The Toronto Globe & Mail, February 6, 1993:

The womb compartment is filled with four litres of hot water and two lead weights. It looks and feels like a cross between a flak jacket and Madonna's stage suit. Wearing it for 10 minutes or more can lead to backache, shortness of breath and increased blood pressure. It is a pregnancy simulator for men.

"Take a deep breath and blow it right out. Now hold onto your bulge while I position your breasts," childbirth educator Kate Dixon tells David, a 29-year-old insurance underwriter. She is transforming him into a pregnant man with the help of an Empathy Belly.

David's heavily pregnant wife Yvonne looks on with evident glee. "I sometimes have to remind the women that we're not looking for revenge," says Ms. Dixon.

There are seven couples gathered in Ms. Dixon's farmhouse in Somerset, in the west of England, for their weekly prenatal class. Ms. Dixon, a 31-year-old mother of three, has used the belly with about 100 couples over the past year.

The Empathy Belly is made of waterproof canvas, weighs 12 kilograms and, according to the manufacturer, enables the wearer to experience more than 20 of the typical symptoms of pregnancy. The belly was designed to encourage expectant fathers to empathize more deeply with their pregnant partner.

"The first thing men do is have a quick feel of the breasts," Ms. Dixon remarks as David gropes at his new form.

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