A new Rutgers study examining the ways Americans speak about pregnancy has found the dominant narratives in our culture marginalize many people experiencing pregnancy. However, the study identifies an alternative narrative that frames pregnancy experiences as each person’s own, individual experience. This narrative supports seahorse dads (transmen and nonbinary individuals who are pregnant) and the women for whom the dominant pregnancy discourses are meaningless or even harmful.

The study, “I am a binary trans man and I love being pregnant”: Making meaning of pregnancy in seahorse dad narratives,” published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, was written by SC&I Ph.D. student Cimmiaron F. Alvarez , SC&I Associate Professor of Communication Kristina M. Scharp, and Amanda M. Friz, an assistant professor of Communication at the University of Washington.

“This is the first study, to our knowledge, in which a single marginalized discourse competed against two dominant discourses,” Alvarez said. “Seahorse dads challenge the cultural assumptions of pregnancy. This ideological resistance might allow for the emergence of new and inclusive meanings of pregnancy. New meanings of pregnancy might create safer cultural and medical environments for infertile women (and alternative family formations) regardless of one’s birth-assigned sex or gender.” 

The two dominant narratives or ideologies Alvarez et al. identified are: “the discourse of pregnancy as a woman's burden” (pregnancy is a woman's duty, is a challenge, and a sacrifice) and “the discourse of pregnancy as a woman's privilege” (a feminist reframing of pregnancy as a pleasurable experience women get to have because it is chosen, beautiful, and joyful).

“Seahorse dads challenge the cultural assumptions of pregnancy. This ideological resistance might allow for the emergence of new and inclusive meanings of pregnancy. New meanings of pregnancy might create safer cultural and medical environments for infertile women (and alternative family formations) regardless of one’s birth-assigned sex or gender.” 

These two ideologies, Alvarez explained, center only women in pregnancy, and while they reflect cultural changes in the meaning of pregnancy over time, they are not inclusive.

The “discourse of pregnancy as a woman's burden,” Alvarez said, reflects historical understandings that pregnancy and, therefore, motherhood, is a requirement of women. This narrative ultimately serves to subordinate women, and in addition, this discourse illustrates how the narrative of “intensive mothering” in our culture “has co-opted the meaning of pregnancy which further marginalizes women who become mothers through means other than pregnancy, such as adoption.”

The “discourse of ‘pregnancy as a woman's privilege,” Alvarez said, is the feminist reframing of pregnancy as an empowering experience for women. Yet, this discourse still establishes that women should experience pregnancy at some point in their lives, and this discourse is an additional dominant narrative that disenfranchises many alternative pregnancy experiences.

Therefore, Alvarez et al. found that seahorse dads, families that use surrogacy, or childfree families must resist these two dominant discourses which establish women’s pregnancy as the best way to form families. “Together, these two discourses not only marginalize families, but create expectations for pregnancy that pressure women and transmen to put their health and safety at risk just to become pregnant,” Alvarez said.

Resisting these two potentially harmful narratives is the third, non-dominant narrative Alvarez et al. identified: the discourse of “pregnancy as an independent process.” This alternative narrative frames pregnancy as personal and different for each individual.

“This ideology creates space for seahorse dads and women alike who struggle to meet the standards of the two dominant ideologies,” Alvarez said.

“This research serves as a call to individuals to adapt their language to be inclusive of the diversity of individuals experiencing pregnancy. This is also a call for medical providers to update their birthing and pregnancy materials, which are female specific, so that individuals can customize their experience (for example, in birthing apps) or so that they are inclusive of diverse experiences."

The data for the study came from Reddit, specifically a subReddit which contained the stories of several transmen and nonbinary individuals about their pregnancy experience. “After we pulled all of the stories off the subReddit in which the poster of the story (a) identified as a transman or nonbinary individual and (b) currently were or had previously been pregnant, we analyzed the stories,” Alvarez said. “We utilized a specific type of critical discourse analysis called contrapuntal analysis to identify the ideologies and examine how they competed for dominance. Throughout our analysis, we engaged in methods to ensure that our analysis was confirmable, dependable, and transferable. In other words, we wanted to ensure that other scholars would find similar things and that the findings could be applied beyond this specific context.”

This study makes an important contribution to both a scholarly and lay understanding of the broad and deep impacts made by the discourses surrounding pregnancy in our culture.

“While people in our culture generally know about and recognize the structural forces that marginalize individuals, such as racism, sexism, and classism,” Alvarez said, “they are often unfamiliar with the narratives, social norms, and ideologies that marginalize and subjugate individuals who cannot meet them.

“This research serves as a call to individuals to adapt their language to be inclusive of the diversity of individuals experiencing pregnancy. This is also a call for medical providers to update their birthing and pregnancy materials, which are female specific, so that individuals can customize their experience (for example, in birthing apps) or so that they are inclusive of diverse experiences. For seahorse dads and other stigmatized groups, such materials might encourage them to seek medical care, thus preventing life-threatening pregnancy complications.”

Learn more about the Communication Department and the Ph.D. Program at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information on the website. 

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