A transgender man gave birth to his third child in front of a camera lens. The pictures were posted on the networks.
Man or woman, father or mother, giving birth is a moment out of time. Many families decide to immortalize it by taking birth photographs, in order to keep these extraordinary moments forever. In May 2019, Yuval Topper-Erez, a transgender man who has retained his female genitalia, and already the father of two children, gave birth to the youngest of the siblings, Tig.
The birth took place at home, in an inflatable swimming pool filled with water, alongside his partner. A birth photographer was present and froze these intense moments. Yuval was unwilling to share them with the rest of the world, but seeing them, he finally decided to do it, on Facebook and Instagram.
See this post on Instagram
Well, I don’t really do instagram (or maybe I should say I haven’t so far?) But as I gather my photos have already reached instagram so I might as well have them coming from me, in my words. This is what I wrote in the original post on Facebook (link to the full album where you can see all 140 photos in my bio): It was my fourth pregnancy, and I was awaiting my third child. It was a tough pregnancy, physically and emotionally. I've always loved birth photography, and about half way through I decided to treat myself to a birth photographer. At that point I thought it would just be a lovely memoir for me and perhaps my child, but when I saw the photos I suddenly got the sense that they need to be out there, as they represent so well two causes very close to my heart: normalization of home birth and normalization of trans and non binary people giving birth. So first I sheared them with my friends. And now I am ready. It has taken me just over a year to feel ready to share these with the world, and now I'm posting the album publicly. I hope, among other things, that this album will inspire birth workers and future seahorse dads (AKA gestational fathers). I know how meaningful images like this could have been for me before my first pregnancy and how meaningful it is for me to see images of fellow birthing trans and non binary people to this day. The birth took place in the north of England on the 8th of May 2019, at 5:55 in the morning, after a very rapid and intense labor. Nonetheless, it was a really beautiful birth. Tig was born at 39 + 3 weeks gestation and weighed in at 8lb3oz, 3,720 kilos. I birthed with the help of two amazing independent midwifes, one of whom saw me through all the ups and downs of a miscarriage, difficult pregnancy, birth and postpartum period, one of my best friends who also happens to be an wonderful doula, and my partner in life and love. Our two older children were invited to join us for the birth but chose not to wake up and came to meet the new baby shortly after the birth was over. Apologies for deleting the last post- realized the pictures were cropped and lost the watermarks. Have I mentioned I’m new to this?
A post shared by Yuval Topper (@yuvaltoppererez) on May 18, 2020 at 3:47 am PDT
Meaningful photos
In a Facebook post liked more than 137,000 times since, he wrote: “ When I saw the photos, I suddenly felt that they needed to be released, because they represent two causes that are close to my heart: the normalization of home births and the normalization of people giving birth. trans and non-binary ”.
And indeed, standardization is far from being achieved. Periodically, heartbreaking testimonies from transgender men come to light, like that of Kayden Coleman, a 33-year-old transgender man. Already the father of a little girl and recently pregnant with her second child, he told Dailymail that he was stigmatized in his daily life by people who did not share his choices, he even received death threats!
However, it is important to remember that a child only needs love to feel happy and may not be so in a heteroparental family. Because after all, it is not the gender or the sexual orientation that takes precedence, but rather the love that is given to it.
Pregnant transgender dad shares photos of his pregnancy and child
Video by Feminine
As a journalism student, I am currently doing a work-study program at the Parole de Mamans, Avis de Mamans and Aufeminin Maman websites. Passionate about writing and music, these two …
