False pregnancy False pregnancy False pregnancy, also known as phantom, hysterical pregnancy, pregnancy scares or pseudocyesis, is the appearance of clinical or subclinical signs and symptoms associated with pregnancy when the person is not actually pregnant. False pregnancy may sometimes be purely psychological. It is generally believed that false pregnancy is caused by changes in the endocrine system of the body, leading to the secretion of hormones that cause physical changes similar to those during pregnancy. Some men experience the same illnesses as a woman would experience while pregnant when their partner is pregnant (see Couvade syndrome), possibly caused by pheromones that
Male pregnancy "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" ends with considering Superman as a carrier for his own baby, due to the difficulties a human female might encounter carrying a superpowered fetus. The concept of male pregnancy has been the subject of popular films, generally as a comedic device. The 1978 comedy film "Rabbit Test" stars Billy Crystal as a young man who inexplicably becomes pregnant instead of his female sex partner. In Monty Python's 1979 film, "Life of Brian", there is a political satire scene in which a character demands that any man has a "right to have babies if he