Kansas professor pens new book on 'Masculine Pregnancies'

LAWRENCE (KSNT) - A professor at the University of Kansas is calling into question traditional perspectives on pregnancy in a newly released book.

Aimee Wilson, an associate professor of women, gender & sexuality studies at KU, was highlighted in a recent article from the university earlier this week. Wilson has published her book titled 'Masculine Pregnancies: Modernist Conceptions of Creativity and Legitimacy, 1918-1939' which argues that pregnancy has been a contested subject matter in literary works going back more than a hundred years.

“There are a lot of people who tend to think about pregnancy as being automatically connected to women and femininity,” Wilson said. “I’m making the argument that pregnancy and femininity — or pregnancy and womanhood — are not dependent on one another. In the early 20th century, writers adapted centuries-old reproductive themes by depicting queer pregnancy.”

Her book focuses on how some writers depicted "mannish" pregnant women and metaphors of male pregnancy, according to the university. Wilson claims that these concepts have been present in literature for some time with pregnant male characters in works of fiction along with pregnant women who bear more masculine traits.

“Scholars typically argue that masculinity and pregnancy only combine in ways that are oppressive to women — like when male authors compare writing a book to having a baby and imply that male ‘procreation’ of this kind is superior,” Wilson said. “By creating mannish female characters who are pregnant, modernist authors show us that masculinity and pregnancy can sometimes combine in ways that are liberating for women and queer people.”

Wilson said she hopes her book can create changes in long-standing views on the gender spectrum.

“We need to really push the conversation in a direction that is recognizing the legitimacy of queer people, including trans men, as reproducers in our society,” Wilson said. “Literature can help us think through the ethical implications of our society’s approach to queer pregnancy.”

You can learn more about Wilson's work and purchase a copy by clicking here.

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