Preview

Sex/Gender Selection

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
846 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Sex/Gender Selection
GENDER/SEX SELECTION

For a long period of time now, people have been interested in controlling the sex of their offspring. Whether it is a boy or a girl, there are many different ways to achieve this goal by either using modern science or Mother Nature.
There are several arguments for and against sex selection. Many see gender selection to be all right if there is a medical reason involved. Some see it as a way to control the population. Then, there are people who see it as murder. The question to figure out is; to what extent, in choosing the sex of offspring, does it become immoral.

The oldest approaches involve changes in environment or human behavior around the time of conception. Aristotle believed that a cold southern wind and facing north played a part in the gender of an offspring. They are primarily folk methods, which, we realize today, are scientifically unfounded.{ 1 }
Second, gender selection is widely used in the medical field. There seems to be little concern when gender selection is used to prevent the risk of sex-linked genetic disorders such as certain types of hemophilia, muscular dystrophy, and Hunter syndrome. { 2 }The question frequently asked with gender selection is; is it possible that, medically, it could be a gateway to other forms of selection.

Third, and the most debated issue, is the aborting of fetuses and splitting of sperm. It has become such a huge issue because of the end procedure that takes place. In some cases the gender of the fetus is determined and then either kept or aborted. Other procedures call for the splitting of sperm, where the sperm is split into male and female spermatozoa and then one is discarded and the other is artificially inseminated. RULE-UTILITARIAN

Rule-utilitarian examines two claims that have been advanced in the name of human reason. First, we should look at the moral principal that we should do what is required by moral rules. Rule-utilitarian is based on the concept of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Although this is true, chromosomes only initially determine sex, hormones govern most of gender development. Hormones are produced in the womb and there is a surge of…

    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This brings us to the scientific aspect of the controversy. The interminable question surrounding the controversy is this: When does a baby actually become a baby? A female 's ovum (egg) and a male 's sperm are both clearly alive. They are living organisms ready to be joined as one to form a baby. It is pointed out, however, that women release a few hundred eggs in a lifetime (Religious Tolerance). Almost all of these eggs are destined to die and be ejected from the body. Little thought is given to these hundreds of deaths. The same idea goes for the sperm. Hundreds of million of male sperm are liberated during a typical sexual encounter—an adequate number to theoretically double the earth 's population in a week or two if each were used to fertilize a separate ovum (Religious Tolerance). Again, little consideration is given to these deaths. Yet, a public consensus exists that they are not yet human persons.…

    • 2411 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gender Role

    • 1572 Words
    • 7 Pages

    “Human beings are either male or female, and children learn at an early age to identify themselves as one or the other. At the same time, they also learn to behave in a way that is considered typical of males or females. In short, they learn to adopt a masculine or feminine gender role. When a child is born, the parents, relatives, friends and neighbours first try to find out whether it is a boy or a girl. One look at the baby’s external sex organs normally supplies the answer, and this answer has immediate social consequences” (Haeberle, Erwin J. 1983).…

    • 1572 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The biological explanation of gender development enforces the idea that the role of genes and hormones are the main contributors towards the development of a child's gender. Male and females think and act differently because of differences in how their brains work. Women have two X chromosomes whereas men have an X and a Y chromosome. The androgens also cause the male brain to develop differently from the female. A bio psychologist would argue that it is these differences in brain development and the differences in brain activity that cause men to behave differently from women (e.g. acting more aggressively).…

    • 372 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Environmental influences primarily the way we react to our caregiver, friends and family and during the development stage will have an effect on the way a person acts later on in life. When discussing biological foundations of gender identity; it is imperative not to emphasized physical sexual differentiation to the exclusion of socio- environmental factors. Although the best way of deciding sexual identity is still sex assignment at birth for long term gender identity…

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Biological sex is determined by chromosomes in your genes. At prenatal development, only a few weeks after conception, there is no notable difference between male and female structure until the Gonadal Ridges, the structure which develops either female or male sex organs, grows to determine the sex of the baby. All prenatal babies have genitalia that appears distinctly feminine until at three months, hormones- testosterone if the baby’s to be a boy, and oestrogen if the baby’s to be a girl- is released and the baby develops into the hormone determined gender. For these reasons it is believed that there is a direct link between chromosomes and sex, and therefore sex and gender behaviour.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gender refers to the concepts o masculine and feminine whereas sex is the biological fact of being a male or female. According to the evolutionary approach, gender differences are neither deliberate nor conscious; they exist because they enhanced or helped men and women perform particular types of roles in the past. Therefore, the role differences we observe are more a product of our biological inheritance than acquired through socialisation.…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is abortion, ones’ choice? I think it is ones’ body to determine whether they want to breed or not. For if, the fetus is not three months in progress then it is technically not alive. While giving any female the right to do with her own body as she wishes. Although in God’s eyes, it would be consider murder, followed by slander to one’s soul. Since each, one of us was, created to carry on the linking of Adam & Eve. It was God’s plan for us to reproduce, but was that also to limit the choices a female; has whether or not to bare the right to give birth? Despite the fact, that adoption is an option; several groups of women tend to chose. Following the several women, those do not want to sustain the physical and emotional trauma of pregnancy, also the labor only to hand over the child. Consequently, laws should remain in effects that protect a woman's right to chose.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although not unanimously supported, the use of pre-embryonic diagnosis to screen for disease is generally accepted, this however leads to debate about how much freedom people should be allowed to make decisions about their future children. The issues arise as it is difficult to take an objective view on the topic, with many factors affecting peoples’ views. As there is in fact already a process of natural selection, perhaps it would be best to allow this to progress at its natural rate. On the other hand, if it is possible to allow people to decide elements of their child’s future, then who has the right to stop them from doing so? Can it be reasonable for a group of doctors and politicians to decide the fate of a generation? Especially where health matters are concerned.…

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The real question regarding all of the varying opinions and controversy, is what is a human embryo, and what is human life? Other questions include the morality of embryonic stem cell research and is bearing children a right given to us by society? Further discussion of these question will entail why in vitro fertilization has a wide range of ethical and moral consequences.…

    • 1063 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Sex Selection Essay

    • 1638 Words
    • 7 Pages

    According to an article on the Shared Journey, Your Path to Fertility, the website mentioned that gender selection has actually been around for centuries; in fact, methods of sex selection were recorded in hieroglyphics by the Ancient Egyptians. In the past, sex selection has relied on certain sexual positions, timing, or special foods eaten during pregnancy. But these methods are based on little or no scientific…

    • 1638 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    There are two major issues related to gender selection. One leaning towards the medical risks and consequences. As with all surgical procedures, removing and altering a chromosome has detrimental risks. ANY alteration when it comes to DNA and genes can instigate horrific physical and biological deformations in a fetus. Worldwide studies have proved the increase of birth defects on babies born after “Chromosomal Manipulation.” The second and most detrimental towards society is possible sex ratio imbalances in the future (like we already have in China and India.)…

    • 1446 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Designer Babies

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages

    According to the article "Should parents be allowed to choose the sex of their baby?" it states "If the process is not done carefully, the embryo could be accidentally terminated."(Storrs). As well as the cost of the procedure, if approved by the "Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority", it could be a staggering $3,000 (Marsh)! Furthermore, individuality will become something of the past, because most people will seek out good-looking, intelligent babies with other benefiting characteristics, everyone will be relatively similar. The chances of the embryo getting terminated is very slim though. If the procedure goes right, which most of the time it will go according to plan, then you get your perfect baby. On the other hand, if the procedure does not go according to plan, the the embryo will be terminated and there will be no child.…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Five Sexes by Anne Fausto-Sterling is a thought provoking article. It focuses on why male and female is no longer enough in today’s society. Or never really has been. Although male and female is accepted and the norm socially and medically. It doesn’t necessarily mean it to the individual involved. I believe Fausto-Sterlings article is a necessary step we need to focus on in society. No two individuals are the same. Therefore we need more options. Fausto-Sterling in her article addresses that there are far too many intersexual’s, that shouldn’t be force to choose one of the two sexes. John Money a psychologist of John Hopkins University, studies congenital sexual-organ defects. Suggests that 4 percent of individuals are born this way (p.21). So essentially with the only two choices available serves intersexed individuals a social inequality.…

    • 1007 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    male

    • 307 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Not all species share a common sex-determination system. In most animals, including humans, sex is determined genetically, but in some species it can be determined due to social, environmental or other factors.The existence of two sexes seems to have been selected independently across different evolutionary lineages (see Convergent Evolution). The repeated pattern is sexual reproduction in isogamous species with two or more mating types with gametes of identical form and behavior (but different at the molecular level) to anisogamous species with gametes of male and female types to oogamous species in which the female gamete is very much larger than the male and has no ability to move. There is a good argument that this pattern was driven by the physical constraints on the mechanisms by which two gametes get together as required for sexual reproduction.[1]…

    • 307 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics