A few days ago we wrote about menstrual cramps, and reader Thaísa Garzillo said she found it important that we talk about trans men who are still menstruating. In fact, it is important to address this issue, since many people are still unaware that gender adaptation does not always make people born women, but today they are men, no longer have some common features of female biology, such as menstruation. .

In cases in which the transsexual opts for surgical and hormonal adaptation but does not remove the uterus, it is entirely possible that she menstruates and even has children. This is exactly the case with Canadian Trevor MacDonald, who has two children, one 5 and one 18 months.

The image of MacDonald, bearded and nursing his youngest son, is still astonishing, so the young man prefers not to expose himself too much. Born a woman, Trevor began gender adequacy eight years ago, and even after that she still has to deal with the barriers of not only being transsexual but also having a partner and two biological children. "People like me are told to stay out, " he said in a statement published in The Guardian.

About being born in the wrong body

Travor breastfeeds her son

Because of his hands-on experience as a breastfeeding trans man, MacDonald decided to talk more about it in a recently published book explaining the facets of being a pregnant male.

The owl father and now writer says he is not comfortable with the common sense that transgender people are "born in the wrong body." According to him, the issue of gender identity is much broader than this statement, precisely because of the issue of pregnancy; After all, he explains that people judge him on this basis and question how he might have chosen to become pregnant if he was "born in the wrong body."

At 31, MacDonald began his gender adaptation after the age of 20, when he changed his name and began hormone treatment. When she finally had her gender identity in her appearance as well, her life changed, even in the loving aspect, since MacDonald lives in a happy marriage with his partner and now with the family they have formed.

Family

=)

At first, the couple's idea was to opt for adoption, but they knew they could hardly be accepted in the process simply because they were a couple consisting of a trans man and a homosexual man. Because MacDonald had not performed hysterectomy, which is surgery that removes the uterus, the two realized that they had biological means of having a child. And so it happened.

After the decision, MacDonald stopped taking the hormones and, even after becoming pregnant, continued with a beard on his face and a thicker voice, that is, throughout the gestation, he maintained the male physiognomy. Because they knew they would deal with all kinds of prejudice, they both planned pregnancies to reach their final stages in winter - so MacDonald would wear larger clothes and avoid embarrassment.

Because of this, many people were thinking that MacDonald had gained a little weight: “Our neighbors next door didn't know there was a pregnancy until we arrived with the baby, ” the father said of his first child.

Pregnancy and Transphobia

Happy family

When he told coworkers about pregnancy, MacDonald went through more embarrassing situations again, after all many people called him “her” again and went on to say that he would be a mother instead of a father. In this sense, he explains that, in fact, we are used to the fact that gestating a baby is something feminine, but that he, as a trans man, does not see a gender issue in pregnancy, so he does not want to be called a "mother" .

To the couple's delight, although MacDonald removed her breasts, he managed to breastfeed his children, and this is another fact that he prefers to deconstruct in terms of gender. Problems, of course, have to do with people's reactions, especially when they are in public and need to breastfeed their youngest child. In such cases, go to the bathroom; however, as he uses the men's room, people still wonder about his presence with a child on his lap.

Blog

Did you see? It worked =)

To share her story with the world, and especially with other trans men planning to get pregnant, MacDonald has created a blog where she tells her experiences in terms of gestation, breastfeeding and trans parenthood. It was obviously not long before he became an international spokesman on the subject, as he began to receive questions from transgender people from around the world.

Realizing the extent of the repercussions of his work, MacDonald joined a group of Canadian scientists and, with their help, profiled 22 transgender men from around the world who gave birth, explaining hormonal, psychological and physical issues.

The idea behind all this is basically to provide a place of welcome for trans people and enlightenment for those who want to deconstruct their prejudices. There is always time to learn to tolerate differences, don't you think?