Male pregnancy

Q: I came across a news story and Web site about a pregnant man. Can this be true?

E. Reid

A: In the modern world, gender and sexual lines are often blurred. Cross-dressing celebrities and entertainers such as RuPaul and Dame Edna are common, and the public is more aware than ever about homosexuality and transgendered individuals. But how far can the gender lines be pushed? Might biological gender be as fluid as sexual identity? Can men become pregnant?

The main source for information on the question is MalePregnancy.com, a Web site that documents and disseminates news about Mr. Lee Mingwei, the first man to actually become pregnant through amazing medical advances. According to the site, "RYT Hospital-Dwayne Medical Center is synonymous with the world's most innovative and extraordinary healthcare. Through its affiliation with Dwayne University Medical College, RYT Hospital is responsible for the cutting-edge research that leads to the clinical treatments of the future. At RYT, medical possibilities become medical breakthroughs."

On the site, people can peruse Mr. Lee's pregnancy journal, see video archives of the progress of his pregnancy, and even watch a short documentary film on male pregnancy. The site includes testimonials and reactions from people who contacted RYT Hospital and Mr. Lee. A woman named Liz writes, "This is against God. Mr. Lee is a sick man. Repent now before it's too late. You sick, sick people ..." Another contributor, Anne, lends support to the project and Mr. Lee: "Go, Mr. Lee! All my prayers and best wishes to you. I'm so happy for you and your baby...."

Mr. Lee and RYT Hospital are aware that their claims are hard to believe, and in their FAQ (frequently asked questions) section, they address skepticism: "Some Web sites have claimed to 'debunk the male pregnancy hoax,' but they're mistaken. This is not a hoax like Orson Welles' War of the Worlds [sic] broadcast. It's true that many of the people involved in this project (including Mr. Lee) are indeed artists--and Virgil Wong has created an art installation of Male Pregnancy for exhibit at the PaperVeins Museum of Art--but yes, Mr. Lee is really pregnant."

Of course, no, Mr. Lee is not pregnant, and he doesn't exist; the Web site is an intricate hoax. According to Alex Boese, author of Museum of Hoaxes, the Web site was launched in 1999 by artist Virgil Wong, who claimed that that site was intended to be a sort of hoax performance art. It seems likely that thousands of people were indeed fooled when they went to the Wong Web site--if not fully believing that Mr. Lee would actually give birth at any moment, at least wondering if the whole thing might not be real after all.

There are several reasons why the story seemed superficially credible. Modern medical science can do amazing things, and medical marvels are routinely announced (and oversold) by the news media. With so many real medical breakthroughs, it's not always easy to tell the truth from hoaxes.

Second, the Web site is quite credible, complex, and cleverly designed. It contains links to actual, legitimate news stories that superficially seemed to bolster the idea that men could become pregnant. A CNN news story, for example, discussed how male seahorses actually carry the eggs in a pouch once they are deposited there by a female, then proceeds to fertilize them and carry them to term. In that sense, the male becomes "pregnant." (As do pipefish, both of the Syngnathidae family; for more on this, see Adam Jones and John Avise's 2003 article "Male Pregnancy" in Current Biology 13[20].)

The pregnant man story gained unintended credibility and publicity in late 2006 by the publication of a widely disseminated ABC News article (and broadcast of a TV newsmagazine segment) titled "A Pregnant Man?" (available at http://abcnews.go.com/Prime time/story?id=2346476&page=1). The article's headline was deceptive, as the story had nothing to do with a male pregnancy; instead, the piece told of a 36-year-old Indian farmer named Sanju Bhagat who was discovered to have had a parasitic twin in his chest. The only link to any pregnancy was that Bhagat's distended stomach resembled that of a pregnant woman. Still, the unfortunately-tided ABC News story was among the first returns in a Google search on the topic (along with Lee's Web site), lending credibility to some Web surfers who clicked through pages and results without reading too carefully. For better or worse, women still retain the honor and burden of carrying our children.

Submissions can be sent to: The Skeptical Inquiree, Skeptical Inquirer, RO. Box 703, Amherst NY 14226 (or bradford@centerforinquiry.net).

Benjamin Radford is a paranormal investigator and managing editor of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER.

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