Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Fairchild, Emily

Area of Concentration

Gender Studies

Abstract

In our society, we most commonly associate pregnancy and birth with the bodies and experiences of cisgender, straight women. This thesis seeks to center the underrepresented pregnancy and birth stories of transgender dads through a narrative analysis of their experiences, as told by them in media. Their stories are sourced from three pieces of media created by and for transgender parents (and those wanting to learn more about them): Labor of Love (2008), a memoir, The Accidental Gay Parents (2015-2017), a podcast, and Transgender Parents (2014), a documentary. I will broadly explore how gender determines reproductive choices, and more specifically how dominant reproductive narratives construct and control the lives of those transgender parents who try to break free from these limiting and oppressive archetypes. Through my analysis, I have found that these transgender dads have a fair share of similarities and differences when it comes to how they understand their bodies and relationships, as well as how they both challenge and reinforce heteronormative understandings of family in various ways. I conclude that the narratives I have chosen to analyze are only select representations of what transgender fatherhood might look and feel like, but they contribute important perspectives to the overarching narrative and understanding of transgender parenthood, both for the transgender community and those outside of it. This thesis acknowledges that there are many more stories waiting to be created, told, and listened to, and it is my goal that through this research people begin to pay more attention to the personal narratives and subjectivities of transgender folks, within all fields of study, particularly from an interdisciplinary perspective across queer, gender, and family studies. I also wish for the reader to consider the meaning they hope their own narrative(s) convey. We are all readers, writers, and tellers of stories, and the way we understand one another is related to our positionality and the openness of our hearts and minds. This thesis is written in allyship with the transgender (parenting) community, from the perspective of a white, queer, cisgender woman. This project has allowed me to come to know these men and their stories well, and I hope that reading this allows you to get to know them a little better, too.

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