For context, I am a cis man who casually mentioned "I've always wished I had the ability to get pregnant" and got some weird looks from friends. Turns out what I thought was likely a common sentiment is not, at least in my friend group, so I'm curious about a broader audience. I hadn't really given it much thought before this but I've done some digging and I think these are the general reasons why I feel this way:
- The ability to generate a new life, carry it to term, and birth it into the world is exceptionally fascinating and is a very powerful thing to be able to do
- Being a mother has always felt more important to child-raising than being a father, perhaps partially due to the innate intimacy of birthing them (this is not to neglect the importance of a father, just always felt in my life like the mother was the more important figure - note: this could very well be due to some fucked up family history lmao)
- There's an odd sort of independence that comes with it. This is maybe more personal to me, but I'm getting older and still haven't had kids because I haven't had a partner interested in them. If I could just choose to impregnate myself and carry it to term solo, that feels like an amount of agency that would be nice to have.
- Overall, I just sometimes feel wishful that I had the ability to do something so beautiful and powerful.
I also acknowledge the obvious downsides, and in no way do I want it to seem like I'm discounting how difficult and often miserable pregnancy can be. For me I just expect that would be part of it, and the cons don't outweigh the pros.