11 Mar 09 GENDER RESEARCHES – 1
If we know how a male is made, can we choose the sex of our unborn child? If we could, it could create great happiness for many, and possible problems for the world!
In most cultures, each family desires at least one son to carry on the family name, or to see that the spirit of the father goes to the next cycle of existence after death, or to be able to worship his ancestors, or to prove that the man is really a man who can ‘make many sons’.
Because of this desire and because of the patriarchal nature of most societies, many couples would like to be able to choose the sex of their intended child. From time to time reports appear that a doctor, using this or that technique, is able to help couples choose the sex of their child. None of these reports stands up to critical examination. The ancient Greeks thought that men produced boys with sperms from the right testicle and recommended tying off the left testicle to ensure this. The discomfort was great, the results a failure. The method was abandoned.
In more recent times, it has been suggested that the sperms which carry the Y chromosome have a different shape from those which carry the X chromosome. Those sperms which carry the Y chromosome are claimed to have round heads, those which carry the X chromosome are said to have oval heads. As well as this the Y chromosome is smaller and lighter than the X chromosome, and is believed to be more active.
The differences in shape and in weight of the Y chromosome, suggested to Dr Shettles, who practises in the United States, that because the sperms containing a Y chromosome are different, smaller, and more active, they will reach the egg first, if intercourse takes place at the time of ovulation. He has also stated that because the sperm carrying the X chromosome is larger and slower, but stronger, a female child will be conceived if intercourse takes place 2 or 3 days before ovulation and the couple then abstains from sex. Dr Shettles wrote that the Y-carrying sperm would be helped on its journey if the vagina was alkaline (which meant that the woman had to douche before sex), if she had an orgasm either simultaneously with or before the man, if the man inserted his penis in the woman’s vagina from behind so that he could penetrate deeply, and if they had abstained for at least 10 days before having sexual intercourse at the time of ovulation.
In a report of a small series of couples who tried this technique, Dr Shettles claimed that the desired boy was obtained in a high proportion (85 per cent) of cases.
Unfortunately for this theory, no other investigator has been able to reproduce his results. The most accurate investigations have been made when sperm have been put into, and around, the neck of the uterus, using the method of artificial insemination. No preponderance of male children resulted when the insemination was made at the time of ovulation, or of female children when it was done 2 or 3 days before ovulation.
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Tags: Men’s Health
