In the next version of iOS, an operating system developed by Apple, new emojis will be added, including one representing a pregnant man. This emoticon has been widely criticized for several days. Yet it is a reality. Today, transgender men can give birth to children, according to Dr. Lucas Freton, urological surgeon, who recently performed the first vaginoplasty at Rennes University Hospital.
- In France, Ali, a 40-year-old transgender man, assigned girl at birth, is the first recognized French man in the civil status to have become pregnant.
- This February 9, a 52-year-old transgender woman, born a man, is officially recognized as a mother for the first time in France.
– Why doctor: On January 6, you and your team performed the very first vaginoplasty at the Rennes University Hospital. You have allowed a man, who feels like a woman, to have a body in line with his gender identity. What does this operation consist of?
Lucas Freton: Vaginoplasty is done for transgender women (male to female). The latter are people whose gender identity is female, while the gender assigned to them at birth based on the appearance of their sex is male. They resort to this gender affirmation surgery after several years of transition in order to improve their well-being and their quality of life.
A vaginoplasty, more precisely a vulvoginoplasty, is used to construct a vagina and a vulva, for a woman born in a male body, with the existing genitalia. Clearly, this surgical intervention is part of a transformation or reconstruction of the male genitalia.
Nowadays, there are few surgeons trained in this operation. In general, the patients who come to consult have been referred by their treating physicians or specialists, such as an endocrinologist for example. During the medical appointments, we discuss with the people the modalities, the risks, the complications and the procedure. Before operating my patient at the beginning of January, I followed him for a year.
– Can the transgender woman you operated on bear children?
This is not possible because the operated patient now has a vagina and a vulva but she does not have a uterus, namely the part of the female reproductive system in which the baby develops.
– A transgender man can he get pregnant?
Yes it’s possible. This is the case of Thomas Beatie, an American who is the first pregnant man. As a reminder, a transgender man is a person who was assigned female at birth but who has a male gender identity. This American was able to bear children because he had kept his female reproductive organs, which functioned well. In order for him to get pregnant, he had to stop his hormone treatment, specifically testosterone, so that his ovaries could start working properly again.
For me, this example is the source of this emoji, which is criticized by conservative people. It was created for these transgender men but it can also help to change mentalities and be used for men to be more involved in the pregnancy of their partner.
You should know that in France, before, it was complicated for transgender people to change their sex on their civil status certificates. To do so, they were forced to undergo permanent surgery or sterilization. From now on, it is no longer necessary to undergo medical treatment or to have had an operation to change one’s sex on civil status documents, because the European Court of Human Rights has asked France to no longer proceed thus.
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