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 crown as a winning race horse. Virgil Wong, a performance artist, created a hoax site featuring a fictitious male pregnancy, claiming to detail the pregnancy of his friend Lee Mingwei. Male pregnancy is also commonly explored in slash (homosexual) fan fiction, usually based upon fantasy series such as "Supernatural" or "Harry Potter". Male pregnancy fiction, where it is more commonly known as Mpreg, has been climbing in popularity. There are over 2,000 Mpreg ebooks for sale, with nearly 200 new releases every month. The Mpreg books are shifter, science fiction or non-shifter with the methods of impregnation and giving birth