becoming pregnant, though it is only a 10% chance of happening. The series explores the workplace prejudice that men and women experience and the titular character's efforts to change public opinion once he himself becomes pregnant. It was later adapted into a television series of the same name.
Other
Virgil Wong, a performance artist, created a hoax site[17][23] featuring a fictitious male pregnancy, claiming to detail the pregnancy of his friend Lee Mingwei.[24][25][26]
Male pregnancy is also commonly explored in
See also
- Allotransplantation, transplanting of non-native tissue
- Artificial uterus(extracorporeal gestation)
- Couvade, a ritual
- Couvade syndrome, a sympathetic condition
- Female sperm
- Male egg
- Male lactation
- Male menstruation
- Simulated pregnancy
- Thomas Beatie
- Transgender pregnancy
References
- ^ PMID 14561416.
- PMID 21651519.
- PMID 21651520.
- PMID 12894945.
- )
- PMID 19939847.
- ^ "Study that Impregnated Male Rats Stirs Controversy". The Scientist.
- ^ "Heated debate in China over 'pregnant male rat' study". South China Morning Post. 19 June 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "Study that Impregnated Male Rats Stirs Controversy". The Scientist.
- S2CID 235787261.
- ^ a b c d e Daniel Lawler (March 15, 2023). "'Revolutionary': Scientists create mice with two fathers". Archived from the original on March 23, 2023.
- ^ William Leith (2008-04-10). "Pregnant men: hard to stomach?". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 2008-12-05.
- ^ a b c Dick Teresi (1994-11-27). "How to Get a Man Pregnant". The New York Times Magazine.
- ^ a b "Babies borne by men 'possible'". The Independent. 1999-02-22.
- ^ a b Meryl Rothstein (2005-07-31). "Male Pregnancy: A Dangerous Proposition". Popular Science. Archived from the original on 2007-10-15.
- ^ Men can have babies; Study still in infancy though: Expert Archived 2009-03-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Snopes.com. 2008-05-09.
- ^ Rowe, Aaron (April 27, 2009). "The Future of Reproduction: Male Pregnancy". Upstart Business Journal. The Business Journals. Archived from the original on 2016-11-07.
- ^ Harrod, Horatia (25 April 2016). "THE TRAGIC TRUE STORY BEHIND THE DANISH GIRL". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
- ISBN 978-87-7124-181-5. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
- ISBN 978-0-449-21082-6.
- ^ "Frankenstein's Baby". BFI. Archived from the original on 2009-01-29.
- ^ "Virgil Wong website". Retrieved 2008-03-31.
- ^ Hoax website: "POP! The First Human Male Pregnancy". Retrieved 2008-03-27.
- ^ Lee Mingwei. Mingwei Archived 2008-06-19 at the Wayback Machine Refers to hoax as "Male Pregnancy Project, Centre d’Art Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain"
- ^ ISBN 9780549700333.
- .