Why Old People Don't Like Change

I was watching The View this morning, as usual, and the ladies started talking about Thomas Beatie, the transgendered Oregon man who is preggers. I can't tell you how many times I have wished that men could get pregnant and experience the joy of childbirth! But, wait! This is not really a man. (By the way, the man in the above picture is not Mr/s Beatie)

Beatie underwent sexual reorientation ten years ago, but kept the female reproductive organs just in case. She took so much testosterone that she grew a beard and an eensy-beensy penis. She wanted to be able to have sex like a man so she could keep her wife happy. (Aaaaaarrrrrggghhhh! Make the image go away! Sorry. I'm ok, now.) I guess I should start calling her "he", but now, she has stopped the testosterone and is five months pregnant. She decided to do this, in part, because her "wife" had a hysterectomy a few years ago and can't have children, as I understand it. (And, you can believe me when I say I DON'T understand any of it.)

Fast foward a few years, and imagine the conversation between the happy parents and their daughter. "Daddy, tell me again where I came from?" Imagine their social life. There he'll sit, masculinity restored, dishing with the women at parties about childbirth, while his wife taps her fingers on the armrest of her chair and sucks down another martini.

Now, far be it from me to criticize anyone's lifestyle. I really mean that. But this situation is fraught with land mines. There is a very real worry that their health insurance carrier won't pay the medical bills. And, will he receive maternity leave at his job, assuming he has a job? Why do people bring these problems on themselves. anyway? I used to wish I were a man, but only in the context of my earning capacity. Was I just being short-sighted?

Whatever. But, I'll wager she will soon be pret-ty sorry she had those nipples surgically removed.