Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Category
Social Sciences/Humanities
Abstract/Artist Statement
For my master’s thesis, I am examining the narratives of transmasculine birthers, or trans men who have given birth. Specifically, I focus on how these individuals navigate and redefine their reproductive bodies within the context of dominant discourses that say only cisgender women bear children. Recently, there has been a rise of online communities that offer transmasculine individuals who become pregnant a space to share their stories. “Seahorse dad” is a label that transmasculine birthers commonly adopt, and these digital platforms offer a space for seahorse dads to narrate their birthing experiences and find community. At the core of this study is an analysis of Instagram posts labeled #seahorsedad. I employ metaphorical criticism, focusing on the metaphors seahorse dads employ in Instagram posts to describe their reproductive experiences, bodies, and parental identities that function to challenge, reshape, and sometimes reinforce dominant maternal rhetorics. Despite the increasing representation in online spaces, there is a large gap in academic research to date with a focus on transmasculine individuals who bear children. Feminist scholarship has increasingly attended to examining the dominant discourses surrounding parenting, highlighting the challenges faced by non-cisgender individuals. Childbirth is an archetypal feminist discussion, and the difficulty of finding trans-inclusive ways to talk about bodies and experiences is not new for feminist studies. This project seeks to bridge this gap by exploring how the metaphors used by seahorse dads in social media posts serve to uphold and resist traditional notions of gender and pregnancy. By centering the narratives of transmasculine birthers, I hope this research will contribute to a shift in the dominant discourse surrounding gender and reproduction. This includes contributing to broader conversations within both the humanities and healthcare fields regarding inclusivity and the need for a more diverse understanding of reproductive health.
Mentor Name
Sara Hayden
#Seahorsedad: A Study of Metaphors in Transmasculine Birther’s Instagram Posts
UC 329
For my master’s thesis, I am examining the narratives of transmasculine birthers, or trans men who have given birth. Specifically, I focus on how these individuals navigate and redefine their reproductive bodies within the context of dominant discourses that say only cisgender women bear children. Recently, there has been a rise of online communities that offer transmasculine individuals who become pregnant a space to share their stories. “Seahorse dad” is a label that transmasculine birthers commonly adopt, and these digital platforms offer a space for seahorse dads to narrate their birthing experiences and find community. At the core of this study is an analysis of Instagram posts labeled #seahorsedad. I employ metaphorical criticism, focusing on the metaphors seahorse dads employ in Instagram posts to describe their reproductive experiences, bodies, and parental identities that function to challenge, reshape, and sometimes reinforce dominant maternal rhetorics. Despite the increasing representation in online spaces, there is a large gap in academic research to date with a focus on transmasculine individuals who bear children. Feminist scholarship has increasingly attended to examining the dominant discourses surrounding parenting, highlighting the challenges faced by non-cisgender individuals. Childbirth is an archetypal feminist discussion, and the difficulty of finding trans-inclusive ways to talk about bodies and experiences is not new for feminist studies. This project seeks to bridge this gap by exploring how the metaphors used by seahorse dads in social media posts serve to uphold and resist traditional notions of gender and pregnancy. By centering the narratives of transmasculine birthers, I hope this research will contribute to a shift in the dominant discourse surrounding gender and reproduction. This includes contributing to broader conversations within both the humanities and healthcare fields regarding inclusivity and the need for a more diverse understanding of reproductive health.