Pregnant men used to be the theme of science fiction movies and TV series. However, the past few years have shown that the ideas developed in the past are now possible through the advancement of technology and of modern researches. Therefore, the idea of the pregnant man has been made famous far before the actual occurrences in the real world.

Rabbit Test came out in 1978 and was written and directed by Joan Rivers. The movie featured a young man named Lionel, played by Billy Crystal, who discovers that he is the world’s first pregnant man after having a one-night stand. Here is the trailer of the movie:

Junior is probably the most famous pregnant man movie. Released in 1994, it featured a pregnant Arnold Schwarzenegger, who played Dr. Alex Hesse. Alongside with Dr. Larry Arbogast, played by Danny DeVito, Dr. Alex conducts a fertility research and agrees to carry the pregnancy himself. In the video bellow, you can see the movie trailer:

Red Dwarf was a series aired on BBC in the period 1988-1999 and on Dave from 2009 until 2012. In one of the episodes, the main character, Dave Lister, becomes pregnant with a female version of himself from a parallel universe. In the following video, you can see the “dad scene”:

American Dad is one of the most appreciated series of animated comedies today. Started in 2005, the show features the idea of the pregnant man in the episode “Deacon Stan, Jesus Man”, in which the family finds out that Steve is pregnant:

These are some of the most noticeable scenes and episodes from movies and TV series in which the idea of the pregnant man is considered. Although this occurrence is an actual viable possibility now, the plays on the idea still have twists and turns on the theme. Regardless of the way in which audiences consider the subject, the idea of the pregnant man is one that will surely become more and more known and debated in the future.

If you think you have seen it all, then you are wrong. How about a pregnant man? There are already cases of men giving birth. As weird as it may seem, it is possible, with a lot of medical intervention nonetheless. Two male pregnancy stories stand out because of recent media exposure. Thomas Beatie is the more popular, but not necessarily the more controversial. Beatie was biologically born a woman, but he defines himself as a man. Since he has the biological make up necessary to conceive and carry a baby, his story about becoming pregnant as a man is of great controversy. Many sceptics assert that Beatie is not really a man, thus making the story a hoax.

The question whether it is possible for a man to be pregnant gets a surprising answer with the help of science. Another case of male pregnancy is the one of Lee Mingwei. Biologically, he was born a man. So, no uterus there. He claimed that he never wanted to become a female nor does he have any inclination to have male to female reassignment surgery. He just wanted to be part of an experiment. Many researchers from the scientific community have divided opinions. On one hand, some of them are actually glad this experiment took place. On the other hand, others are very reluctant about it. They know for sure that the female body is designed to have babies. It is the natural thing to happen, while men just provide the genetic material, so to speak.

The experiment itself is very risky because a foetus is implanted in the abdomen area of the man, where the uterus should be, thus inducing an ectopic pregnancy. If the foetus develops properly and there are no severe illnesses or other abnormalities, then the baby is delivered by Cesarean section. There are may risks when it comes to the delivery, since the placenta can stick to the other vital organs in the abdomen area. If we define gender as something psychological, then we can assert that Beatie is a man by definition, especially after the surgery. One can assume that many women who had babies defined themselves as males. Additionally, if we define gender as biological state, then Migwei would be the first pregnant man to date since has a male anatomy.