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Mother Nature answering: Men are right . |
Men's Sites: Gender war officially over! (almost) By John Gardiner
In case you haven't heard the news, I hope you're sitting down because this one might surprise you. It surprised me. There I was, on the 3rd of May, 2003 researching as I do, on the state of the gender war from my trench at the front line in my little study, all serious and concerned about the parlous state of human relationships and browsing my computer for intelligence updates along with the latest casualty statistics, when suddenly, there it was! A story in Men's News Daily - In Laboratory, Ordinary Cells Are Turned Into Eggs. It's about the work of a couple of scientists, who have just changed the very face and soul of human reproduction - the basis of gender wars, the fundamentals of sexism and the very core foundation of feminism itself - forever. Yes, feminism's foundations have just been cracked wide open. You see, their one big claim to fame as women has just evaporated. It's gone! Poof! Just like that! This claim has always been based on a bizarre female assumption, that as egg bearers of the human species they were a more important gender than males. They believed that because each man can produce enormous fountains of sperm, the liquid of life, that he, along with most men - in fact Germaine Greer stated 99.9% of all men - were expendable and "surplus to requirements". They fancied, that because just one man's gusher could service the reproductive needs of literally millions of women, or so they thought and earnestly believed, that by comparison with their limited egg production, that made them, women, special creatures worthy of awe, adoration and privilege. Their special eggs made them special. This, they believed, made them an elite gender. Well, after having read the story, it turns out that scientific experimentation with simple ordinary stem cells, male or female, and a little know how, can now easily grow eggs from just any old body, including men. So women and their precious eggs just became as un-special as they've been claiming men have been all the time and now there's a potentially never ending supply of human eggs. These eggs can be produced and farmed as required from anybody and everybody. In fact, the whole human race could continue to reproduce forever without there even being one woman left on the planet. A brand new and astonishing concept. The elite gender has just become extremely commonplace and very expendable. And I'm still drying my tears from the hysteria of my laughter. So let's have a run-through of the new basics. Eggs can be produced in a laboratory by the billions and so too, they believe, can sperm. Although they haven't done that bit yet, because it turns out that producing sperm in a laboratory is a bit more complicated than producing simple eggs, however the scientists are confident that they'll be able to do it. What this means very simply is that men can be biological mothers and women, they assume, can be biological fathers. It also means that there can be same sex couples, male or female, who can lay claim to being an offspring's biological mother or father as they wish. Now that's just fine except they'll still need an environment to grow the little chap, so they're going to need a womb. This is the bit the scientists don't intend to get involved with, but I'm sure they could if they wanted to. An artificial womb shouldn't be too hard to make. Humidy-cribs for premature babies are pretty much the same thing although somewhat more simple and traumatic, yet it does form the basis for a prototype upon which further refinement and innovation could be developed. So, that means that any couple can conceive in a laboratory as biological parents and produce babies - assuming a womb is available. Even without an artificial womb, finding a rent-a-womb probably wouldn't be too hard. We all know that many women aren't all that fussy about how they make their money. It could even possibly become a respectable career path for young women. Who knows what could happen? One thing's for sure, the genie's well and truly out of the bottle and I can't see it going back in. But it's likely to cause all sorts of shattering ethical and community nightmares. The question arises after such a birth, who's mum, who's dad and what rights does the womb have, if any at all, seeing as how she's not biologically involved in the slightest bit? All she is, is a kind of temporary accommodation facility, somewhat like a motel room (or should that be a motel womb) with 24 hour room (womb) service for the baby.
Now, from just this one example, you can see that there's going to be a
lot of legal dilemmas. Not the least of which is the issue of same sex
marriage. Legal arguments are raging fiercely right now about this
matter with those opposed, perhaps correctly, basing their case on the
fact that marriage is for the purpose of providing a safe and secure
environment for the upbringing of children and that children aren't
feasible between same sex couples. Now this argument no longer exists.
Personal moral values about homosexuality will have little weight in law
now that anybody and everybody can be a mother and/or a father.
It's a totally new world of human reproduction. Perhaps in the future, even the abortion issue may simply disappear. Young men might opt for vasectomies and young women might get spayed. They could have sex for purely recreational purposes without any fear of creating unwanted pregnancies. Later when children were desired they could then each choose whether to be a father or a mother, biologically speaking. They'd supply their cells for development into eggs and sperm and using a rent-a-womb girl, proceed with their family. Abortion may simply become a thing of the dark distant past, never being used except in emergencies. It could become something our grandchildren will only read about in the future with disbelief and horror. Even divorce laws may become much fairer in light of the fact that the husband may indeed be the mother and the wife, the father. Then, who'll pay the child support? A person's biological sex doesn't automatically mean anything anymore. This new technology, like it or not, good or bad, wipes away completely all sexual relevance and socially preconceived prejudices. Men and women are truly equal now. Neither maintains advantage nor disadvantage. Men can be stay-at-home mothers and women can be go-to-work fathers. It's all a matter of personal choice. Men too, have options now. This new technology has just leveled the playing field for everyone. Politicians, advocacy groups, feminists and entire government institutions have just had the gender rug pulled from under their politically platformed feet. Women's issues aren't women's issues anymore. They're men's issues too. Women and feminists in particular can no longer claim special needs and privileges. It's all a fascinating and at the same time perplexing dilemma for everybody. It's both wonderful and shocking. The political arguments of only yesterday have now been changed forever. The whole set of human reproductive rules has just been trashed. They're simply not applicable anymore. The motherhood bubble has burst. Eggs are everywhere. Women as a gender are as expendable now as men. And men are now as precious as women. The gender war is over. So who won?
Well, I don't know. Maybe nobody, maybe the whole human race has just
lost. One thing's for sure, I'm going to have to find something else to
write about now - maybe I'll become a mother like Naomi Wolf and write a
book of complaint about motherly misery.
Now there's a thought! |
