Sunday, September 18, 2011
Week 4 Blogging Assignment: Thomas Beatie
During Wednesday's lecture, I remember Professor Velasco mentioning that Thomas Beatie is now a proud father (or mother?) of 3 children. I was really interested by this so I decided to look further into it. Surprisingly, I came across Thomas Beatie's official website. I was highly impressed by the fame that Beatie still possesses. I honestly thought that after his first pregnancy, Beatie would disappear from the headlines and that his fame would only be short-lived. But apparently, he still seems to be an important figure within the LGBT community. This website endorses Beatie as the first pregnant man and even promotes his new reality show (which can only be seen online). There is also a blog created by Beatie himself in which he shares news about himself and his family. Beatie also appears to be wearing "Define Normal" gear-- a clothing line that is targeted towards lesbians and gays. The publicity that Beatie has acquired really shocked me. If, in fact, Beatie wants to see himself as a "normal" father, I don't understand why he attempts to sell himself out. My question is: Is Beatie trying to regain the publicity he initially started with? To what extent is the media important to HIM in his life? Feel free to check out the website: http://www.definenormal.com/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This is a very interesting find. It definitely adds a whole new level to the Beatie story.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the "Contact Us" tab of the website, I think the Beaties are hosting and updating this webite themselves, in which case I don't feel that the LGBT community is still paying attention to him so much as they are bringing attention to themselves. This, however, brings up your second question. I don't feel that the Beaties are upholding their stated desire to be a "normal" family, since they continue their publicity that started because they were considered "abnormal". This could be because, as they said, they want to be a stepping stone for other people like him, or this could be because they enjoy the publicity that results from the world's scrutiny of them.