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Sperm Made From Female Bone Marrow, Men Obsolete?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the what-some-women-have-been-saying-for-years dept.

Shaitan Apistos writes "British scientists have discovered a way to turn female bone marrow into sperm, allowing women to reproduce without the need of male companionship. All children born of this method would be female, due the lack Y chromosomes, and there is high chance of birth defects. Eggs also can be created from male bone marrow, but men looking to reproduce would still need to find a surrogate mother to handle the gestation period. I'd like to take a moment to welcome our new amazonian overlords and remind them that men are still very good at mowing lawns and fixing cars."

5 of 459 comments (clear)

  1. Of course men not obsolete just yet by syousef · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From a sexual point of view, most women are still part conditioned and part pre-programmed to want male ahem companionship. (I could put this much more crudely but I won't). Without these urges our species wouldn't exist. You can't suddenly replace that in a generation. If you had many generations that could survive just as well (ie elliminate high birth defects etc) perhaps you'd see human sex drive die off. I like sex, so let's hope not.

    From a social and evolutionary point of view, while men and women can replace each other for most things it is still true that the male tends to be physically bigger and buliker, and prefer science and math while women tend to be smaller and have more interests in social bonds, fashion and nest-making. We'd need to change both society and biology to change that. (Note that I'm not saying a man can't be a splendid nest-maker or that a woman can't do heavy work, or even that this should be discouraged - nothing sexier than a woman with a brain, or one that can kick arse - I'm just stating what the trend is currently and that it takes time to change such trends.)

    So while a few scornful women may wish to bomb men out of existence but we ain't going anywhere anytime soon. Let's all be friends, instead.

    --
    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
    1. Re:Of course men not obsolete just yet by Jamu · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Doesn't this also allow women to reproduce without the need of female companionship? Just make sperm from your own marrow and use this to fertilise your own eggs. Of course the daughter would then be a clone of the mother. But she would only inherit birth defeats, not engender new ones.

      --
      Who ordered that?
    2. Re:Of course men not obsolete just yet by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They've pretty much proven that both gender and sexual preference are hardwired into the brain (lots of studies, some quite good, one or two quite unethical (I read a story about one where they cut a babies penis off at birth and raised him as a girl.. of course as soon as he got the chance he reverted to being male - he 'knew' he was male despite nobody ever telling him)).

      If course there's two ways that a 'reverse' preference could happen... either it's genetic, or something happens during the development of the foetus.

      I seem to remember a pair of identical twins, one gay one straight, though (can't provide a link as it's too vague for even google to help) which would count against the genetic theory.

  2. Also a James Tiptree novel... by Stanislav_J · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...on a similar theme (maleless society after a plague -- women reproduce via cloning).

    "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?"

    --
    "Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket." -- Eric Hoffer
  3. Replacing Men is not a good idea. by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This could be a great way towards extinction.
    1. Phase out men.
    2. When there are no men you can only breed through a procedure.
    3. Wait for a major war or some major problem where a lot of people die and a good chance many with the knowledge of the procedure will die to. (Just because the world is run by woman don't think for a second that they will solve all the problems that we have)
    4. Then a slow extinction.

    Generally it is a bad idea. There is also the issue rejecting half of the genetic code and the biological and psyological difference that men have give a major advantage to the specie.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.