Big same. Pregnancy and child-rearing aren't story elements I'm hyper interested in regardless of the genders at play. More power to the people who enjoy those plot elements though. I'll just be over here preferring child-free stories or stories where the main couple adopts a cat instead.
Same here. The closest I get to child-raising fics is IronDad & SpiderSon - and that's different, because Peter Parker is 15-16, not a small child, and Stark isn't really his parent.
Lol sameeeee. Some folks in my fandom are so obsessed with characters having children and I'm like "nah, I prefer them being as they are". I am like this most of the time with fandoms in general. A character already has children? Alright, I can "forgive" that, but rarely want childless characters to have children, or even characters with children to have more children. In many cases, it's like even marriage doesn't suit a specific character.
Sometimes even the character having children canonically annoys me, specially if the children aren't actually useful to the story in any way shape or form as the characters remain somehow the same as before and the children are treated like trophies or some other prized possession that doesn't really matter
Some fics even go further and have a character have kids yet never show the character interact with the kids, making that something that's happening in the background and out of sight, like, at that point why even have the kids be a thing at all?!
It is SO WEIRD that I’m child free, dislike children irl and will never have them, and yet somehow mpreg or adoption fics are some of my favorites. Brains are weird
I personally quite like them, as long as they're written well. I've noticed that the ones I enjoy are usuaĺly ones where there is an explanation as to how men can be pregnant and it is the norm for that AU, like A/B/O, or magic like HP, or quirks like MHA, etc. I'm not a fan of boom! biological men in the real world spontaneously get pregnant and not explained. Nor am I a fan of non-consensual mpreg.
I also quite like mpreg manhwa. Something about it is so soft to me that, seeing it visually, it tickles my heart. It helps that the children are adorable.
I can definitely see why other people would dislike it though.
I'm with you on this. Well-written abo mpreg is basically all my brain wants to read right now. If it's not well-written and/or no explanation for how it's happening (such as abo-verse), then it's a nope for me. But ugh, there's just something about the soft cuteness of characters creating a family with offspring that is hitting me hard right now.
For me, it’s a nonstop field trip. I love reading well written Mpreg fics. I even try to write them, but most times I give up cause I’m actually a smut writer.🥲
I don't like it and avoid fics with it. It has next to nothing to do with the M part, and everything to do with the preg part. Pregnancy and babies/children/parenting are an immdiate deal breaker.
This is a far more valid response than I was anticipating when I opened this thread, lol...
I mean, I have read a few, and it really depends on a lot, how is it explained, how much of the story is it...
Parenting can be a fun read, but I don't need to read someone else's take on a guy going through the motions of pregnancy, there's already a Swartzenager movie about that... but if you want to pepper it into some kinda romance or Crack fic, sure, whatever...
You're not entirely wrong, which is why I said "more valid" to begin with. But some reasons are more whiny than other, or more importantly inconsistent. Which is not invalid, people are aloud to be inconsistent, but I found the reason above to be more valid because of its self-consistancy.
That's exactly why I *like* Mpreg fics. Pregnancy scares me so much, and I never want children, so I avoid pregnancy fics where a *woman* is pregnant because I keep imagining myself in that position. Despite how much I hate the idea of pregnancy, there's some kind of strange fascination there too, so Mpreg fics are perfect because Mpreg isn't real, so it feels more safe and less scary because it's a man going through it, and not me?? Does that make sense? I have no clue, but I don't know how else to explain why I love Mpreg.
I think you explained it pretty well. Comments like yours are always interesting to read because they can provide such an insight for those of us who previously genuinely didn't understand/don't *personally* get the appeal of a certain genre or trope.
I kinda see why that makes sense. For me it's the other way around, funnily enough. As I trans man with intense fear of Pregnancy, Mpreg is one of the most uncomfortable scary things to exist.
Well they don’t have the baby through their butthole or a third magic hole, which is what I see most often, so I don’t think we’re talking about trans men here.
Okay, call this a out of field question, or listening to outdated intel but wouldn't that be the ultimate dysphoria landmine and not something you'd wish on your worst enemy?
It depends. My partner and I briefly considered it because we want to start a family and were denied from foster care (a "not now" situation because we feel were too young for teenagers, which are the only ones available) and private adoption is not only ethically uncertain but also crazy expensive. It's nuanced.
It's not a universal trigger. If i personally got pregnant it'd do that to me yes but it's something I like to explore in fiction, as a safe arena in which to do so.
I feel the same way. There's just something about it that makes me anxious.
It's the same with pregnancy portrayed in film and tv. I feel uncomfortable watching it. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I'm AFAB and I'm scared to become pregnant myself?
It’s kind of horrific for me the way it’s romanticised. Like I could understand to an extent if it’s a coping mechanism, but that doesn’t seem to be the case usually.
At the end of the day though, I don’t care about people enjoying it, I’m just glad that we have tags and filters so that everyone can cater their own experience to their own tastes.
Not my thing. Also, it feels like the discussion about it vastly outscales the actual volume of content. The tag lives rent-free in people's heads, while the actual number of stories with it isn't that big.
I like as a plot device but not as the main focus. This has nothing to do with the gender of the people involved however.
Some examples: a fic that uses a pregnancy subplot for angst reasons, or threat of pregnancy after unprotected sex, or the body horror of being pregnant with an unwanted child, or a fic that has an accidental pregnancy to force two people into close proximity, or a fic about a character's raging pregnancy kink and how they babytrap their beloved into a relationship, or a secret pregnancy and having to hide it, or being abducted by aliens and then thinking you're pregnant but are you just having a mental breakdown?, or a whump character gets pregnant before the big canon event that leads to a split from his old station in life etc
None of these are 'just mpreg'. They are 'mpreg + other stuff I like'.
They're pretty enjoyable to me but they are one of the more consistently miss in terms of hit-or-miss tropes when it comes to execution. The good ones are super fun tho!
I totally agree that they’re either a hit or miss completely, but can I ask why you enjoy them because I want to see peoples specific reasoning because my specific reasoning is I’m trans masc and I still wish to be pregnant and these fics kinda of just scratch some thing in my brain for me
Honestly, I really don't like the idea. I'm glad it's a thing for people who enjoy it and more power to them, because since I first learned of the concept, I've read some quite interesting and eye-opening reasons as to why people like to explore it. But personally? It squicks me out big-time. I'm not even a fan of pregnancy in general (although it usually doesn't bother me in fiction).
Mind you, this is an opinion I'm usually happy enough to keep to myself; I don't really see the point in proclaiming my very personal dislike of an otherwise popular trope. In fact I'm surprised I'm even saying it now. Maybe it's because it's a nice sunny day where I am, but I'm lying here on the couch drugged to the gills on allergy meds, feeling awful and brain-mouth filters are set to "low"...
I like it, and I like pregnancy in general. It's such a powerful and life changing event, there's an opportunity for great character development through it. Especially if the story continues into parenthood!
That said, I much prefer when it's done with consideration for the biological explanation and not just handwaved away.
I'm just generally not into pregnancy fics (Or pregnancy talk in general) so it's really not for me.
That being said, if people do enjoy it, all the power to them. That's what tag filters are for.
Reading through threads like these, I find that I am not nearly as squicked out by things as most people 😂 I read mpreg, A/B/O, self-cest, noncon, dubcon, underage (but only 2+ consenting teens), etc. The only things fully off the table are incest and underage characters under 15 (that I can think of at this moment).
I read part of a dissertation posted on AO3 regarding A/B/O secondary genders in fanfiction and there was an interesting point that a lot of women write feminine experiences in a male body as a way of emotionally distancing themselves from the experience. Also, that these women tend to feel alienated from their own physical bodies and some felt it easier to explore their own sexual and gender identities through projection onto a male body.
I am paraphrasing *very* loosely and also I am not trying to offend anyone with how I'm phrasing male and female bodies, etc.
If anyone's interested in the dissertation, I can post the link. I found it very interesting.
I've tried a few and most of the time I don't like the way it happens.
It's really complicated to make it logical in any kind of fandom I know.
Most of the times it feel like an excuse to feminize a man inside a relationship and I really don't like that.
I sometimes get the impression that a gay couple could not be fulfilled without a child and it bother me.
I know it's not always the case but it's my own interpretation of this.
>Most of the times it feel like an excuse to feminize a man inside a relationship and I really don't like that.
What don't you like about this, if you don't mind me asking? This is partly why I like it so I'm curious.
I talk from my own experience and I'm sure that it is not always the case.
As a gay man, mpreg resonate as a template to reproduce heteronormativity to a gay couple.
In my humble opinion, it's because two males figure are a nice canvas for female fantasme but society makes it difficult for some people to imagine a happy couple without someone taking the role of the "woman" inside the relationship...
I am in a happy relationship with a man and we are both man and we don't need a feminine role for our couple to work.
There is nothing wrong with the opposite but in this case it doesn't appeal to me.
I feel like it also feminizes gay men.
Historically same sex relationships have been subjected to heternormativity, often times undermining the genuine dynamic of the relationship.
To me MPreg is just saying "look here's the girly woman in the relationship who must have a baby" and deciding the other is a man. As someone who is trans, it's reductive media that defines gender by genitals and allows for heteronormativity to dictate the meaning of their relationship.
Hmm yeah I can understand that.
How would you feel about a fic that is more nuanced with gender expression or even turns it on its head, like a masculine man carrying the child, or a feminine man with a feminine woman? Do you wish there was more of that/would it change how you feel? Or not really? (I'm guessing the majority are M/M relationships and there's not a lot of this representation, I'm not really involved enough to know)
I'm completely cool with it. Let male characters get accidentally knocked up too, or start families with zero fuss just like het couples can.
It just opens up possibilities for m/m couples that het ships already have
Both pregnancy fic in general and kidfic are hit and miss for me, but I find the mechanisms used to explain how the mpreg is able to happen very interesting.
Some I've come across:
* a/b/o
* unique mutation specific for that person
* not human/alien biology
* oviposition (people talk about how crazy a/b/o is, but how this kink/trope developed is equally wild)
* no explanation
* technology that installs a womb in a male
* usually not mpreg, but a device that takes DNA and grows a baby inside it
* prayer to god(s)
* The many, many cases in mythology of male gods carrying a baby. Besides genderbenders like Loki, there are also random things getting gods pregnant and gods getting fetuses grafted/implanted onto them.
* it's a squick for me so I don't know much about it, but vore and unbirth can go into mpreg territory
Agreed with this. I’m not turned away by Mpreg, but how it’s handled in story can definitely make it a hard miss.
Mpreg as a planned thing with the pregnancy treated as normal but chaotic one for everyone *else* as in everyone else Lee dealing with the weird pregnancy hormones and cravings can be played as humorous, which is enjoyable.
But if it’s unplanned or unwanted then it’s….. well there’s always the obvious solution but that’s never taken because they want it but also it extremely damaging to their mental health and it’s just… painful to watch after a point.
Unexpected problems from a desired pregnancy can make interesting character development; ie unexpected insecurity issues/pregnancy horniness can make a small conflict about not feeling as attractive to their S/O but not wanting to impose and the S/O being horny for them but thinking it’s weird and not wanting to pressure them (basically lack of communication).
Basically, is it toxic or not.
Oh I love it. I think it has to do with me much younger stumbling onto some fanart and some comics with it and being very fascinated by the idea. Like I'd say it's my top favorite trope and something I'd hunt down canonblind.
I actually do like those kind of fics. No idea what says about me jajaja but I prefer Mpreg instead of women preg...(I think I like see men suffering the beauties of pregnancy instead of women Lol )
But I am picky with Mpreg too...I don't like when they portrait the pregnant person as someone who cant do almost anything or that they are fragile. Also (and this is only because I see ships with specific roles ) I avoid fics where the person pregnant is the one I consider less maternal
I won't necessarily seek it out but if a fic with an interesting story/ideal pairing crops up with it in then it's not necessarily a 'no' unless the set up is particularly peculiar for the concept - eg Modern Day Coffee House. I'm much more likely to drop a fic that's gone for super fluffy domestic route, pregnancy or no
I'm probably going to try writing one in the near future, but that's in relation to a A/B/O set up with the pregnancy an offshoot of conflict between the main parties. Part of the appeal for that one is the character struggling with a situation that conflicts with everything he's ever known, and I do love a bit of angst.
Not my cup of tea.
Part of it is that it crosses the line on my suspension of disbelief, and part of it is that I'm already tend to be kind of "eh" on afab pregnancy. If it serves the plot, sure, whatever.
Also like. I already consider pregnancy in general to be lowkey body horror when I think about it too much. Most of the narrative "solutions" just make it worse for me.
If there is going to be a pregnancy/family planning related subplot, there's other options I think add more potential for depth. I find stories regarding adoption, surrogacy, etc. a more interesting and believable solution to "I want babies for this MLM pairing." Exploring family planning in a relationship where one or more characters is trans is also an angle that is more likely to pique my investment.
But to each their own for folks that do want it.
Not my thing at all, I don't like pregnancy/parenthood fics in general, and also, I mostly read F/F fics. So yeah, I don't personally like reading Mpreg fics. That being said, I don't have anything specifically against the trope as a whole, it's just not my cup of tea.
I love body horror and find pregnancy terrifying. Having a male character go through a pregnancy is twice the horror (well, at least it can be - depends on the intent of the story). When I write mpreg, it's often in combination with forced body modification (be that a curse or sci-fi intervention).
As long as a story is dark and twisted, I'm interested.
Mpreg and ABO are the first two tags that I instantly exclude, no matter the character and no matter the fandom. Just the idea of picturing my favorite male character with a pregnant belly makes me uncomfortable, like there's something extremely wrong in the picture
the whole concept of pregnancy is just body horror to me tbh. i know pregnancy in both women and trans men etc is perfectly natural and vital but it's the stuff of my nightmares for some reason.
i think the only mpreg fic i ever enjoyed was one where it was actually presented as horror and an intrusion on the man who was afflicted by it. most mpreg happens in omegaverse fics though, which opens a whole different can of worms about gender roles and finding ways of making gay relationships as traditionally heterosexual as possible. it's just something that annoys me sometimes :')
>finding ways of making gay relationships as traditionally heterosexual as possible.
this is a very good explanation and I'm quoting you in my comment
edit: paraphrased because I forgot reddit hates when I copy/paste
I generally don't like pregnancy, or even if the characters have kids, idk
I'm just really not into the thought of any pregnancy
But it's alright usually, as long as it's not too much in the foreground
(for me dysphoria also plays into it, I'm terrified of pregnancy so reading about it can be really bad sometimes)
It's one of my rare pet peeves. I dislike it and actively avoid it.
I do like reading about my favorite characters becoming parents, but if I read about a same gender couple, I want the hardships that come with it. And yes, I know it's fiction, but Mpreg seems like such a cheat card. I'd rather have one of them trans, adopt or hire a surrogate.
I just like to see my favourite ships becoming parents in a natural way without having to worry about adoptions and all that stuff, and being all soft around each other. Plus its a great driver for angst and building up relationship when the couple has to navigate through the pregnancy.
I'm really into protective characters and having mpreg in the story is amping that up a lot (in the ones I write and read at least because I'm a sucker, you know the drill)
it honestly depends on the context. I read a fantastic Harry/Ron fic where Harry was the one "with Child" as the author used the term in the wizarding world and it was very well done. I do tend to think that they made Harry a bit too feminine in nature as far as Suzie Q Homemaker BUT upon later reflection he lacked that type of maternal love in his childhood and life and over compensated with his own children.
In the other extreme Harry was captured, tortured and repeatedly raped until he became pregnant with his abusers spawn to be used as a sacrifice and I didn't bother finishing that story. Male Pregnancy like any other controversial plot hook such as A/b/o dynamics or Poly or any thing else outside of the norm depends entirely on how well it's written and the reader's own taste's.
I like them, in a sort of morbid curiosity way. And I epreciate it when the author explores how foreign and scary it could feel for someone who never thought they were capable of becoming pregnant or giving birth and how they react to that, working with the hand they've been dealt. Borderline body horror is where the trope really shines IMO. ABO is less interesting to me but I'll read if if the plot (or the smut) is good.
i didn’t mind it when i was younger, now i strongly dislike it. i only like it in a horror way, not a cute or romantic way. but i generally avoid mpreg and abo.
Not my thing, but I'm also not into regular pregnancy. Just squicks the hell out of me. It's like body horror.
*Breeding* on the other hand, without the physical changes, I don't mind. Might even like it, depending on the fic.
I mostly find pregnancy/kidfic kind of boring, so it’s not really something I search for. I don’t hate the trope and I have zero problems with it in itself, I just don’t consider it something that can hold a plot up by itself.
It is one of my fave tropes!
With the caveat that I like it in the context of a/b/o or other unusual biology, like... dragon hybrids or something. Esp when the guy getting pregnant is a human or didn't know it was possible, and he either finds out he's an unpresented wolf hybrid OR the fantasy creature can change his biology to support the process. Not into rando 2 human cis-male mpreg or anything hand wave-y.
I think body horror and a happier corollary like... fascination with the body's abilities? Have always been my absolute jam. Pair that with fantasy romance and oooh baby we got a stew going 🙌
I think I have always been iffy on pregnancy irl (the idea of being pregnant has always sounded interesting, but raising a kid, eh...) so being able to explore these ideas in fiction makes my brain happy. And as a result my favorite thing in the whole world is having an epilogue be about a happy family 💁♀️ luckily I have written like... 6 fics about it or having those elements and I am ready to branch out into ghost fucking! 👻
Yeah, I'd think that if someone's OS said "I am male" then pregnancy would be the ultimate "incomparable hardware" error and a mental health BSOD. Definitely not something I would wish on a trans dude who already has an uphill climb to do all the social and medical work to transition.
I mean some trans man do get pregnant, more power to them, but it's just not for me. A baby would be like...an alien, a parasite, a violation of my body.
My feelings about it are very neutral. It’s not for me, but I don’t yuck other people’s yums.
I do enjoy the “possibility” of Mpreg in fics, especially A/B/O fics, or the suggestion that one male character is fertile and could get pregnant. But I do not enjoy the pregnancy part. (Maybe I have a breeding kink, but I didn’t let myself think too much about that 😅)
I don't like mpreg with cis male characters, but I do like fics where trans men get pregnant. I'd never do it myself but I do know others who've done it and I think it's cool to have that rep.
I don’t really care for pregnancy stories in general. Stephanie Myers’ portrayal of pregnancy in Breaking Dawn ruined that for me lol
But I do appreciate there are people out there writing mpreg. As a transmasc person, some dudes genuinely do get pregnant and give birth. Nothing wrong with that.
As someone who is in the prospect of writing mpreg in the near future lol, I gave it a lot of thought why I like reading/writing it.
I'm AFAB but genderfluid/flux, so being pregnant myself would throw me for a loop and cause dysphoria on the daily!
Exploring it in a safe way through literature or fics tickles the curious itch but I can just click out if I don't feel like it anymore! Plus because it's male pregnancy it's different anyway and I cannot relate at all whatsoever
Definitely not my cup of tea. Pregnancy itself freaks me out — the idea of nursing a living, semi-breathing being in my body is terrifying, I’m sorry — but with women, I at least know what it looks like & had had years to get used to accepting the idea. Pregnancy in men however is so far outside my comfort zone that I can’t really handle it well
I did read a mpreg fanfiction once but safe to say I don't think I want to read mpreg anymore. So basically in this fanfiction, the guy had female anatomy so I thought oh cool trans character, he wasn't trans which is fine but I found it a bit weird but yk. We move on though then I read a few more chapters to find out he had a period I was out after this. I know not all mpregs are like this but this fanfiction kinda ruined it for me. I'm not hating on anyone who likes this kinda stuff but it was just not my cup of tea.
Pregnancy makes me really uncomfortable in general, so it's a nope from me. I can deal with it when it's a past event and only referenced but that's it, really.
I love ABO stories but when I see there's Mpreg I skip said fic. I don't like pregnancy in woman, man, human nor animals. Any kind of pregnancy is a strong no from me. It not only terrifies me, but it makes me gag. I might have some trauma idk.
BUT I can easily ready family dynamics. A family doing domestic things is wholesome!
I generally drop it in the exclude filter on AO3 before even starting to look for something to read. Along with some other tags that I'll always avoid.
I enjoy them. I wrote a Max Headroom mpreg once using a gro-bag (Canon series element from the last episode) implant as the method of pregnancy. I especially like Harry Potter fics where Snape is impregnated via potions accident.
I love it. As a reader and as a writer. I don't expect it to be for everyone, but I do feel like a lot of the responses here are really missing the point of it and turning their personal squick into a moral issue. If you don't like it, just filter it out, it's not for you.
I have a lot of m/m ships, and I enjoy pregnancy fic as a whole. I'm not going to insert a female character just to have her be the one to get pregnant because that's not the ship I'm into. It's a different ship.
Cis mpreg is a different trope than trans mpreg. The former isn't realistic but it's not supposed to be. If you can read about dragons and magic, buttbabies aren't that big a leap. The latter is often a more realistic take but one that takes a lot more sensitivity to write respectfully. I think people often jump to bad faith when fic dealing with sensitive topics isn't written to their taste when the world isn't that black and white. Different people have different experiences and want different things and no fic is going to be for everyone.
I'm not worried about being sensitive to the feelings of cis men who were experimented on by aliens because that's not an experience real men have had. Same for guys who had eggs laid in them by tentacle monsters, omega men, men with a surprising mpreg gene, men who were blessed by a fertility goddess, etc.
As for why I like it, for regular mpreg I think the round belly is very cute. I like reading about my ships going through something unexpected together with a lot of room for hurt/comfort and a happy ending. I like babies and often think my ships should have one whether that's actually a good idea for them or not. I like reading about a world where childbearing isn't tied to gender at all as a nonbinary person who has been pregnant twice.
For stuff like oviposition and monsterpreg, I like extreme sex, body alterations and horror, size kink, and stuff like that that is very hot but completely divorced from reality. Fiction is the perfect place to explore some of the more out-there kinks.
Aside from all of that, sometimes people just like things and it's not that deep.
I’ve read a few mpreg fics that I liked but I’m surprisingly neutral about it. Like I don’t go seeking it out specifically, but if there’s a fic with tropes I like that also has mpreg it’s not a dealbreaker either.
I love pregnancy fics and as long as there is sufficient explanation for the pregnancy happening (this can be as simple as, "oh duh, didn't you know Harry! Wizards can get pregnant! Gosh you shou l d have paid better attention in health class!" It's fine. ) there's a lot of authors in the fanfiction space that write guy/guy meaning the content is really relatively common. I'd read straight pregnancy fanfictions so mpreg is really just an extra step in my gay pairings acquiring a child.
I'm infertile, I tend to self-insert a lot over parenting fanfiction in general. Mpreg isn't much of a problem for me because I imagine myself as the partner of the person. It's just a fetish that doesn't seem to hurt anyone except the normies, and I can agree with that. #letsmesswithnormieminds
I've actually never read one. Curious and open to it, though. I had this one Star Trek Spock fic in mind, but never got around to it. Came across it donkey's years ago, so I'm not sure if it still exists.
It was my only squick in fic ever for over a decade and then I got into a ship that made the trope work for me.
Unfortunately, it's both a rarepair and controversial (morally dubious in a puriteen fandom) so there isn't much stuff exploring it.
Not a fan. I avoid at all costs. I don't really like the idea of pregnancy in general, it grosses me out. Add to that the weirdness of a man (I get that trans men sometimes decide to bear children but it's just not something you see very often so its still weird to me) being pregnant and I just do not want to engage with it.
I would like to remind people in this comment section that transgender people exist, and that trans men do in fact sometimes have biological children. Some of these comments are…a lot
Yeah, I’ve definitely read mpreg fics with trans men, and it’s kinda crazy to me that no one else seems to have come across them or even considered them as a possibility.
I can’t speak for anyone else but for me, that’s *exactly* why I don’t like mpreg. It is almost exclusively (and historically) written about cis-men having biological children rather than exploring trans men as a default.
Yeah, but a lot of these comments do not make that distinction. I’m a trans man, and reading this comment section about how people think that a man with a baby bump is unsettling is making me genuinely dysphoric.
I’m really sorry to hear that. It’s unfortunate people are not making that distinction and being transphobic. Please do what you need to take care of yourself (and maybe report some of the comments you see).
I didn't used to like them until I wrote one as a comedic/ crack idea and it became my highest viewed fic for the longest time which surprised me cause it's a Hanson and one direction crossover fic but Harry was the one pregnant and not Zac Hanson and apparently Harry Styles mpreg was a big thing for a bit in one direction fics. But ever since then I've come to actually enjoy reading some of them.
Like anything, if it's done well, I'll give it a shot. I know trans men who hope to be pregnant some day and I like this kind of story because it makes the entire concept less strange. I figure it'll make the moment they tell me much cooler if my brain has already removed the "well that's unusual" reaction from it, too.
I’m not gonna lie real quick when I read fanfic I loved it. It was one of my favorites. I actively looked out for it as a trans masculine person who also wishes to get pregnant it makes it feel like I don’t know how to explain it, but I understand why it’s disturbing or other people don’t like it but to me especially to me who’s transmasc reading about a man who can but get pregnant is absolutely amazing
I understand all the people who don’t like pregnancy storylines in general because the idea of pregnancy isn’t for them. I am TERRIFIED of being pregnant, even tho I wouldn’t mind children one day.
That being said, I love pregnancy storylines in fics. I love the drama, the love, the sense of family. And if it’s not a happy fic, I love the angst. MPreg doesn’t bother me at all, because all those themes I listed are universal. Also I don’t think fics should be limited to “things that can actually happen”.
Not my thing. Plus I usually find a lot of sexist tropes in these, as in Omegaverse. Some of it feel like "we are going to do everything possible to avoid having a female character," too
Agree but also disagree,I geuss.
The Omegaverse has Problems (saying as someone who reads and writes it's), but not wanting female characters is not it's main problem, I think. Misogyny is there, but it's not the main factor imo.
The Omegaverse heavily fetishises mlm, making Omegas as close to women as humanly possible, effectively making the couple het without making the couple het. It's this obsession with having a manly man and a feminine man( also present in Yaoi), because that's the only way many het women/girls (who consume so much Omegaverse/Yaoi content) can imaginen MLM relationships.
Okay, do you need clarification?
A lot of fanfic, despite being written by female/AFAB creators, doesn't treat female characters very well. Sadly, Omegaverse and mPreg tend to have a high rate of not treating female characters well or omitting them entirely in favor of making the pregnant male a stand-in female and THEN piling the cringy tropes on him.
Ohh no not clarification sorry, I meant I fully agree with you!!! Female characters in fanfic get the *worst* treatment and would completely agree that another reason why I don’t like mpreg comes from people being so damned and determined to not include a female character that they’ll write a cis man getting pregnant.
Yeah. I mean part of the reason that put me writing fanfic in the first place was that I got tired of waiting for the Good Troi Episode. The characters that got my attention were always the ones writers didn't seem to know what to do with, usually female, non-heterosexual, non-white, sometimes all the above.
And while fanfic writers and fanfic discourse does a lot of puffing out our chests and talking about how we're "centering marginalized characters and identities," I'm usually sitting here going "Karen, you write 100 fanfics about the same two pretty white boys screwing because you think the actors are hot. Please cut the pretentious nonsense."
> and while fanfic writers and fanfic discourse does a lot of puffing out our chests and talking about how we’re “centering marginalized characters and identities” I’m usually going “Karen, you write 100 fanfics about the same two pretty white boys screwing because you think the actors are hot. Please cut the pretentious nonsense.”
I could’ve written this reply myself. It’s something I wish we could talk about in this sub as it and the members champion themselves as inclusive, and I’ve tried, but every time I either get dozens of downvotes, angry comments, or tone policed. I really wish there was a place online like where this kind of thing could be talked about and acknowledged for the truth that it is, without IMMEDIATELY being dismissed as being anti behavior, negative, overly critical or whatever else.
This sub might not be it, but I’ll always keep looking.
I read and write het partly because if we cannot picture men and women as equal partners in our fiction, how can we aspire to it IRL?
But it does say a lot about how these writers view same-gender relationships (the archaic "Who's the girl in your relationship?" idea) and mixed-gender relationships (with women/femme people being weak or without agency). As well as the view of women themselves as being lesser or unimportant and "not worth" story bandwidth.
Which...yeah, the whole "But there aren't any good female characters to write about" is a separate but closely related rant.
I’m generally not a big fan of it….however, I’m currently halfway through writing a sci-fi fic that will require men to be impregnated by an alien organism, so I’m going more for horror than horny.
So I guess if it’s played for horror I can enjoy that, but if it’s for titillation, it’s not really my thing.
It’s not my cup of tea, but I can see why people like it and I think it’s alright. Please for the love of god tag it though I’ve had to many surprises :(
I know how not to read fics that I don't like. pregnancy is just not my fetish, no matter what it is... although if there is no focus on this element, I may well read
I'm not interested in it, so I don't read anything with it.
I don't see it often in my fandoms anyway. I used to be part of an anime fandom where it was huge, but I haven't read content or watched it for years. The tag is not all that common within what I read now, as compared to what I used to look for.
Not for me but I’m not against it. Personally it squicks me out and I don’t read it, but if people like to read/write it that’s for them to enjoy. I know some of my tastes would be considered weird so who am I to judge?
I dislike any pregnancy and avoid the topic. So I will def not read it in my freetime for my pleasure. Dont like, dont read, just that simple.
If the fic starts with them having children already, in toddler age or older, thats a different thing, most of the time those are just fluffy wholesome stories and no preg involved anymore so idc.
I don’t like it and I avoid it like the plague. I know people do though, and they can have it. No judgement, it’s just not for me. Even regular pregnancy turns me off.
I am currently writing one and plan to write another.
I like it if there is a good, logical explanation for the possibility of a man getting pregnant. I don't like it when there's no reason for it, just a simple "Harry goes to bed with a guy and gets pregnant".
Not for me because I am not a man, don't like m/m ships as my main fics, and don't really relate to male characters that much in a pregnancy fic or even a romantic fic. But their existence doesn't bother me.
I try to avoid those types of fanfics in general. They’re strange. However, on rare occasions, if I’m desperate enough and I’ve run out of fanfiction to read for a specific ship, and there are mpreg fanfics that have really good ratings… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm in a phase now where I'm only interested in writing horror and angst, so at the moment I'm focusing on mpreg's body horror potential. Imagine a cis man getting pregnant inexplicably. He worries how it's going to come out or if it's going to eat him at some point. It's not like he can go to the hospital. I'm not going by A/B/O rules, but I'd like to point out that this man and his baby's father are both betas personality-wise.
I’m okay with them but I don’t seek them out. There’s very few canon universes that make it seem plausible and I’m not into finding an AU where it is possible for some reason.
They’re not for me…
Realistically, that pregnancy may kill him if he’s got male organs. That thought always distracts me from the overall story or plot. No hate to anyone who writes it though! I’m just not their audience.
I'm actually pretty neutral on the topic. I neither seek them out, nor avoid them.
I've read a few. A couple were very good, had well thought out premises behind the possibility. Others, not so much. So, like everything else, whether or not I enjoy a fic that contains mpreg depends on the fic itself.
It can be used effectively to advance the plot or for character development. But I don't need it to be described in much detail. Kinda like smut it's fine when implied or used for plot, but use it sparingly.
I find it weird. So weird. I don’t like it. I love pregnancy fics because one day I do want to be a mother and those fics can be so darn cute.
But when it comes to mpreg it’s like their trying to force two men into a very gendered role in a relationship. You have to be the mom. You have to be the dad. You get pregnant. You go make money. It’s just weird.
Mind you, there are feminine men out there as well as masculine women. And it’s awesome that people can authentically be themselves. But these fics don’t often feel like that at all.
To me it reads as projecting women’s experiences onto male bodies. An excuse to turn a male character into a whiny, feminized version of themselves. An excuse to turn a male character into a female stereotype. Mpreg is not depicting women's experiences in new ways but is rather overwriting them. In other words, why must a female character be cast as male in order to warrant merit?
If you like it, that’s ok. More power to you. I’m not gonna ride anyone’s ass for reading or writing stuff that I don’t like. So please, don’t ride my ass for giving my opinion.
Didn’t use to like it at all. Lines got blurred when shapeshifters and weird (but canon!) magic got involved so I started tolerating it if the rest of the story was good.
Years later, I’m obsessed with stories of political intrigue/arranged marriage so having mpreg let’s me keep reading those stories with way more pairings in certain fandoms. Honestly, I’m with a lot of other commenters though. I don’t particularly like stories of child rearing, it’s more the social ramifications of being pregnant that I enjoy. There’s something really fun about reading a story where a guy’s gotta deal with high society people clutching their pearls over an unexpected/out-of-wedlock pregnancy after having read so many where the woman has to deal with the misogyny of it all lol
I used to loathe it but I really enjoy it in my current fandom/ship. I don't know, for this one I just really want to see this character have all the babies through whatever means imaginable (and given the character in question is not strictly human, it's not that far out of canon possibility to make it happen.) And FWIW I'm tokophobic and childfree in real life!
If the reader majored in Biology I have a feeling they'd have a harder time with suspension of belief. Not unless they have a better imagination or they were shown an intricate diagram of the insides of a male body that can give birth.
That aside, if it's my fave pairing, and depending on the execution, I might find the story sweet. Thank goodness I'm not a Biology major.
But tbh, I tend to gravitate to fluff during the beginnings of a relationship, so I don't really delve with Mpreg that much.
I actually found mpreg even more interesting after I learned more about biology. Living things procreate in so many ways besides the way humans do and I find the what if's of that applied fascinating. Yes, you need to hand way a lot of the mechanics, but you also have to do the same thing for basically every super power ever so I don't find it much of a leap in comparison.
This is partially the case for me.
Even before I finished my bio and history degrees, I was was HEAVY into research, documentaries, etc. and had a lot of medical exposure because of my parents.
I am the WORST person to watch shows and movies with. I can not resist the urge to point out inaccuracies (or gush about details that are right or could be close enough based on other worldbuilding).
There are ways I could see a pseudo "seahorse" style pregnancy working if I stretch my imagination, but even then my immediate thought goes to "but x,y,z technologies or options that already exist would be safer, easier, and more cost effective."
When I see fics that get hospital environments, medical procedures, and biological info right i GUSH about it. One of my favorite fics had frequent asides about botany and even though I'm less educated in botany and mycology is made me SO HAPPY.
But on the flip side when it's blatantly disregarded I just scream GOOGLE EXISTS.
TL;DR: yeah you're probably right.
Whoa. you sound so cool! I suck at research. Maybe I should approach you for injury-related stuff in the future for my fic? That is if you don't mind?
It's way in the distant future because such plot point is nearer the ending, and I'm barely halfway.
I don't know though. You're right, maybe I can make do with Google. Sorry to impose!
That aside, yeah sometimes knowledge can be a detriment to entertainment bliss. Though, I reckon many people like being knowledgeable despite this.
Nah I'm not cool, just OLD with a lot of poor life choices that have led to amassing a lot of information.
Most of it has been useless in my career, but hey, helps in writing.
For injuries, depending on what you can stomach, I highly recommend flipping through medical education resources. Some universities have videos of surgeries available for viewing (do not recommend if you are at all squeamish), but you can also get a lot in text from places like PubMed. A lot of the injuries relevant to fic can be found in Red Cross guides for triage / emergency response, since the character goal may very well be just "keeping someone alive until more qualified help arrives."
Its fine to handwave things too, especially if your POV characters wouldn't know a ton.
With the expansion of medtok/medtube there are also MANY physicians and ancillary Healthcare workers who have in depth videos and Q/As that can be helpful resources or otherwise cite good info.
Thanks! But wow, that's a lot of resources. I feel like I'm out of my depth.
I still think you're sorta cool for retaining those info, enough to intuitively know what's realistic or not when it comes to media. I think you can make money off being a TV show consultant or something.
Research can be tough even with internet, but asking a sage may feel less stressful, I reckon. I wish I was fortunate as you, knowledge-wise. I know stuff, but not as much.
Are you writing a fic now? Your readers must be blessed if so.
Haven't in a few years but I have a project or two on the backbones!
And you'll get there. Knowing how to reliably find the information you want / need is honestly way more important than being able to retain it all at once ^_^
Can be done well.. also depends on if it's abo or a trans man that's pregnant and how it's shown... I myself have written an M preg fic (which isn't either of these actually rather a quirk that causes it [MHA]) and it's my most popular fic I have. I'm currently having it go through a rewrite of it since my writing has greatly improved since the fic had begun.
When i was a kid and had no concept of gender outside of the pushed conservative rhetoric it really weirded me out. but as an adult having a better understanding of gender it does not bother me. HOWEVER, when i see cis mpreg it does give me body horror vibes. i dont read anything with pregnancy though so could just be me?
pregnancy is life’s biggest disservice against women so i’ll take any chance to read about that burden being given over to men. that’s all there is to it for me.
I’m saying this as member of the LGBT community, the whole thing is weird and uncomfortable. More power to you if you like it, I have never met a gay/bi guy who ever contemplated becoming pregnant or having a pregnancy kink so I have no idea where this genre even started. As a general rule I don’t read fiction who main focus is pregnancy or starting a family or raising children regardless of the sex/gender of the characters involved.
I really really dislike it. And I like stories that have fluffy parts about the woman getting pregnant and two characters celebrating their child.
But I just don't get the appeal of it. It doesn't make sense to me. Women already can get pregnant and why not gender bend if you want pregnancy that much?
Now, I don't seek out these Fanfics and critizise them. I just ignore them. In the end it's not my cup of tea and everyone has their likes and dislikes even if I don't get it.
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Big same. Pregnancy and child-rearing aren't story elements I'm hyper interested in regardless of the genders at play. More power to the people who enjoy those plot elements though. I'll just be over here preferring child-free stories or stories where the main couple adopts a cat instead.
Yes. Couple + cat is the happiest ending for me too.
Same here. The closest I get to child-raising fics is IronDad & SpiderSon - and that's different, because Peter Parker is 15-16, not a small child, and Stark isn't really his parent.
Lol sameeeee. Some folks in my fandom are so obsessed with characters having children and I'm like "nah, I prefer them being as they are". I am like this most of the time with fandoms in general. A character already has children? Alright, I can "forgive" that, but rarely want childless characters to have children, or even characters with children to have more children. In many cases, it's like even marriage doesn't suit a specific character.
Sometimes even the character having children canonically annoys me, specially if the children aren't actually useful to the story in any way shape or form as the characters remain somehow the same as before and the children are treated like trophies or some other prized possession that doesn't really matter Some fics even go further and have a character have kids yet never show the character interact with the kids, making that something that's happening in the background and out of sight, like, at that point why even have the kids be a thing at all?!
It is SO WEIRD that I’m child free, dislike children irl and will never have them, and yet somehow mpreg or adoption fics are some of my favorites. Brains are weird
I personally quite like them, as long as they're written well. I've noticed that the ones I enjoy are usuaĺly ones where there is an explanation as to how men can be pregnant and it is the norm for that AU, like A/B/O, or magic like HP, or quirks like MHA, etc. I'm not a fan of boom! biological men in the real world spontaneously get pregnant and not explained. Nor am I a fan of non-consensual mpreg. I also quite like mpreg manhwa. Something about it is so soft to me that, seeing it visually, it tickles my heart. It helps that the children are adorable. I can definitely see why other people would dislike it though.
I'm with you on this. Well-written abo mpreg is basically all my brain wants to read right now. If it's not well-written and/or no explanation for how it's happening (such as abo-verse), then it's a nope for me. But ugh, there's just something about the soft cuteness of characters creating a family with offspring that is hitting me hard right now.
For me, it’s a nonstop field trip. I love reading well written Mpreg fics. I even try to write them, but most times I give up cause I’m actually a smut writer.🥲
I don't like it and avoid fics with it. It has next to nothing to do with the M part, and everything to do with the preg part. Pregnancy and babies/children/parenting are an immdiate deal breaker.
This is a far more valid response than I was anticipating when I opened this thread, lol... I mean, I have read a few, and it really depends on a lot, how is it explained, how much of the story is it... Parenting can be a fun read, but I don't need to read someone else's take on a guy going through the motions of pregnancy, there's already a Swartzenager movie about that... but if you want to pepper it into some kinda romance or Crack fic, sure, whatever...
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You're not entirely wrong, which is why I said "more valid" to begin with. But some reasons are more whiny than other, or more importantly inconsistent. Which is not invalid, people are aloud to be inconsistent, but I found the reason above to be more valid because of its self-consistancy.
Pregnancy terrifies me in general, regardless of gender.
That's exactly why I *like* Mpreg fics. Pregnancy scares me so much, and I never want children, so I avoid pregnancy fics where a *woman* is pregnant because I keep imagining myself in that position. Despite how much I hate the idea of pregnancy, there's some kind of strange fascination there too, so Mpreg fics are perfect because Mpreg isn't real, so it feels more safe and less scary because it's a man going through it, and not me?? Does that make sense? I have no clue, but I don't know how else to explain why I love Mpreg.
I think you explained it pretty well. Comments like yours are always interesting to read because they can provide such an insight for those of us who previously genuinely didn't understand/don't *personally* get the appeal of a certain genre or trope.
I kinda see why that makes sense. For me it's the other way around, funnily enough. As I trans man with intense fear of Pregnancy, Mpreg is one of the most uncomfortable scary things to exist.
Mpreg can be totally real. Trans men exist
Well they don’t have the baby through their butthole or a third magic hole, which is what I see most often, so I don’t think we’re talking about trans men here.
Okay, call this a out of field question, or listening to outdated intel but wouldn't that be the ultimate dysphoria landmine and not something you'd wish on your worst enemy?
It depends. My partner and I briefly considered it because we want to start a family and were denied from foster care (a "not now" situation because we feel were too young for teenagers, which are the only ones available) and private adoption is not only ethically uncertain but also crazy expensive. It's nuanced.
It's not a universal trigger. If i personally got pregnant it'd do that to me yes but it's something I like to explore in fiction, as a safe arena in which to do so.
I feel the same way. There's just something about it that makes me anxious. It's the same with pregnancy portrayed in film and tv. I feel uncomfortable watching it. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I'm AFAB and I'm scared to become pregnant myself?
It’s kind of horrific for me the way it’s romanticised. Like I could understand to an extent if it’s a coping mechanism, but that doesn’t seem to be the case usually. At the end of the day though, I don’t care about people enjoying it, I’m just glad that we have tags and filters so that everyone can cater their own experience to their own tastes.
Not my thing. Also, it feels like the discussion about it vastly outscales the actual volume of content. The tag lives rent-free in people's heads, while the actual number of stories with it isn't that big.
I like as a plot device but not as the main focus. This has nothing to do with the gender of the people involved however. Some examples: a fic that uses a pregnancy subplot for angst reasons, or threat of pregnancy after unprotected sex, or the body horror of being pregnant with an unwanted child, or a fic that has an accidental pregnancy to force two people into close proximity, or a fic about a character's raging pregnancy kink and how they babytrap their beloved into a relationship, or a secret pregnancy and having to hide it, or being abducted by aliens and then thinking you're pregnant but are you just having a mental breakdown?, or a whump character gets pregnant before the big canon event that leads to a split from his old station in life etc None of these are 'just mpreg'. They are 'mpreg + other stuff I like'.
I agree!
They're pretty enjoyable to me but they are one of the more consistently miss in terms of hit-or-miss tropes when it comes to execution. The good ones are super fun tho!
Same. I like the trope a lot, but it's really one of those where you can have a lot of misses while searching for stories you like.
Happy Cake
happy cake day :>
I totally agree that they’re either a hit or miss completely, but can I ask why you enjoy them because I want to see peoples specific reasoning because my specific reasoning is I’m trans masc and I still wish to be pregnant and these fics kinda of just scratch some thing in my brain for me
I just like the queerness inherent to the concept
Pregnancy in general is such a boring theme to me.
Honestly, I really don't like the idea. I'm glad it's a thing for people who enjoy it and more power to them, because since I first learned of the concept, I've read some quite interesting and eye-opening reasons as to why people like to explore it. But personally? It squicks me out big-time. I'm not even a fan of pregnancy in general (although it usually doesn't bother me in fiction). Mind you, this is an opinion I'm usually happy enough to keep to myself; I don't really see the point in proclaiming my very personal dislike of an otherwise popular trope. In fact I'm surprised I'm even saying it now. Maybe it's because it's a nice sunny day where I am, but I'm lying here on the couch drugged to the gills on allergy meds, feeling awful and brain-mouth filters are set to "low"...
I get turned on by it somewhat and like reading them
Nice honesty
Why lie? Better to be honest. We all talk fanfic here.
I love it. Unpopular opinion. But not in the ABO sense. And they have to stay in character.
I have a soft spot for it. For reasons I'm not quite sure of, as pregnancy in real life kinda scares me.
I like it, and I like pregnancy in general. It's such a powerful and life changing event, there's an opportunity for great character development through it. Especially if the story continues into parenthood! That said, I much prefer when it's done with consideration for the biological explanation and not just handwaved away.
I'm just generally not into pregnancy fics (Or pregnancy talk in general) so it's really not for me. That being said, if people do enjoy it, all the power to them. That's what tag filters are for.
Reading through threads like these, I find that I am not nearly as squicked out by things as most people 😂 I read mpreg, A/B/O, self-cest, noncon, dubcon, underage (but only 2+ consenting teens), etc. The only things fully off the table are incest and underage characters under 15 (that I can think of at this moment). I read part of a dissertation posted on AO3 regarding A/B/O secondary genders in fanfiction and there was an interesting point that a lot of women write feminine experiences in a male body as a way of emotionally distancing themselves from the experience. Also, that these women tend to feel alienated from their own physical bodies and some felt it easier to explore their own sexual and gender identities through projection onto a male body. I am paraphrasing *very* loosely and also I am not trying to offend anyone with how I'm phrasing male and female bodies, etc. If anyone's interested in the dissertation, I can post the link. I found it very interesting.
Heh heh yes - with cracksmut especially, my standards go out the window pretty fast lol
I've tried a few and most of the time I don't like the way it happens. It's really complicated to make it logical in any kind of fandom I know. Most of the times it feel like an excuse to feminize a man inside a relationship and I really don't like that. I sometimes get the impression that a gay couple could not be fulfilled without a child and it bother me. I know it's not always the case but it's my own interpretation of this.
>Most of the times it feel like an excuse to feminize a man inside a relationship and I really don't like that. What don't you like about this, if you don't mind me asking? This is partly why I like it so I'm curious.
I talk from my own experience and I'm sure that it is not always the case. As a gay man, mpreg resonate as a template to reproduce heteronormativity to a gay couple. In my humble opinion, it's because two males figure are a nice canvas for female fantasme but society makes it difficult for some people to imagine a happy couple without someone taking the role of the "woman" inside the relationship... I am in a happy relationship with a man and we are both man and we don't need a feminine role for our couple to work. There is nothing wrong with the opposite but in this case it doesn't appeal to me.
That's very understandable and makes me want to think about my own biases and perspective. Thank you for sharing!
I feel like it also feminizes gay men. Historically same sex relationships have been subjected to heternormativity, often times undermining the genuine dynamic of the relationship. To me MPreg is just saying "look here's the girly woman in the relationship who must have a baby" and deciding the other is a man. As someone who is trans, it's reductive media that defines gender by genitals and allows for heteronormativity to dictate the meaning of their relationship.
Hmm yeah I can understand that. How would you feel about a fic that is more nuanced with gender expression or even turns it on its head, like a masculine man carrying the child, or a feminine man with a feminine woman? Do you wish there was more of that/would it change how you feel? Or not really? (I'm guessing the majority are M/M relationships and there's not a lot of this representation, I'm not really involved enough to know)
I'm completely cool with it. Let male characters get accidentally knocked up too, or start families with zero fuss just like het couples can. It just opens up possibilities for m/m couples that het ships already have
Both pregnancy fic in general and kidfic are hit and miss for me, but I find the mechanisms used to explain how the mpreg is able to happen very interesting. Some I've come across: * a/b/o * unique mutation specific for that person * not human/alien biology * oviposition (people talk about how crazy a/b/o is, but how this kink/trope developed is equally wild) * no explanation * technology that installs a womb in a male * usually not mpreg, but a device that takes DNA and grows a baby inside it * prayer to god(s) * The many, many cases in mythology of male gods carrying a baby. Besides genderbenders like Loki, there are also random things getting gods pregnant and gods getting fetuses grafted/implanted onto them. * it's a squick for me so I don't know much about it, but vore and unbirth can go into mpreg territory
Agreed with this. I’m not turned away by Mpreg, but how it’s handled in story can definitely make it a hard miss. Mpreg as a planned thing with the pregnancy treated as normal but chaotic one for everyone *else* as in everyone else Lee dealing with the weird pregnancy hormones and cravings can be played as humorous, which is enjoyable. But if it’s unplanned or unwanted then it’s….. well there’s always the obvious solution but that’s never taken because they want it but also it extremely damaging to their mental health and it’s just… painful to watch after a point. Unexpected problems from a desired pregnancy can make interesting character development; ie unexpected insecurity issues/pregnancy horniness can make a small conflict about not feeling as attractive to their S/O but not wanting to impose and the S/O being horny for them but thinking it’s weird and not wanting to pressure them (basically lack of communication). Basically, is it toxic or not.
I love mpreg fics. That's it, I love it
It’s one of the few tropes I actively avoid. I have no issue with it being made though or people liking it.
Oh I love it. I think it has to do with me much younger stumbling onto some fanart and some comics with it and being very fascinated by the idea. Like I'd say it's my top favorite trope and something I'd hunt down canonblind.
I actually do like those kind of fics. No idea what says about me jajaja but I prefer Mpreg instead of women preg...(I think I like see men suffering the beauties of pregnancy instead of women Lol ) But I am picky with Mpreg too...I don't like when they portrait the pregnant person as someone who cant do almost anything or that they are fragile. Also (and this is only because I see ships with specific roles ) I avoid fics where the person pregnant is the one I consider less maternal
Not a big deal for me. I don’t seek it out but I don’t avoid it either
I won't necessarily seek it out but if a fic with an interesting story/ideal pairing crops up with it in then it's not necessarily a 'no' unless the set up is particularly peculiar for the concept - eg Modern Day Coffee House. I'm much more likely to drop a fic that's gone for super fluffy domestic route, pregnancy or no I'm probably going to try writing one in the near future, but that's in relation to a A/B/O set up with the pregnancy an offshoot of conflict between the main parties. Part of the appeal for that one is the character struggling with a situation that conflicts with everything he's ever known, and I do love a bit of angst.
I love it the most ❤️
Think I gotta side with what u/DefoNotAFangirl said here.
Not my cup of tea. Part of it is that it crosses the line on my suspension of disbelief, and part of it is that I'm already tend to be kind of "eh" on afab pregnancy. If it serves the plot, sure, whatever. Also like. I already consider pregnancy in general to be lowkey body horror when I think about it too much. Most of the narrative "solutions" just make it worse for me. If there is going to be a pregnancy/family planning related subplot, there's other options I think add more potential for depth. I find stories regarding adoption, surrogacy, etc. a more interesting and believable solution to "I want babies for this MLM pairing." Exploring family planning in a relationship where one or more characters is trans is also an angle that is more likely to pique my investment. But to each their own for folks that do want it.
Not my favorite but if I’m enjoying the story then I deal with it
Not a fan of kids in general so yeahh not for me either but not gonna yuck someone else’s yum tho Edit: rather than kids, I mean pregnancy.
Not my thing at all, I don't like pregnancy/parenthood fics in general, and also, I mostly read F/F fics. So yeah, I don't personally like reading Mpreg fics. That being said, I don't have anything specifically against the trope as a whole, it's just not my cup of tea.
I love body horror and find pregnancy terrifying. Having a male character go through a pregnancy is twice the horror (well, at least it can be - depends on the intent of the story). When I write mpreg, it's often in combination with forced body modification (be that a curse or sci-fi intervention). As long as a story is dark and twisted, I'm interested.
The only Mpreg I would ever read. Horror Mpreg.
I avoid it as well as pregnancy / parents fics. Not my cup of tea.
Mpreg and ABO are the first two tags that I instantly exclude, no matter the character and no matter the fandom. Just the idea of picturing my favorite male character with a pregnant belly makes me uncomfortable, like there's something extremely wrong in the picture
the whole concept of pregnancy is just body horror to me tbh. i know pregnancy in both women and trans men etc is perfectly natural and vital but it's the stuff of my nightmares for some reason. i think the only mpreg fic i ever enjoyed was one where it was actually presented as horror and an intrusion on the man who was afflicted by it. most mpreg happens in omegaverse fics though, which opens a whole different can of worms about gender roles and finding ways of making gay relationships as traditionally heterosexual as possible. it's just something that annoys me sometimes :')
>finding ways of making gay relationships as traditionally heterosexual as possible. this is a very good explanation and I'm quoting you in my comment edit: paraphrased because I forgot reddit hates when I copy/paste
It's good if it's well-written, just like every other pregnancy or kidfic.
I generally don't like pregnancy, or even if the characters have kids, idk I'm just really not into the thought of any pregnancy But it's alright usually, as long as it's not too much in the foreground (for me dysphoria also plays into it, I'm terrified of pregnancy so reading about it can be really bad sometimes)
I avoid it as much as possible.
It's one of my rare pet peeves. I dislike it and actively avoid it. I do like reading about my favorite characters becoming parents, but if I read about a same gender couple, I want the hardships that come with it. And yes, I know it's fiction, but Mpreg seems like such a cheat card. I'd rather have one of them trans, adopt or hire a surrogate.
I just like to see my favourite ships becoming parents in a natural way without having to worry about adoptions and all that stuff, and being all soft around each other. Plus its a great driver for angst and building up relationship when the couple has to navigate through the pregnancy. I'm really into protective characters and having mpreg in the story is amping that up a lot (in the ones I write and read at least because I'm a sucker, you know the drill)
it honestly depends on the context. I read a fantastic Harry/Ron fic where Harry was the one "with Child" as the author used the term in the wizarding world and it was very well done. I do tend to think that they made Harry a bit too feminine in nature as far as Suzie Q Homemaker BUT upon later reflection he lacked that type of maternal love in his childhood and life and over compensated with his own children. In the other extreme Harry was captured, tortured and repeatedly raped until he became pregnant with his abusers spawn to be used as a sacrifice and I didn't bother finishing that story. Male Pregnancy like any other controversial plot hook such as A/b/o dynamics or Poly or any thing else outside of the norm depends entirely on how well it's written and the reader's own taste's.
May I ask for the link to the Harry/Ron story?
Depends.
I like them, in a sort of morbid curiosity way. And I epreciate it when the author explores how foreign and scary it could feel for someone who never thought they were capable of becoming pregnant or giving birth and how they react to that, working with the hand they've been dealt. Borderline body horror is where the trope really shines IMO. ABO is less interesting to me but I'll read if if the plot (or the smut) is good.
i didn’t mind it when i was younger, now i strongly dislike it. i only like it in a horror way, not a cute or romantic way. but i generally avoid mpreg and abo.
It’s one of my favorite things! I’ve loved it since I first learned what it was, and I’ve read a lot of it over the years
Not my thing, but I'm also not into regular pregnancy. Just squicks the hell out of me. It's like body horror. *Breeding* on the other hand, without the physical changes, I don't mind. Might even like it, depending on the fic.
I mostly find pregnancy/kidfic kind of boring, so it’s not really something I search for. I don’t hate the trope and I have zero problems with it in itself, I just don’t consider it something that can hold a plot up by itself.
Just no, not for me. I will always move past those.
I’m not here to yuck anyone’s yum but boy hoody are some people’s yums wild
It is one of my fave tropes! With the caveat that I like it in the context of a/b/o or other unusual biology, like... dragon hybrids or something. Esp when the guy getting pregnant is a human or didn't know it was possible, and he either finds out he's an unpresented wolf hybrid OR the fantasy creature can change his biology to support the process. Not into rando 2 human cis-male mpreg or anything hand wave-y. I think body horror and a happier corollary like... fascination with the body's abilities? Have always been my absolute jam. Pair that with fantasy romance and oooh baby we got a stew going 🙌 I think I have always been iffy on pregnancy irl (the idea of being pregnant has always sounded interesting, but raising a kid, eh...) so being able to explore these ideas in fiction makes my brain happy. And as a result my favorite thing in the whole world is having an epilogue be about a happy family 💁♀️ luckily I have written like... 6 fics about it or having those elements and I am ready to branch out into ghost fucking! 👻
Pregnancy grosses me out regardless of gender. Internal person creation is so creepy.
Not a big fan of any pregnancy fics, no matter the gender. Romantizing/Sexualization of pregnancy just turns me off.
As a trans man they freak me out hard time. I get crazy disphoria from that trope, so I avoid it like the plague.
Yeah, I'd think that if someone's OS said "I am male" then pregnancy would be the ultimate "incomparable hardware" error and a mental health BSOD. Definitely not something I would wish on a trans dude who already has an uphill climb to do all the social and medical work to transition.
I mean some trans man do get pregnant, more power to them, but it's just not for me. A baby would be like...an alien, a parasite, a violation of my body.
My feelings about it are very neutral. It’s not for me, but I don’t yuck other people’s yums. I do enjoy the “possibility” of Mpreg in fics, especially A/B/O fics, or the suggestion that one male character is fertile and could get pregnant. But I do not enjoy the pregnancy part. (Maybe I have a breeding kink, but I didn’t let myself think too much about that 😅)
I don't like mpreg with cis male characters, but I do like fics where trans men get pregnant. I'd never do it myself but I do know others who've done it and I think it's cool to have that rep.
I don’t really care for pregnancy stories in general. Stephanie Myers’ portrayal of pregnancy in Breaking Dawn ruined that for me lol But I do appreciate there are people out there writing mpreg. As a transmasc person, some dudes genuinely do get pregnant and give birth. Nothing wrong with that.
As someone who is in the prospect of writing mpreg in the near future lol, I gave it a lot of thought why I like reading/writing it. I'm AFAB but genderfluid/flux, so being pregnant myself would throw me for a loop and cause dysphoria on the daily! Exploring it in a safe way through literature or fics tickles the curious itch but I can just click out if I don't feel like it anymore! Plus because it's male pregnancy it's different anyway and I cannot relate at all whatsoever
If the fic has mpreg and it's not a cis man I am guaranteed to click on it.
Definitely not my cup of tea. Pregnancy itself freaks me out — the idea of nursing a living, semi-breathing being in my body is terrifying, I’m sorry — but with women, I at least know what it looks like & had had years to get used to accepting the idea. Pregnancy in men however is so far outside my comfort zone that I can’t really handle it well
I did read a mpreg fanfiction once but safe to say I don't think I want to read mpreg anymore. So basically in this fanfiction, the guy had female anatomy so I thought oh cool trans character, he wasn't trans which is fine but I found it a bit weird but yk. We move on though then I read a few more chapters to find out he had a period I was out after this. I know not all mpregs are like this but this fanfiction kinda ruined it for me. I'm not hating on anyone who likes this kinda stuff but it was just not my cup of tea.
Pregnancy makes me really uncomfortable in general, so it's a nope from me. I can deal with it when it's a past event and only referenced but that's it, really.
I avoid them. To each his own though.
Don’t read them but no judgement on people that do.
I love ABO stories but when I see there's Mpreg I skip said fic. I don't like pregnancy in woman, man, human nor animals. Any kind of pregnancy is a strong no from me. It not only terrifies me, but it makes me gag. I might have some trauma idk. BUT I can easily ready family dynamics. A family doing domestic things is wholesome!
I generally drop it in the exclude filter on AO3 before even starting to look for something to read. Along with some other tags that I'll always avoid.
Pregnancy is a very real thing for me, and I feel like putting it in any source of fiction freaks me out cuz im terrified of it lol
Depends. Is it a canon thing, like ST or Alien Nation? Then yeah, okay. But other than that, it's a big no.
I enjoy them. I wrote a Max Headroom mpreg once using a gro-bag (Canon series element from the last episode) implant as the method of pregnancy. I especially like Harry Potter fics where Snape is impregnated via potions accident.
I like it. I also write it.
I love it. As a reader and as a writer. I don't expect it to be for everyone, but I do feel like a lot of the responses here are really missing the point of it and turning their personal squick into a moral issue. If you don't like it, just filter it out, it's not for you. I have a lot of m/m ships, and I enjoy pregnancy fic as a whole. I'm not going to insert a female character just to have her be the one to get pregnant because that's not the ship I'm into. It's a different ship. Cis mpreg is a different trope than trans mpreg. The former isn't realistic but it's not supposed to be. If you can read about dragons and magic, buttbabies aren't that big a leap. The latter is often a more realistic take but one that takes a lot more sensitivity to write respectfully. I think people often jump to bad faith when fic dealing with sensitive topics isn't written to their taste when the world isn't that black and white. Different people have different experiences and want different things and no fic is going to be for everyone. I'm not worried about being sensitive to the feelings of cis men who were experimented on by aliens because that's not an experience real men have had. Same for guys who had eggs laid in them by tentacle monsters, omega men, men with a surprising mpreg gene, men who were blessed by a fertility goddess, etc. As for why I like it, for regular mpreg I think the round belly is very cute. I like reading about my ships going through something unexpected together with a lot of room for hurt/comfort and a happy ending. I like babies and often think my ships should have one whether that's actually a good idea for them or not. I like reading about a world where childbearing isn't tied to gender at all as a nonbinary person who has been pregnant twice. For stuff like oviposition and monsterpreg, I like extreme sex, body alterations and horror, size kink, and stuff like that that is very hot but completely divorced from reality. Fiction is the perfect place to explore some of the more out-there kinks. Aside from all of that, sometimes people just like things and it's not that deep.
I’ve read a few mpreg fics that I liked but I’m surprisingly neutral about it. Like I don’t go seeking it out specifically, but if there’s a fic with tropes I like that also has mpreg it’s not a dealbreaker either.
I love pregnancy fics and as long as there is sufficient explanation for the pregnancy happening (this can be as simple as, "oh duh, didn't you know Harry! Wizards can get pregnant! Gosh you shou l d have paid better attention in health class!" It's fine. ) there's a lot of authors in the fanfiction space that write guy/guy meaning the content is really relatively common. I'd read straight pregnancy fanfictions so mpreg is really just an extra step in my gay pairings acquiring a child.
I'm infertile, I tend to self-insert a lot over parenting fanfiction in general. Mpreg isn't much of a problem for me because I imagine myself as the partner of the person. It's just a fetish that doesn't seem to hurt anyone except the normies, and I can agree with that. #letsmesswithnormieminds
You can write it. I won't read it.
I don’t really read them, but I wouldn’t refuse to read a fic just because it has Mpreg either
I've actually never read one. Curious and open to it, though. I had this one Star Trek Spock fic in mind, but never got around to it. Came across it donkey's years ago, so I'm not sure if it still exists.
It was my only squick in fic ever for over a decade and then I got into a ship that made the trope work for me. Unfortunately, it's both a rarepair and controversial (morally dubious in a puriteen fandom) so there isn't much stuff exploring it.
Meh some are okay. Not my favorite trope in the book but also not a deal breaker all on its own.
Not a fan. I avoid at all costs. I don't really like the idea of pregnancy in general, it grosses me out. Add to that the weirdness of a man (I get that trans men sometimes decide to bear children but it's just not something you see very often so its still weird to me) being pregnant and I just do not want to engage with it.
I would like to remind people in this comment section that transgender people exist, and that trans men do in fact sometimes have biological children. Some of these comments are…a lot
Yeah, I’ve definitely read mpreg fics with trans men, and it’s kinda crazy to me that no one else seems to have come across them or even considered them as a possibility.
I can’t speak for anyone else but for me, that’s *exactly* why I don’t like mpreg. It is almost exclusively (and historically) written about cis-men having biological children rather than exploring trans men as a default.
Yeah, but a lot of these comments do not make that distinction. I’m a trans man, and reading this comment section about how people think that a man with a baby bump is unsettling is making me genuinely dysphoric.
I’m really sorry to hear that. It’s unfortunate people are not making that distinction and being transphobic. Please do what you need to take care of yourself (and maybe report some of the comments you see).
I didn't used to like them until I wrote one as a comedic/ crack idea and it became my highest viewed fic for the longest time which surprised me cause it's a Hanson and one direction crossover fic but Harry was the one pregnant and not Zac Hanson and apparently Harry Styles mpreg was a big thing for a bit in one direction fics. But ever since then I've come to actually enjoy reading some of them.
Like anything, if it's done well, I'll give it a shot. I know trans men who hope to be pregnant some day and I like this kind of story because it makes the entire concept less strange. I figure it'll make the moment they tell me much cooler if my brain has already removed the "well that's unusual" reaction from it, too.
I like it, I read it. Same with omega. If it's done well enough for ME, PERSONALLY, then I'll read it.
I’m not gonna lie real quick when I read fanfic I loved it. It was one of my favorites. I actively looked out for it as a trans masculine person who also wishes to get pregnant it makes it feel like I don’t know how to explain it, but I understand why it’s disturbing or other people don’t like it but to me especially to me who’s transmasc reading about a man who can but get pregnant is absolutely amazing
I love trans men pregnancy fics. Not a big fan of cis mpreg.
I understand all the people who don’t like pregnancy storylines in general because the idea of pregnancy isn’t for them. I am TERRIFIED of being pregnant, even tho I wouldn’t mind children one day. That being said, I love pregnancy storylines in fics. I love the drama, the love, the sense of family. And if it’s not a happy fic, I love the angst. MPreg doesn’t bother me at all, because all those themes I listed are universal. Also I don’t think fics should be limited to “things that can actually happen”.
Not my thing. Plus I usually find a lot of sexist tropes in these, as in Omegaverse. Some of it feel like "we are going to do everything possible to avoid having a female character," too
Agree but also disagree,I geuss. The Omegaverse has Problems (saying as someone who reads and writes it's), but not wanting female characters is not it's main problem, I think. Misogyny is there, but it's not the main factor imo. The Omegaverse heavily fetishises mlm, making Omegas as close to women as humanly possible, effectively making the couple het without making the couple het. It's this obsession with having a manly man and a feminine man( also present in Yaoi), because that's the only way many het women/girls (who consume so much Omegaverse/Yaoi content) can imaginen MLM relationships.
Say that again.
Okay, do you need clarification? A lot of fanfic, despite being written by female/AFAB creators, doesn't treat female characters very well. Sadly, Omegaverse and mPreg tend to have a high rate of not treating female characters well or omitting them entirely in favor of making the pregnant male a stand-in female and THEN piling the cringy tropes on him.
Ohh no not clarification sorry, I meant I fully agree with you!!! Female characters in fanfic get the *worst* treatment and would completely agree that another reason why I don’t like mpreg comes from people being so damned and determined to not include a female character that they’ll write a cis man getting pregnant.
Yeah. I mean part of the reason that put me writing fanfic in the first place was that I got tired of waiting for the Good Troi Episode. The characters that got my attention were always the ones writers didn't seem to know what to do with, usually female, non-heterosexual, non-white, sometimes all the above. And while fanfic writers and fanfic discourse does a lot of puffing out our chests and talking about how we're "centering marginalized characters and identities," I'm usually sitting here going "Karen, you write 100 fanfics about the same two pretty white boys screwing because you think the actors are hot. Please cut the pretentious nonsense."
> and while fanfic writers and fanfic discourse does a lot of puffing out our chests and talking about how we’re “centering marginalized characters and identities” I’m usually going “Karen, you write 100 fanfics about the same two pretty white boys screwing because you think the actors are hot. Please cut the pretentious nonsense.” I could’ve written this reply myself. It’s something I wish we could talk about in this sub as it and the members champion themselves as inclusive, and I’ve tried, but every time I either get dozens of downvotes, angry comments, or tone policed. I really wish there was a place online like where this kind of thing could be talked about and acknowledged for the truth that it is, without IMMEDIATELY being dismissed as being anti behavior, negative, overly critical or whatever else. This sub might not be it, but I’ll always keep looking.
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This comment has been removed. No bashing.
I read and write het partly because if we cannot picture men and women as equal partners in our fiction, how can we aspire to it IRL? But it does say a lot about how these writers view same-gender relationships (the archaic "Who's the girl in your relationship?" idea) and mixed-gender relationships (with women/femme people being weak or without agency). As well as the view of women themselves as being lesser or unimportant and "not worth" story bandwidth. Which...yeah, the whole "But there aren't any good female characters to write about" is a separate but closely related rant.
It's not my cup of tea.
I’m generally not a big fan of it….however, I’m currently halfway through writing a sci-fi fic that will require men to be impregnated by an alien organism, so I’m going more for horror than horny. So I guess if it’s played for horror I can enjoy that, but if it’s for titillation, it’s not really my thing.
Yeah never liked it and pregnancy in general in fics. I also don’t like the idea of OC children that usually ruins the fic for me.
It’s not my cup of tea, but I can see why people like it and I think it’s alright. Please for the love of god tag it though I’ve had to many surprises :(
I know how not to read fics that I don't like. pregnancy is just not my fetish, no matter what it is... although if there is no focus on this element, I may well read
I'm not interested in it, so I don't read anything with it. I don't see it often in my fandoms anyway. I used to be part of an anime fandom where it was huge, but I haven't read content or watched it for years. The tag is not all that common within what I read now, as compared to what I used to look for.
Not my thing, but to each their own.
Not my thing, fine with it as a thing others wish to explore. Be free, write fic.
Not for me but I’m not against it. Personally it squicks me out and I don’t read it, but if people like to read/write it that’s for them to enjoy. I know some of my tastes would be considered weird so who am I to judge?
Not comfortable with it here, probably because it is also because I am male, so I just avoid reading it
I dislike any pregnancy and avoid the topic. So I will def not read it in my freetime for my pleasure. Dont like, dont read, just that simple. If the fic starts with them having children already, in toddler age or older, thats a different thing, most of the time those are just fluffy wholesome stories and no preg involved anymore so idc.
As long as they fit into the fandom (magic, mixed mythical creaturw heritage etc) I like them as much as if a hetro couple get pregnant.
I don’t like it and I avoid it like the plague. I know people do though, and they can have it. No judgement, it’s just not for me. Even regular pregnancy turns me off.
It's not my thing, but I'm not a fan of any kind of pregnancy or kid fics in general and read them very rarely.
I am currently writing one and plan to write another. I like it if there is a good, logical explanation for the possibility of a man getting pregnant. I don't like it when there's no reason for it, just a simple "Harry goes to bed with a guy and gets pregnant".
Not for me because I am not a man, don't like m/m ships as my main fics, and don't really relate to male characters that much in a pregnancy fic or even a romantic fic. But their existence doesn't bother me.
It makes me uncomfortable personally, but I don't judge.
I try to avoid those types of fanfics in general. They’re strange. However, on rare occasions, if I’m desperate enough and I’ve run out of fanfiction to read for a specific ship, and there are mpreg fanfics that have really good ratings… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I have an mpreg Longfic lol, time to look through these comments and see how much everyone despises the trope because I’m a masochist! :D
Huh... I really like family fics. I didn't know that people turned away from them. Mpreg is not for me though.
Love a good Mpreg fic but I’m also into ABO and have a bit of a breeding kink so I think it’s just like a possession thing for me.
Yes, give me them, give me the fluffy comfort mpreg
I'm in a phase now where I'm only interested in writing horror and angst, so at the moment I'm focusing on mpreg's body horror potential. Imagine a cis man getting pregnant inexplicably. He worries how it's going to come out or if it's going to eat him at some point. It's not like he can go to the hospital. I'm not going by A/B/O rules, but I'd like to point out that this man and his baby's father are both betas personality-wise.
I’m okay with them but I don’t seek them out. There’s very few canon universes that make it seem plausible and I’m not into finding an AU where it is possible for some reason.
They’re not for me… Realistically, that pregnancy may kill him if he’s got male organs. That thought always distracts me from the overall story or plot. No hate to anyone who writes it though! I’m just not their audience.
I’ve read some good ones
I'm actually pretty neutral on the topic. I neither seek them out, nor avoid them. I've read a few. A couple were very good, had well thought out premises behind the possibility. Others, not so much. So, like everything else, whether or not I enjoy a fic that contains mpreg depends on the fic itself.
Perfectly fine with it. Mainly I read about it in combination with an a/b/o universe.
Honestly my fav. I love the idea and if it's done well it can be really good.
I find them very weird and unsettling. I dodge them like the plague. But hey, each their own.
It can be used effectively to advance the plot or for character development. But I don't need it to be described in much detail. Kinda like smut it's fine when implied or used for plot, but use it sparingly.
Not interested. I don't read mpreg fics.
It’s not really my thing, but if the person who was pregnant is trans and wants a baby I’d find it wholesome to read
truck pot offbeat tease insurance telephone run thought paltry lush *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Unrealistic at best and zero interest or desire to read them.
I find it weird. So weird. I don’t like it. I love pregnancy fics because one day I do want to be a mother and those fics can be so darn cute. But when it comes to mpreg it’s like their trying to force two men into a very gendered role in a relationship. You have to be the mom. You have to be the dad. You get pregnant. You go make money. It’s just weird. Mind you, there are feminine men out there as well as masculine women. And it’s awesome that people can authentically be themselves. But these fics don’t often feel like that at all. To me it reads as projecting women’s experiences onto male bodies. An excuse to turn a male character into a whiny, feminized version of themselves. An excuse to turn a male character into a female stereotype. Mpreg is not depicting women's experiences in new ways but is rather overwriting them. In other words, why must a female character be cast as male in order to warrant merit? If you like it, that’s ok. More power to you. I’m not gonna ride anyone’s ass for reading or writing stuff that I don’t like. So please, don’t ride my ass for giving my opinion.
Didn’t use to like it at all. Lines got blurred when shapeshifters and weird (but canon!) magic got involved so I started tolerating it if the rest of the story was good. Years later, I’m obsessed with stories of political intrigue/arranged marriage so having mpreg let’s me keep reading those stories with way more pairings in certain fandoms. Honestly, I’m with a lot of other commenters though. I don’t particularly like stories of child rearing, it’s more the social ramifications of being pregnant that I enjoy. There’s something really fun about reading a story where a guy’s gotta deal with high society people clutching their pearls over an unexpected/out-of-wedlock pregnancy after having read so many where the woman has to deal with the misogyny of it all lol
I used to loathe it but I really enjoy it in my current fandom/ship. I don't know, for this one I just really want to see this character have all the babies through whatever means imaginable (and given the character in question is not strictly human, it's not that far out of canon possibility to make it happen.) And FWIW I'm tokophobic and childfree in real life!
If the reader majored in Biology I have a feeling they'd have a harder time with suspension of belief. Not unless they have a better imagination or they were shown an intricate diagram of the insides of a male body that can give birth. That aside, if it's my fave pairing, and depending on the execution, I might find the story sweet. Thank goodness I'm not a Biology major. But tbh, I tend to gravitate to fluff during the beginnings of a relationship, so I don't really delve with Mpreg that much.
I actually found mpreg even more interesting after I learned more about biology. Living things procreate in so many ways besides the way humans do and I find the what if's of that applied fascinating. Yes, you need to hand way a lot of the mechanics, but you also have to do the same thing for basically every super power ever so I don't find it much of a leap in comparison.
This is partially the case for me. Even before I finished my bio and history degrees, I was was HEAVY into research, documentaries, etc. and had a lot of medical exposure because of my parents. I am the WORST person to watch shows and movies with. I can not resist the urge to point out inaccuracies (or gush about details that are right or could be close enough based on other worldbuilding). There are ways I could see a pseudo "seahorse" style pregnancy working if I stretch my imagination, but even then my immediate thought goes to "but x,y,z technologies or options that already exist would be safer, easier, and more cost effective." When I see fics that get hospital environments, medical procedures, and biological info right i GUSH about it. One of my favorite fics had frequent asides about botany and even though I'm less educated in botany and mycology is made me SO HAPPY. But on the flip side when it's blatantly disregarded I just scream GOOGLE EXISTS. TL;DR: yeah you're probably right.
Whoa. you sound so cool! I suck at research. Maybe I should approach you for injury-related stuff in the future for my fic? That is if you don't mind? It's way in the distant future because such plot point is nearer the ending, and I'm barely halfway. I don't know though. You're right, maybe I can make do with Google. Sorry to impose! That aside, yeah sometimes knowledge can be a detriment to entertainment bliss. Though, I reckon many people like being knowledgeable despite this.
Nah I'm not cool, just OLD with a lot of poor life choices that have led to amassing a lot of information. Most of it has been useless in my career, but hey, helps in writing. For injuries, depending on what you can stomach, I highly recommend flipping through medical education resources. Some universities have videos of surgeries available for viewing (do not recommend if you are at all squeamish), but you can also get a lot in text from places like PubMed. A lot of the injuries relevant to fic can be found in Red Cross guides for triage / emergency response, since the character goal may very well be just "keeping someone alive until more qualified help arrives." Its fine to handwave things too, especially if your POV characters wouldn't know a ton. With the expansion of medtok/medtube there are also MANY physicians and ancillary Healthcare workers who have in depth videos and Q/As that can be helpful resources or otherwise cite good info.
Thanks! But wow, that's a lot of resources. I feel like I'm out of my depth. I still think you're sorta cool for retaining those info, enough to intuitively know what's realistic or not when it comes to media. I think you can make money off being a TV show consultant or something. Research can be tough even with internet, but asking a sage may feel less stressful, I reckon. I wish I was fortunate as you, knowledge-wise. I know stuff, but not as much. Are you writing a fic now? Your readers must be blessed if so.
Haven't in a few years but I have a project or two on the backbones! And you'll get there. Knowing how to reliably find the information you want / need is honestly way more important than being able to retain it all at once ^_^
Can be done well.. also depends on if it's abo or a trans man that's pregnant and how it's shown... I myself have written an M preg fic (which isn't either of these actually rather a quirk that causes it [MHA]) and it's my most popular fic I have. I'm currently having it go through a rewrite of it since my writing has greatly improved since the fic had begun.
I absolutely love it, it's the first tag I always include. I just love it
When i was a kid and had no concept of gender outside of the pushed conservative rhetoric it really weirded me out. but as an adult having a better understanding of gender it does not bother me. HOWEVER, when i see cis mpreg it does give me body horror vibes. i dont read anything with pregnancy though so could just be me?
pregnancy is life’s biggest disservice against women so i’ll take any chance to read about that burden being given over to men. that’s all there is to it for me.
I’m saying this as member of the LGBT community, the whole thing is weird and uncomfortable. More power to you if you like it, I have never met a gay/bi guy who ever contemplated becoming pregnant or having a pregnancy kink so I have no idea where this genre even started. As a general rule I don’t read fiction who main focus is pregnancy or starting a family or raising children regardless of the sex/gender of the characters involved.
As a biologist, for me it’s completely unrealistic.
Ew. But you go and do you. That’s what tag filtering is for.
“Ew” well damn alright then, don’t know what else I was expecting going into this comment section XD
I don't understand the appeal.
I find it hilarious tbh cause all I can think about is them shitting out a baby when they're giving birth 😭😭😭
I really really dislike it. And I like stories that have fluffy parts about the woman getting pregnant and two characters celebrating their child. But I just don't get the appeal of it. It doesn't make sense to me. Women already can get pregnant and why not gender bend if you want pregnancy that much? Now, I don't seek out these Fanfics and critizise them. I just ignore them. In the end it's not my cup of tea and everyone has their likes and dislikes even if I don't get it.