Culture

The Phony Pregnancy Of Lil Nas X Is An Appropriation Of Womanhood

Ah, another new day, and another new way Lil Nas X continues to make himself even more ridiculous than before.

By S.G. Cheah3 min read
The Phony Pregnancy Of Lil Nas X Is An Appropriation Of Womanhood

As if his BET performance weren’t already cringey enough as it is (and his "Satan Shoes" super grifty), Lil Nas X decided that it's now time for him to also be depicted as pregnant in his latest attention-seeking laughable skit.

Laughably Lame 

And yes, Lil Nas X cosplaying (or LARPing) as a pregnant woman is indeed a comical skit   because it's a total joke to even consider that males could be pregnant. Though, what's even worse than a bad joke is a stale joke. Arnold Schwarzenegger beat Lil Nas X to it when he played a pregnant man in 1994's Junior

Junior was hilarious because it was absurd. Clearly, men cannot get pregnant. That was the reason why the film was a comedic hit. The difference today, however, between Schwarzenegger's Junior and Lil Nas X’s phony pregnancy is in how society is expected to react to it. 

In a sane society, we'd just point at Lil Nas X and laugh at his dumb stunt, like how we laughed at Arnold's pregnancy in Junior. But we’ve reached a point in society where we aren't allowed to mock the utter absurdity of a "pregnant male" anymore. Why? Because it might be seen as "transphobic."

Erasing Everything Sacred 

Whenever we try to explain the anti-reality delusions of male pregnancy, we face the backlash from gender identity activists: “How dare you exclude the experiences of transwoman and transmen who could also get pregnant! Stop being a transphobe!” 

We’ve reached a point where we're supposed to accept the erasure of womanhood in society. 

So here we are today. We’ve reached a point where we're supposed to accept the erasure of womanhood in society. Like Lil Nas X mocking the sacredness of religion in his music video by sexually harassing Satan in hell (side note: even Satan looks bored with Lil Nas's antics), we’re also witnessing a growing assault against the sacredness of womanhood in society.

Lil Nas X is not even the first male influencer to depict men as capable of getting pregnant. Back in February, James Charles posted fake maternity shots of himself with a pregnancy bump as well. This begs the question: Why are these men appropriating womanhood? 

Robbing Women of Womanhood

It’s pretty obvious, Lil Nas X and James Charles are mostly grifters who are probably pulling the phony pregnancy stunt as a way to attract as much attention and outrage in order to maximize their grifting profits. But the issue remains – are women allowed to have anything that is only theirs and is sacred, or are female experiences allowed to be universal even to those who will never experience them? 

Are women allowed to have anything that is only theirs and is sacred?

This is a question that needs to be asked because there has even been a concerted effort by the transgender industrial complex to erase the exclusivity of femaleness from women. In this case, one of the most defining concepts of womanhood is the ability of the female body to create life through pregnancy.   

We can observe this agenda in the move to erase female-centric language from anything that has to do with motherhood. Take, for instance, referring to expectant mothers as "pregnant people” instead of “pregnant women." Or changing the term “breastfeeding” into “chestfeeding” in order to be more inclusive to male-identity as well as the incorporation of the pregnant man emoji.

The End of Compassion for Women?

Throughout history, it was known that when a woman got pregnant, she would immediately write out her will because she understood that most women died during childbirth. Death at childbirth is a risk that most women had to bear with each pregnancy. Sure, medical technology had progressed to the point where the risk of fatality is minimized today, but the fact remains that this is a risk that no male will ever have to endure.  

And herein lies the difference between James Charles’s and Lil Nas X’s fake pregnancies and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pregnancy in the film Junior. The intention of the movie was to help men empathize with the struggle that women face during pregnancy. At the end of the movie, Schwarzenegger’s character showed the viewers just how much a pregnant woman had to endure to bring life to earth.  

Destroying the Meaning of Being a Woman

James Charles’s and Lil Nas X’s fake pregnancy stunts on the other hand taught us nothing (except maybe how to be an attention seeker). Lil Nas tried to defend the fake pregnancy as him “giving birth” to his baby – a record album. Hate to state the obvious, but likening the release of an album to childbirth comes off as very disrespectful to women who may be struggling with infertility and loss. The idea that anyone, even males, can get pregnant is essentially making a joke of their pain and their goals. 

Likening the release of an album to childbirth is disrespectful to women struggling with infertility and loss.

At least the purpose of making Arnold Schwarzenegger pregnant in Junior had to do with his character’s goal of finding a treatment to prevent miscarriages. The only purpose Lil Nas X and James Charles choose to depict themselves as pregnant (besides grifting) was to break gender norms. This in effect belittles the sanctity of womanhood. 

Closing Thoughts

Nihilism. That is perhaps the most accurate word we can use to describe Lil Nas X's fake pregnancy stunt. Nihilists believe that human values are baseless and therefore human life is meaningless. In fact, the ability of a woman to become pregnant is perhaps the most glaring antithesis against nihilism itself, since pregnancy involves the creation of human life through the woman’s body.

Pregnancy is a sacred role of womanhood. When we remove the connection between womanhood and pregnancy, we essentially erase the meaning and the value of being a woman. And it’ll be a sad day for humanity when that happens, which is why it’s so important to defend women from this ongoing erasure.  

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