Mpreg

Tropes and genres
Synonym(s)	Male Pregnancy, MPREG, MPreg
Related tropes/genres	kidfic, Pregnancy, Fempreg, doncel
See also	kink, Dominance Hierarchy, Alpha/Beta/Omega, Magical Pregnancy
Related articles on Fanlore.

Nine Months ... and Beyond, cover by L.A. Adolf

Mpreg (short for male pregnancy) is a plot device in which men become pregnant. It occurs with some frequency in slash and very rarely in het.

In these fanworks, the man who gets pregnant is usually human and cisgender. There is often no explanation for the phenomenon, although it may be explained by magic, medical experimentation, or simply the existence of an alternate universe where men are commonly pregnant. In some dystopian mpreg AUs, the role or status of males able to get pregnant may differ markedly from that of impregnating males.

While there are a few mpreg fanworks from the 1980s, it is a genre that was not generally addressed by fans until the mid-to late-1990s.

Nowadays in fandom, Mpreg is most commonly found in fanworks written in the A/B/O universe, where male Omegas have the ability to become pregnant. "Mpreg" as a trope in isolation is increasingly rare in fanworks thanks to the popularity of A/B/O, but only because it tends to appear as part of that larger universe instead.

Mpreg in Canon

In canon, mpreg is often explained by alien biology. Alien Nation and Star Trek: Enterprise both have canonical male pregnancy, Torchwood has a reference to it as well, and in Farscape one of the alien male characters accidentally does much of the gestating of John and Aeryn's child.

In DC Comics canon Kon-El gets half his genes from Clark Kent and half from Lex Luthor. This leads to some Smallville Clex fic where he is the result of mpreg rather than laboratory experiments. Pinky and the Brain from Animaniacs also have a genetic son together.

In Futurama, alien Kif becomes pregnant with cyclops Leela's children after touching her hand. However, as he shares a much deeper emotional connection with the human Amy, she is considered the "father" of his offspring. The babies (resembling tadpoles) are born and migrate to a river, set to return when they've become older.

In the manga series Patalliro, the bishounen Mariach becomes pregnant with his lover Bancoran's children. The first instance ends with a miscarriage, the second sees him successfully give birth to their son.

In the cartoon series Fairly Odd Parents, it's revealed that the male fairy becomes pregnant with the child. One of the main characters, Cosmo, successfully gives birth to his son, Poof.

A Polarizing Genre

For non-fans, mpreg, like omegaverse, is an easy topic of derision. Social media and mainstream journalism lights up on the subject, poking fun and claiming outraged amazement.

Mpreg is a rather polarizing genre even within fandom: Whereas some fans really like it, many fans go out of their way to avoid it, and relatively few fans are indifferent to it.

Sexism, Transgender Issues

The topic of mpreg intersects with not only sexism but also transgender issues. Many trans fans have written about this at length:

A fan in 2015 wrote:

The idea that every story has no warnings makes reading like walking in a mine field. That's especially true when you have issues with certain kinds of stories like death, mpreg, or any other kind of story that is common in the fandom.

A fan in 2015 wrote:

It is just so much easier to mock something than to really engage in it. Like, how easy to point out the mpreg trope and be like, “Look at this crazy thing these crazy people are doing.” But mpreg is a really poignant commentary on how the biological fact that women carry children influences every aspect of female life in society. Tweak it so that men can get pregnant, too, and watch how things change: watch how the men are the ones now struggling with the questions that society so seldom demands of them. It breaks my heart, what so many mpreg fics reveal about how girls feel about their place in society. I mean, in Omegaverse, frequently the pregnancy-bearing gender is literally a prisoner of its reproductive function, lamenting the inability to ever lead a life with full freedom of choice, and, in fact, tasked with limiting exposure to the impregnating gender because, hey, they are not to blame if they’re tempted by the irresistible invitation of a baby-depository in their vicinity.

Personally, I’m okay with it

I’m actually less okay with it–although it still falls under “cis writers use caution,” not “NEVER EVER”–if the pregnant character is a trans man. Depicting a trans man as pregnant isn’t necessarily feminizing or genitalia-obsessing or intrusively gawking at transness, but it can easily tip that way.

Whereas mpreg with cis male characters is (to me) just one of those odd but harmless fetishes like people who really want to be eaten by a dragon’s vagina. I don’t totally understand what people get out of it, but it’s not wrong. Fantasy’s a weird place, and I’m glad for that, considering what my own corners of it are like.

1. Trans men are being ignored in favour of cis men, despite the cis men characters embodying traits of trans men in order to create/progress a certain narrative. This is textbook fetishization.

2. Mpreg, as a category, is the fetishization of trans men’s bodies to primarily pursue male pregnancy above all else (often involving plenty of smut), more often than not ignoring any and all trans experiences that either don’t fit the narrative they want to tell, or are too ‘difficult’ or ‘scary’ for the writers to write. This is deeply fetishistic in a world where there’s next to no representation of trans men that doesn’t include the fetishization of their bodies and the sexual use of them in ways befitting the cis gaze and standard dehumanization.

So essentially, cis men are used instead of trans men, which is fetishistic, but even when trans men are used, it’s nearly always fetishistic in how the characters and narrative are handled. [...] In reality, mpreg doesn’t explicitly claim to be related to trans (or intersex) people, but it cannot be viewed outside of that context in a world where trans and intersex people are also displaced from our bodies and our realities by cis dyadic people, in a world where our body parts are literally objectified and fetishized and removed from our humanity. I literally don’t give a crap what anyone’s intent is, that’s the reality of it, that’s representation that harms trans and intersex people, and if people fail to realize that, then they’re harming trans and intersex people, categorically.

the reason i get so discoursey about mpreg is not solely about the kink itself or the various tropes for it. it stems from the fact that this kink and these associated elements like a/b/o are largely created and supported by cis people. what do you think this looks like to us? that you would rather use convoluted pseudoscience to wave away biological impossibilities with cismpreg, just so you can have dudes with dicks? that you would rather pass off things like anal live birth as normal in your creative works, rather than make a character a transman, which wouldn’t alter the character in any other way other than their genitalia? it holds up cissexist values that only further alienate and offend transmasculine fans of this kink, including myself and others. as well as any other transmasc people who have to see cismpreg art and be reminded that the majority of cis sentiments is that penis = male, and in order for it to be ‘male pregnancy’ a guy has to have a dick even though thats entirely biologically bogus. its hurtful. its insulting to some of us who are trying to normalize our bodies and use interests like this as coping mechanisms, creative expression, and of course, good wholesome jerk-off material that we can actually relate to

if you’re cis and you enjoy this interest, please be mindful of how you enjoy it, and what you enjoy about it. be proactive about your interest in kinks! look into exactly what you appreciate about something, and what a specific notion of it truly means to you if you are legitimately upset that people tell you its offensive to you! by being apathetic in your consumption of porn, you are adding to the notion that all porn is inherently toxic, and all kinks like mpreg are inherently transphobic. if you enjoy my art, you should know that i do not want you to enjoy it as an apathetic consumer. i draw these things for me and people like me, for those of us who want porn that doesn’t play into cissexism

Some fans have taken to utilizing the tags #tmpreg (trans male pregnancy) and #cmpreg (cis male pregnancy) to distinguish the content they create.

Fan Comments

1994

The stuff about pregnancy and nursing made me sicker than any hardcore catheter story ever concocted. Now that I think about it, no catheter story has ever made me sick at all, and actually they kind of turned me on, but *babies* have no place in a slash story, as far as I'm concerned. (They can be anywhere else they want, as long as it is far away from me.)

2001

There are perfectly valid reasons for an author to want to write MPREG -- like the desire to perpetuate the genome. Wouldn't it be nice to have a kid with the genes of BOTH our desirable men? And it's nice not to have to invent a female character and try to walk the tightrope between cardboard surrogate and overly-detailed Mary Sue. Not to mention that female surrogate mothers challenge our romantic notions of fidelity.

[snipped]

I think the mistake that almost all authors make with MPREG, however, is excessive feminization. Believe it or not, I DON'T think it's necessary to make the pregnant character extremely girlish. Too many authors play up the stereotypes of cravings, mood swings, distorted body-image, and all the problems that pregnant WOMEN usually have to face. I'd like to see someone do a really good job of having a man face the challenges of pregnancy in a uniquely masculine way -- stoic, stubborn, and insisting that everything he says is purely rational. Maybe there would be some interesting over-compensation episodes to deal with the character's sense of lost masculinity. And I'd like to see the other characters treating the pregnant character's emotional and hormonal difficulties more seriously, instead of poking fun at them. In real life, pregnancy can be both dignified and dangerous, and I think that makes great material for a story.

I think mpreg is kinkfic. The trouble with kinkfic of all stripes is that

it's easy to write it so that only people who *have* that kink can see any merit in the story at all--it's easy to write a _bad_ kinkfic story that a certain section of the readers are going to read and like just because it's for that kink.

I also think it's harder for someone with a particular kink to write their kink well. I've found that if I'm pressing my own buttons when writing, I don't care nearly as much about whether it's any _good_ in an objective sense. I suspect it's the same for other people. Hey! Wow! Lipstick and blowjobs and fistfights! I'm there! Who cares if it's not grammatical? Who cares if it makes no sense? There are boys in lipstick fighting and cocksucking in the neighborhood, yo!

Ahem.

So, when I read mpreg, I often get the sense that the author was so *into* this whole male pregnancy thing that the hey! wow! pregnant Jim! button overwhelmed any good authorial sense they might have had.

2011

I am an advocate for reproductive choice. I am an advocate for trans* rights. I embrace the diverse gender spectrum and a person's right to choose how they identify themselves, whether man, woman or neither. [...] I don't understand the grossed out objections to mpreg. I don't know if it's because it's something normally associated with women's bodies, and so deemed gross, or if it's seen as beneath men somehow. I know it's not even close to being physically possible, but neither are werewolves, for goodness sake. What's wrong with imagining a world where your ability to reproduce isn't exclusive or determined by chance? What's wrong with exploring that subversion of a previously extremely one-sided and gendered experience?

I am more disturbed by people's hateful reactions to the very idea of mpreg than mpreg.

Fempreg

Fempreg refers not to all stories in which women are pregnant, but to stories in which conception is due to f/f sex. It is almost vanishingly rare and would probably not have a name if it were not for mpreg's popularity. Xena: Warrior Princess has a rare example of canonical fempreg with Callisto's ghost impregnating Xena.

Another example of canonical fempreg occurs in Kotobuki Tarako's mostly mpreg-filled manga Sex Pistols (published in English language as Love Pistols). Madarame Makio, a female character, has given birth to two sons by two different fathers and has also sired two more sons with her female partner Tokashiki Karen.

Fandoms with heavy magical elements such as Sailor Moon, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, or Fire Emblem allow f/f pairings to conceive children through spells; these spells may or may not temporarily change the anatomy of one partner. One particular My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fanfic Out in the Cold has Trixie bearing Twilight Sparkle's foal via a spell that transforms Twilight into a stallion.

Examples of Mpreg in Fanworks

Some of the Earliest Examples

• A Corellian Condition by C.A. Siebert, a Star Wars story in which Han Solo becomes pregnant (1980)
• The Third Alternative by Billie McIver, a Star Trek: TOS story in which Kirk wants to have a child so he talks Spock into letting McCoy do the procedure that will allow Kirk to carry one. This fanwork appears in The Voice #2 (1983)
• Comfort, a Blake's 7 story in which Vila Restal has Kerr Avon's baby (1983-4)
• Duet for Emmanuelle, ^{Archived version} by Tounge N. Chicque (1994)

Stories

• Life from the Ashes -- early, long, OTT X-Files AU with Mulder mutated to have sex in his belly-button and frequently pregnant. (Written in 2000.)
• Misconceptions by Diana Williams -- early, long (60 parts) Highlander AU with Methos becoming pregnant. As Immortals are normally incapable of bearing children, a lot of stories in the fandom tried to figure out ways to give the Immortals children. Sometimes a threesome was required, sometimes the Immortal had to be over several thousand years old, and sometimes...well, things happened. (Started sometime in 2001.)
• The Seahorse story: Clutch, Incubate, Hatch, and *Nest by Betty Plotnick, a popslash series where Justin Timberlake gets knocked up and lays eggs. (2003)
• MPREG by Rhys -- a popslash story where men-who-have-children are a group even more unusual than overpaid popstars. (Trickyfish, 2004)
• Practicing the Same Religion by Geoviki. Mpreg is a common Harry Potter trope. "Classic Harry/Draco Mpreg. It's the fic that everyone says, 'I don't usually like/read Mpreg BUT… loved this story!'" (2005)
• I Put a Spell on You (Because You're Mine) a Supernatural story by estrella30. She describes it as "schmoopy mpreg-wingfic-incest fic", or in other words, a deliberate attempt to write crackfic and still make people like it. (2006)
• Things That Change by eutychides/Ociwen/reposoir. One of the most influential, controversial and popular early Drarry mpreg fics. The author posted it under a pseudonym in an LiveJournal account they created solely for the fic, to avoid "the stigmatization of mpreg". Author's Notes. (2006)
• Bric-a-brac series by Lenore-- a surprisingly popular SGA series that may have made mpreg more respectable to fans.
• Roo'verse by Tzzzz, an SGA mpreg which is unusual in that the biology of the men being able to become pregnant (a subtype of humans attributed to Ancient experimentation) is that of a marsupial, so the pregnancy does not resemble a regular human pregnancy. (2009)
• Side Effects by Jane Elliot. SGA story in which, in a relatively rare plot-turn, the pregnant man chooses to terminate the pregnancy. (2008)
• Surrogate by Seekergeek. SGA story in which John chooses to use a device to become pregnant with Rodney's child because Rodney can't otherwise have a child like he wanted. (2009)
• For Her For Him by nomdeplume1313. A Fullmetal Alchemist story which the author calls "my best attempt at a plausible MPreg". Involves an explanation of how Edward's transmutation removed his appendix and gallbladder in exchange for growing a "mock uterus".
• Having My Baby by sparkinside. A Hanson and One Direction crossover fic in which Harry Styles is pregnant by Zac Hanson.
• Hippocampus by Micah Loden, a Sentinel crackfic gen mpreg that includes the line, "Would I do something like that, Jim? I mean, play around with something as serious as pregnancy, childbirth and gender? That would be messing with some pretty heavy karma."

There has been a resurgence of mpreg stories in Star Trek reboot fandom, with the LJ kirkspock community, alone, recording over 30 stories featuring this trope in the year following the release of the movie. It is likely to be the setting that has caused this upswing in popularity, with a number of writers explaining away the process as either alien biology, or through the use of futuristic technology and medicine.

Mpreg is not an uncommon trope in Naruto fandom, aided in part by the existence in canon of jutsu such as Naruto's Sexy no Jutsu. Some examples from the KakaIru pairing include: megyal's A Measure of Company (with fanart by jofelly), Kita the Spaz's Mission's Gift, and Side Effects, an early example from ChibiRisu-chan.

There are a number of mpreg fanworks featuring Loki of Marvel Cinematic Universe, as in Norse mythology Loki canonically gave birth to a horse, and in comics canon took a female body for a time.

There are also a number of mpreg fanworks featuring Bucky Barnes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, usually explained as Hydra doing more to Bucky than adding the metal arm. Two of the best examples are The Simple Life by howler32557038 and The New Hole by thefilthiestpiglet.

Mpreg is popular in Voltron: Legendary Defender fandom due to the existence of alien biology; Keith and Lotor are the most commonly featured as pregnant, but some fics have Shiro able to carry children thanks to additional experiments and enhancements by the Galra during his captivity. Trans male Keith becoming pregnant is also a common trope.

Vids

• Papa Don't Preach by eunice & greensilver -- a constructed reality Torchwood/Doctor Who vid.
• I Swear by dualbunny, sweetestdrain, and greensilver. Smallville with a bit of Batverse vid.
• Out Loud- Supernatural: Destiel AU where Dean is pregnant from Cas
• Time after time - Supernatural: Wincest AU where Dean is pregnant from Sam

Art

• 

  A very early example, (perhaps the first?) of mpreg art, from the 1980 Star Trek: TOS zine Galactic Discourse #3, artist Linda White. "Bones, would you come to my cabin please? I think it's time you learned the truth about Setarcos." It is a riff on the story Beyond Setarcos

• 

  art by Jou. Pregnant!Kirk from the Inheritance Series. The caption reads: Jim is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. He feels like crap and has to wear XXL uniforms to uh... accommodate his condition.

• 

  pregnant elf!Blair manip from Soul Quest #7

• 

  In Soul Quest #2, Blair is pregnant (and an elf!). Art by Lorraine Brevig

• 

  cartoon by Karen Eaton from BritWit #3, portrays characters from The Professionals

• 

  Harry/Draco mpreg by Lillithium, for the 2007 H/D Inspired mpreg fest

• The Baby Is You, Homestuck parody musical

Meta/Further Reading

2001

• Sexy Pregnant Men? ("Even if it's tongue in cheek, and even if it's intended to be parody, it's still just so out there that I can't grasp it.")

2003

• Slash rant, part 17016. by Alara Rogers ("Personally I find the notion of a male body with a baby inside it squicky as hell, but you genderswap the guy and *then* make him pregnant and I'd be happy to read your fic.") (August 2003)
• The Question of MPREG, ^{Archived version} by djinanna (December 2003)

2005

• In Defense of Mpreg - Mistress Marilyn's POV, ^{Archived version} by Mistress Marilyn (2005)

2006

• a beautiful lifetime event - mpreg and slash, discussion at Fanthropology (February 2006)

2009

• A review of mpreg fics in the SGA fandom, meta comments, ^{Archived version}, by Tzzzz, 05 December 2009. (Accessed 15 December 2009)

2011

• Mpreg Meta, ^{Archived version} by Jane Elliot, 1 January 2011. (Accessed 8 April 2011)

2012

• Slashcast: Pimp My Fandom: Mpreg by Kriken and wook77 at Slashcast, May 27, 2012
• Daily Rant: Why I hate Omegaverse/MPREG by sherlockholmes, October 31, 2012

2013

• The 31 Most Important Pregnant Men Of 2013, by Katie Notopoulous on Buzzfeed. Includes manips of Nicolas Cage, Justin Bieber, Beetlejuice, Mario & Luigi, Wincest, Larry Stylinson, and others.

2014

• 14 Questions About Mpreg You Were Too Embarrassed To Ask, by Katie Notopoulous on Buzzfeed. Links to many fanworks, including 1D Mpreg Stories on Tumblr, many works on DeviantArt, and Genesis, although the latter does not actually contain any mpreg.
• "Mpreg", thread in Fail Fandomanon post No. 123 - started 27 December 2014 - discussion of appeal
• What Exactly Is Mpreg? A Male Pregnancy Enthusiast Explains by Mark Schrayber on Jezebel. The piece links to Larry Stylinson fanfiction If We Knew by sweetwinterbabe.

2015

• MPREG: Why do we like the thing?!

Resources

• MPREG - The Male Pregnancy Emporium - old archive, masterlist
• Mpreg Archive Mpreg Archive site
• Mpreg Archive and its related Mpreg Mailing List (The Mailing List was founded March 16, 2001. The Mailing List was maintained by BB and Purplewaterlili.)
• The Mpreg Archive Forum
• Mpreg tag at Archive of Our Own
• Supernatural Sam/Dean mpreg masterlist
• RPS Jared Padalecki/Jensen Ackles mpreg masterlist
• hpprego, a Harry Potter mpreg community
• Merlin Mpreg, a Merlin mpreg community
• Mpreg themed list for Harry Potter, by painless_j
• Luna K's Mpreg Fic Recs for Bandom
• a list of Star Trek Mpreg fiction: Accioslash: Extreme Snarry Hoarder on Insane Journal
• The MPREG Big Bang

References

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