For anyone who's into the whole YouTube scene, the name Gigi Gorgeous isn't unfamiliar. The internet sensation began as a beauty blogger and gained a massive following for taking her viewers with her on her journey transitioning from a man to a woman.
She's let viewers in on a variety of issues, but recently Gigi opened up about her most personal and "touchy" topic yet — transgender pregnancy.
“It’s finally time I talk about this and face my fears and just open up,” she begins.
“I feel like it’s a natural progression for two people in love to talk about having children and taking that next step in creating a family,” Gigi adds. “I’ve always wanted to get married. I’ve always wanted to have kids and have a family, but I never actually thought that it would happen for me and now that I’m here, it’s kind of like … f*ck. We always talk about having kids and we’ve even taken some steps to have them, and I am too scared to follow through."
Although acknowledging heteronormative couples can have issues conceiving, she explains challenges for couples with a transgender partner are unique.
Gigi told her viewers she was "really, really, really embarrassed" when she found herself sitting in a fertility clinic. When the doctor took her and her partner Nats Getty back to discuss the process of freezing eggs and sperm, Gigi had to divulge to the doctor (and in retelling the story, her millions of followers for the first time) that she had not had gender reassignment surgery and would be the sperm part of the equation in this. Even though the doctor was polite and accommodating, the entire experience was very jarring for her.
"Walking out of that building ... I felt so awkward. I felt so de-feminized. And I felt like so much less of a woman than I'm used to feeling like."
And even though she realized that she could one day adopt or do in vitro with a surrogate, it still was an upsetting reality for her.
“It’s such an unfair thing to me … some days I just get so frustrated and just so angry that I can’t just go through that,” she admitted. “Childbirth and being pregnant is something that I’ve always wanted. I feel like you feel the most feminine, you look the most feminine. Your baby is yours, it has your DNA. … It’s everything that I want and it’s everything that I want for my relationship with Nats.”
But many women reminded Gigi that even though they are genetic women, they also can't conceive and give birth.
And accused her of being "toxic" to female-identifying people.
But some genetic women who can't conceive found her message to be comforting.
The reality is, unless you're going through an experience, it's hard to say what a person should and shouldn't feel like.
That being said, it is super important to remember that the way we talk about things matters, EVEN if we are only speaking on our own behalf. Implying that people who can't have kids are less of a woman can be really detrimental, and hopefully Gigi and Nats can continue to make their family in the way that works best for them.
Watch her full testimonial above.
