Squier Text

This text discusses how social and cultural conditions shape how we think about reproduction and identity construction. Reproductive technology has shifted from a something deemed as hypothetical to an actual medical practice, and with that construction the issues of gender identity and sexual identity are blurred. The texts goes on to explore different literary representations of reproduction through Frankenstein and its interpretation of how the woman's body is a machine that produces new human beings, and the concept of test-tube babies from the Brave New World. Through the stories Mutation, The Sugar Mother, and The Passion of New Eve, the idea of posthumanism is overtly depicted. These stories follow many different and very disturbing human/fetus/gender/sex experiments as to which the main characters find or gain some kind of extra power or insight into the unknown.

Terms:
-Epigenesis: the notion that an embryo develops from lesser to greater organization in the course of gestation.
-Preformation: the notion that an embryo is a static, preformed, miniature entity, somewhat lkike the homunculus.
-Homunculus:a diminutive human being.
-Ectogenetic: gestation outside a womans body in an artificial uterus.
-Absconded: obscuring something from view or rendering it inconspicuous

Questions:
-Is surrogacy still a common occurance? Is it still a hushed subject? Why is it not more common or publicly discussed? Or is it and I just haven't heard?
-Does social influences occur even before birth?
-Does nature vs nurture play a role in these concepts?
-What would it mean for our society to have the option of choosing our childrens genetic makeup?