Male pregnancy and a la carte sex changes

Slate.com – By William Saletan

It’s a girl!

Well, it’s a girl for now. Thomas Beatie, the “pregnant man,” has given birth. Beatie used to be a girl, too. Then he decided to become a man. Which he is now. Sort of.

We like to think there are two sexes: male and female. If you’re not one, you’re the other. That’s what the gay-marriage fight is about: Boys belong with girls, and kids need a mom and dad, or so we tell ourselves. Behavior that confounds these assumptions makes us uncomfortable.