Roundup: Evolving Idea of Gender, Online Dating and Islam

Thomas Beattie's pregnancy is opening minds about gender, online dating empowering Muslim women.

Transgender Pregnancy Bridging Gap You’ve surely heard about Thomas Beattie, the first transgendered man to have a baby, well, publicly anyway. The Beatties’ story is indeed fascinating and Katelyn Jacobson at City on a Hill Press has one of the best takes on the story I’ve read, published this morning. Jacobson takes a longer view than most journalists have and looks further down the trail that Beattie’s pregnancy is blazing, a trail that will alter peoples’ ideas of gender. While most tend to put gender into two opposite boxes, Beattie’s case is opening many minds to the idea that gender is variable and diverse, unique to each person. For one of the people interviewed in Jacobson’s article, "the important thing to take away from Thomas Beatie’s story is a message of
accepting diversity and the fact not everyone fits into a mold."

Internet Dating helping Muslim Women The Internet has proven to be a major force for empowerment in many ways. Global communications networks are helping to bring information to the masses, as talked about in our feature this week, and the Internet also offers people a way to express their ideas, views and desires. Women’s eNews has a great feature today on how the Internet is putting power in the hands of Muslim women looking for the right mate instead of being subject to traditional arranged matches.