Sex Selection And Ethics : Sexual Selection Essay

| Given the contentious debate surrounding issues of procreation, develop an institutional policy, which can be applied to the range of treatment and research issues related to procreation.

Each day, over one-hundred and eighteen million babies are born worldwide. According to the biological sex binary male and female, every infant has the possibility of being born with sex chromosomes female (XX) and male (XY), which causes differences in their biological anatomies. There are also individuals with disorders of sex development or more commonly referred to as being intersex. Intersex is an umbrella term for people whose sexual or reproductive anatomies, sex hormones, or sex chromosomes just do not fall neatly into the definitions of male and female. Examples of this disorder could include ambiguous genitalia, androgen sensitivity, or abnormalities with how the rest of the body responds to sex hormones. The majority of cultures around the globe give merit to and recognize the differences in biological sex (male/female binary), what roles they have played in their traditions/histories, and their current position in framing politics or societal structures. Some Non-Western countries such as China, India, Taiwan, and Pakistan, include cultures that exhibit a strong sex-preference, or more specifically son-preference. More than simply preferring the births of sons to daughters, son preference develops from instances of gender inequality where outside parties often question basic human rights. Non-Western

Dena Davis in the 5th chapter of “Genetic Dilemmas: Reproductive Technology, Parental Choices, and Children’s Futures” explores the global attitudes, policies, and morality towards determination of sex. She begins with presenting empirical evidence of some preferences held in countries such as India or China where there is a clear desire for male children. This inclination is so deeply held that mothers can be socially and physically harmed when, by pure biological chance, they fail to produce a male child. Davis and others allow sex selection in these cases, purely in the interest of harm reduction of mothers and their daughters born into such a situation.

The principles of ethics can assist in finding a middle ground on reproductive technologies by forcing the healthcare provider to consider first the patient and their well-being above all else, yet keeping in consideration the benefits and morality of the care they are giving. More often than not, there are more than two sides to every argument, especially when it comes to the latest reproductive technologies. “To obtain justifiable resolutions of these

Most females are not respected and are heavily pressured by their parents. Many Chinese women are expected to be in arranged marriages and are not respected in their family or the work-place. Woman that aren’t even born yet suffer from infanticide. If the parents came to find that they were having a girl from ultrasound- they would abort that child and try for a boy causing pre-birth ultrasounds to be banned. “Negative social consequences, particularly sex discrimination. With boys being viewed as culturally preferable, the practice of female infanticide was resumed in some areas shortly after the one-child policy took effect.” (Document E) “I hate to say it but the one-child policy should party be blamed for some social issues in youth today.” “She wished she has a brother or sister to share all the attention.” (Document F) This evidence supports the claim that the one-child policy was a bad policy because women have always been culturally no preferable, causing unborn females to be aborted.

Medical professionals today can screen for certain genetic traits (genetic diseases and sex) with in vitro fertilization and preimplantation genetic diagnosis to obtain a healthy child, and reproductive technology continues to improve. With this in mind, the question arises whether sex selection is ethical. Julian Savulescu, Uehiro Professor of Practical Ethics at Oxford University, argues that sex selection is moral, based on his ethical principle of Procreative Beneficence: that “couples (or single reproducers) should select the child, of the possible children they could have, who is expected to have the best life, or at least as good a life as the others, based on the relevant, available information” [Savulescu 1]. Savulescu claims

"Raising a daughter is like watering your neighbors’ garden.” That quote from a Hindu proverb.is referring to is how in some cultures when a daughter is old enough to be married, she leaves that family and joins her husbands'. So, raising a daughter in those cultures is seen as helping another family. Unlike females when a son is born he will stay and take care of the parents as they age. This son preference can lead to some countries committing gendercide. The act of gendercide is the mass killing of people because of their sex. Gendercide is a horrid trend that is due to the son preferences of many countries. Parents in Countries such as china and India have been killing there daughters. In India 25 percent of girls die before they can reach puberty. Also, 200 million women are missing because of being killed at a young age. There are many cultural causes of gendercide. The first is that boy babies are valued far more then female babies. Male children can carry on the family name, take care the parents when they get old and are less "expensive" to raise. In India there is a dowry system where in order for a woman to be married, the bride’s family must give gifts of money, land, livestock or other expensive items. This can put I strain on poorer families who cannot afford to pay a dowry or richer families who do not want to spend that type of money. So , when they have a girl child they either get an abortion or kill the child to save money. There was a Indian mother that

Reproductive technology has come a long way in the last twenty years and continues to make expansive advances. The question "where do babies come from" is becoming harder and harder to answer. The response used to sound something like "when a man and a woman love each other very much…" now with in vitro fertilization, fertility drugs, and sperm/egg donors as well as future advances the answer will take on a new twist "…they go to see a doctor and look through a catalog to pick what kind of baby they want."

Sexual selection was an idea proposed by Darwin and refers to the process in which males and females attempt to maximize their chances of reproductive success. Within a species there are certain characteristics that make individuals attractive to potential mates. An example of this is in peacocks, female peacocks are attracted to males with long brightly colored tails, even though this makes them easier to be spotted by predators. This characteristic then evolves within the species due to how males with this characteristic have a higher chance of reproductive success and their characteristics being passed on to surviving offspring.

In today’s society exists the ethical dilemma referred to as unisex which can be actively described as the direct efforts to blur the line separating male from female. According to most, this is done to further the idea of equality between men and women. But to others it is a moral concern that ultimately could be detrimental to the members of the affected society. Avoiding a consequence such as this would thusly mean promoting the ideas encapsulated within the moral frame of Utilitarianism. This essay will showcase the problem with unisex and its relationship to the utilitarian. It, however, is necessary, first, to elaborate on the topic of unisex to better define and emphasize its problematic features. Unisex is defined as: (Adjective) of, designed, or suitable for both sexes; not distinguishing between male and female; undifferentiated as to sex. Or (Noun) The state or quality of being unisex, also referred to as ‘Gender-Blindness’. This term ‘unisex’ is used in opposition to the act of Gender-Specification, which is the separating of labels or items- boy or girl, for Women or for Men. Though the term ‘unisex’ was popularized in the early 1960’s, the demand for things to be categorized as such, grew exponentially in the early 2000’s and peeks in 2016. This is due to the growing influx of people verbalizing and arguing their disapproval over gender specification, parents especially.

With new technologies available everyday, it seems almost as if we can customize our children. Reproduction is no longer an outcome of random and inherited genes, but now it’s a process of creating the child that we want to have. Fertility clinics are in debate as to whether or not it is ethical to be able to determine the sex of our children. Some view this as a valid option, while others see it as another step down the road to designer babies. But how far is too far? That is a question that we can only answer for ourselves. While this article remains unbiased, we are able to form our own opinion after seeing the pros and cons of both sides.

People in India show a strong preference to not spend time raising girls. The sex birth ratio in India is one of the worst having 112 boys for every 100 girls born. Gill and Mitra-Kahn believe the reason for this lack of girls is due to

Bitzer stated that exigence, which was capable of modification by way of discourse was needed (Herrick, 2016). As IVG research raises many ethical questions, its use in human analysis has been delayed. Questions of morality are raised concerning whether same sex couples should be able to procreate biologically, as well as whether the ability to choose genetic traits for offspring would put couples who can afford the treatment method at an unfair advantage over individuals who cannot afford such methods. Additionally, the question rises of whether the embryos that are created but not used in the procreation should be destroyed, donated, or frozen (Bourne, Douglas, & Savulescu, 2012). As these questions are based on morality and ethics, as opposed to statistics and data, they can be resolved through rhetorical dialogue and

Sexual selection can best be described by the definition given by Darwin himself. Sexual selection is “the advantage which certain individuals have over other individuals of the same species solely in respect of reproduction” (Hosken et al, 2011). Sexual selection occurs throughout the animal kingdom, where male frogs dominate through the depth of their croak, and certain peacocks reign superior based on the colour and intricate detail on their tails. They remain superior to their lesser counterparts as they bear more admirable characteristics, from which they are chosen by females of the same species.

As science advances, it is becoming very common for parents from all over the world to select their babies gender by abortion. However, this trend is unacceptable and detrimental to the natural balance of things, society and the future of humanity.