Year of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Name

Communication Studies

Department or School/College

Department of Communication Studies

Committee Chair

Sara Hayden

Commitee Members

Megan Cullinan, Elizabeth Hubble

Keywords

Metaphorical Criticism, Queer family-making, Online communities, Gender identity, Medical discourse, Reproduction

Subject Categories

Rhetoric

Abstract

Dominant notions of pregnancy frame gestation as a solely female process. However, the experiences of transmasculine birthers challenge this assumption, demonstrating that pregnancy is not inherently tied to womanhood but is instead shaped by social and cultural narratives and representations. This paper explores the unique pregnancy and parental exercises of transmasculine birthers by examining public social media posts under the hashtag #seahorsedad on Instagram. Utilizing metaphorical criticism, I aim to uncover how transmasculine birthers, known within the community as “seahorse dads,” both uphold and resist traditional notions of gender, pregnancy, and parenting through a combination of textual and visual metaphor. As metaphors add to our understanding of complex phenomena, such as transmasculine pregnancy, a look into the metaphors that seahorse dads use to conceptualize their pregnancy experiences aids in understanding how they construct meaning, assert their identities, and navigate dominant understandings of pregnancy.

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© Copyright 2025 Alexa Anne Runnion