Woman's Hour - 04/08/2009

With Jenni Murray. Why does the idea of male pregnancy fascinate us? It's thought that Thomas Beatie, often described as the world's first 'pregnant man', had a second child earlier this year. Photos of his belly were all over the newspapers when he first conceived - but you may be surprised to discover that images of pregnant men are nothing new. Dr Emma Parker, author of 'A Womb of his Own' and Professor Clare Hanson, author of a 'Cultural History of Pregnancy', join Jenni to ask why we still find these depictions so compelling. Heather Angel has spent the last 30 years photographing some of nature's most spectacular sights. Be it storks hunting locusts in burning bushes, or a polar bear breaking wind, her photographs capture the unusual and unexpected. She has been described as 'the doyenne of wildlife photography', and has photographed the Prince of Wales in his wild flower meadow at Highgrove. But her latest project brings her home as she explores the wildlife on offer at Kew. She spent a year creating a book of photographs that challenge the perception that Kew is just about plants. She joins Jenni to talk about her exhaustive career. Changes in the law now mean that anyone can be named as the co-parent when a child is conceived via donor insemination - assuming the mother is not married or in a civil partnership. In most cases that co-parent will be the biological mother's partner or husband. It means that people who are not married can take on the same parenting responsibilities as those who are. It also means that same sex couples have identical legal standing as heterosexual ones; and the same duties to the child should the relationship break down. So is it easier when two women split up and have to work out child access arrangements? Or can it be just as - or even more - acrimonious? Jenni discusses the issues with Alison Burt, a solicitor specialising in children's cases and Dr Catherine Donovon from Sunderland University, who has written about lesbian and gay families.