there is currently a debate going on about whether or not cis mpreg is transphobic. Where do you stand on that? Do you think its transphobic to extend the ability to make life to people that normally can’t in real life, in fiction? Or that the only way to do mpreg would be to make the character trans and with female anantomy? idk because now i’m feeling bad about liking mpreg that is involving cis mpreg.

All right. First off, I’m a cis woman so I really have no say in this matter. I have no right to decide whether something is okay or not in terms of trans issues because it doesn’t affect me. Please take my reply with a grain of salt, and I am always open to correction.

In my opinion, mpreg as we know it, as it exists in fanfiction, is something of its own creature entirely. It’s really a female fantasy. I think this conversation would be different if it were a common trope in mainstream media, but it really isn’t. (The only thing that comes to mind is that movie Junior with Arnold Schwarzenegger where it was played for ridiculous laughs, so, I mean, really. )

Mpreg is not my kink, but I have a few ideas about why it might be appealing to women. Number one being the idea of a cis man experiencing something that cis women have to go through. There’s some eroticism with it, of course, and then there’s all these ideas of family, of child-rearing, traits that we do not usually associate with cis men in modern society. For some, there might be a body horror type of appeal, too. It can be played for humor (the idea of cis men complaining about cravings, swollen feet, feeling “big as a house” & unsexy etc, the tropes usually applied to pregnant women) ; for seriousness, for erotic aspect – or all three in the same story.

IRL trans men can and do become pregnant. And this is a totally different thing from the mpreg that exists in fandom. I don’t think we can conflate these two issues. (And it might even be insulting??)

There is a need for more trans stories in media, more trans representation in general. But real trans experiences are a completely different issue from the female fantasy of mpreg, and even if it were written in fic it would be a totally different type of story.

As I’ve spoken before, I’m a big proponent of fandom as a place for female fantasy to flourish. Cis mpreg is one of those fantasies that’s written by women for women. Is there a need for trans mpreg stories? Certainly! There’s a need for more trans stories in general. Fandom – the democratization of literature – is a place for all these stories to exist. I don’t think we should be policing female fantasy in the only safe space that exists for it.

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1wrNFmb