I had a conversation with a coworker about this very topic just yesterday and thought, "I've never posted this on my blog. I wonder if others have had thoughts about this as well." In the technological and media filled age we live in, we are exposed to information on a massive scale. Because of this, we as a society of inquiring beings know more about varied topics then we've ever known. We are more well-rounded, more accepting of others and our longevity has increased a few decades. (On the other hand, we are more jaded, more afraid and extremely picky about our lifestyles).
We are experimenting and dabbling in things that we would never have thought possible a century ago. One such area is procreation. Now, if you are single or in a same-sex relationship without prospects of reproducing, you can journey to your local sperm bank and receive the donor of your choice for the child of your choice. We've had this option for about 40+ years and it is extremely successful. Here's the thing (as described in my scenario below) that always throws me and has me banging my head against the table:
Suzy Single from Seattle picks out the sperm of Sherman Shootout (anonymous on the vial) but statistics include a 150IQ, brown eyes, brown hair, athletic build with a great health history as far as three generations back. Suzy becomes impregnated with Sherman Shootouts little men (for this example, Suzy has a bouncy baby boy, Sammy Single).
Two years later, Sherman Shootout gets married and has a daughter, the apple of his eye, Sheila Shootout. At 18, Sammy gets accepted at MIT and journeys to the city of squares to begin his higher education in linguistics and philosophy. His junior year, he meets the lovely Sheila Shootout, who has just begun her studies at MIT, also in the study of linguistics and philosophy.
Is this mechanism at all regulated because this freaking scares the crap out of me. A lot of this process is anonymous and, until now, DNA testing wasn't a widely used method of investigation and it's still very controlled (not something you normally do before you head down to the wedding chapel). Before getting married, you used to have blood tests performed. Where I was married, I didn't need one and have found that it is only required in certain states. I guess it doesn't matter because the scenario above is feasible (okay, extremely possible).
And if you're not buying my sperm bank theory, how about this:
Emily becomes preggers in 1955 and is in no way ready to get married to her boyfriend Chuck or raise a child(by the way, boyfriend has no idea about the baby). The family ushers her off get large, have the baby and then puts the baby up for adoption all in secret (Emily conveniently breaks up with Chuck before disappearing for nine months). Emily returns and Chuck has moved away. Fast forward twenty years. Chuck has married and had a child of his own and Emily's baby is now enjoying the tail-end of the sexual revolution, hooking up with Chuck's kid at the discotheque.
Aside from carrying around blood and DNA samples, how do people avoid these possibilities or something similar? My friend and I had no answers.
1 comment:
the actual hooking up is scary but not as problematic as having children. As the children from these hypothetical situations were not raised as siblings they luckily escape all the psychological fallout as long as they do not find out.
Where birth defects in offspring of closely related spouses is concerned, genetic counseling can rule that out. In fact, we should all consider genetic counseling even if our origins are not mysterious. You never know.
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