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Pregnant Man?

Yeah right! It was on TV news tonight that a man had become pregant. It turns out that "he" is in fact a woman who has taken testosterone, had a mastectomy and has lived as a "man", while retaining his female sexual organs. So what is the fuss all about? "He" is a "she"! Why on earth is this on television news as the lead story. This is a great example of what Rod Thompson called a "thin culture" when he spoke at the BCNZ chapel last week! This is nonsense. What we have is a woman getting pregnant! It is a tragic example of the state of the media. The "man" had appeared on Oprah telling "his" story. It illustrates the poverty of our world! We are in serious trouble in western society.

Aside from those extraordinary situations where people are genuinely biologically trans-gender, in my view there is no such thing as "trans-gender" in ultimate terms. We are made in the image of God male or female. We can have all the operations and take all the hormones we like and we may appear to have crossed from one gender to the other. However, we remain what we are in created terms. This provides a dilemma in terms of the way we respond to such people. I say, we love them and accept them as they are and show them grace. We do not stand in judgement over them, but walk with them seeking to help them find wholeness. Jesus hung out with the most unusual people and loved them.

I had an interesting experience many years ago in a Christian band that played churches and camps etc. We didn't have a drummer, but our bass player had a friend who was a drummer having drummed in a very good prominent band. The only problem was that he was now a "she". We decided to go ahead and give "her" a chance and she played with us. "She" was great, playing well, and we became friends. "She" was extraordinarily messed up though. We had a problem at one gig where "she" met a person and returned the next day as a man and was recognised. Anyway, the point was that "she" grew in that time with us I think and it was a good decision.

So what do you think?

Comments

capotheologist said…
I think for an "academic" you have a decidedly essentialist understanding of gender...
Mark J. Keown said…
Thanks capotheologist for your comment. In what sense existentialist?

DrMarkK
capotheologist said…
Ah, brilliant...thanks for a chuckle.

Thanks for your reply, DrMarkK. I understand where you are coming from if you are trying to find how someone could construe what you said as existentialist. I do not see you condoning, or speaking of, existentialism here; and, I would not want to use a term that you would probably see as slandering you as a liberal/heretic.
This is why I used the term "essentialist." I feel this is an apt summation of your apparent neo-fundamentalist understanding of gender.

Cheers

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