Reproductive Futures and Designer Babies
BACK: Gender in Science and Technology
Who has a stake in reproduction and “Facts of life?”
- nations, tribes, societies, military
- companies (facebook, yahoo, google)
- insurance companies
- religious institutions, families, social worlds
- scientists, agricultural worlds, pharmacies, fertility clinics
- individuals
Reproduction is an “arena of conflict” and anxiety. Who should reproduce, who should be in charge, what’s the right time to reproduce? What are the facts and what are the societal roles? These are things that change from generation to generation, ie Plato citing Aristotle on best pairs of male and female to reproduce–after they were done being soldiers and early for women for the most amount of kids.
Greeks and Romans thought that tweaking nature was ok–men were in charge of reproduction was seen as disciplining reproduction. Christians did not think that this was ok–contraceptions were linked to witchcraft and heresy.
Every era thought about “facts of life” to create artificial people: Homunculi, Frankenstein, Brave New World–this usually is punished or creates monsters, which plays into cultural anxieties about “science” and tinkering.
When the pill came out, obviously there was disapproval, as with abortion and any other contraception. We don’t tinker with nature. But this was also a question of rights and freedom.
Reproductive Technologies are anything which delay procreation, intervene with the “facts of life,” play into notions of self-determination, equal rights, and pursuit of happiness. These can include fertility blockers, screening tools, fertility enhancers. The Feminist Revolution has often been associated with contraceptive technologies to delay reproduction.
These delays were contrary to those traditional literatures where women were supposed to get married and have kids early on. The clocks were all off. But nontheless, there was a growing transition into a biomedical paradigm–donor eggs, sperm banks, new screening technologies.
Should we select embryos for “fitness?” Should we select egg and spern donors for “fitness?” What traits should people look for? Should we privitize eugenics? What about people who are infertile?
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