Reproduction and pregnancy in science fiction

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Reproduction and pregnancy are common themes in science fiction, as well as utopian and dystopian works. Reproductive themes include, among others, pregnancy, forms of reproduction (sexual reproduction, parthenogenesis, ectogenesis, alien-human hybridization), species-wide patterns of reproduction (infertility, overpopulation), and political aspects of reproduction.

Because speculative genres explore variants of reproduction, as well as possible futures, SF writers have often explored the social, political, technological, and biological consequences of pregnancy and reproduction.

Contents

[edit] Themes

Among the uses of pregnancy and reproduction themes regularly encountered in science fiction are

  • inter-species reproduction, sometimes used as metaphors for social anxieties about miscegenation or hybridization, and other times used to explore the boundaries of humanity;
  • the use of technology in reproduction (as in cloning and ectogenesis, i.e., artificial reproduction)[1][2];
  • gender issues and political concerns around reproduction (as in male pregnancy[3], parthenogenesis, and gendered control over the ability and right to reproduce; see also numerous dystopian stories about state-controlled reproduction, abortion, and birth control, such as The Handmaid's Tale; see also analysis of how contemporary political debates about reproduction and pregnancy affect treatment of these issues in science fiction[4][5]);
  • concerns about pollution leading to widespread infertility and social disruption (e.g., Children of Men);
  • and horror themes relating to parasitism and slavery (e.g., Octavia Butler's "Bloodchild").

[edit] Reproduction and technology

The use of technology in reproduction (as in cloning and ectogenesis, i.e., artificial reproduction)[1][2];

[edit] Alien-human hybrids

Inter-species reproduction and alien-human hybrids frequently occur in science fiction. They are sometimes used as metaphors for social anxieties about miscegenation or hybridization,[6] and other times used to explore the boundaries of humanity (for example, Star Trek.[7]

[edit] Species-wide fertility issues

Fertility and reproduction have been frequent sites for examination of concerns about the impact of the environment and reproduction on the future of humanity or civilization. For example, The Children of Men by P.D. James is just one of many works which have considered the implications of global infertility;[13] Make Room, Make Room! by Harry Harrison is one of many works which have examined the converse, the implications of massive human population surges.[14] Numerous other works, such as Venus Plus X and More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon, and Other Nature by Stephanie Smith, examine the future of humanity as it evolves, or particular breeding programs.[15]

Over-population
Infertility
Evolution and breeding
  • Frank Herbert: Dune series (1965) (Bene Gesserit sisterhood has intense breeding program lasting thousands of years)
  • Lois McMaster Bujold's Barrayaran series (The Cetagandans are involved in a long-term human breeding project)
  • Greg Bear: Darwin's Radio (1999) (ultra-rapid evolution of homo sapiens whilst still in utero due to a retrovirus)

[edit] Pregnancy

The phenomenon of pregnancy itself has been the subject of numerous works, both directly and metaphorically. Pregnancy has been handled in numerous horror works, fantastic as well as science fiction horror. These works may relate pregnancy to parasitism or slavery, or simply use pregnancy as a strong contrast with horror.

  • Octavia Butler's "Bloodchild"[16]
  • Rosemary's Baby (1968) (based on the 1967 novel by Ira Levin) (a woman is tricked into a satanic pregnancy by her husband)[17][18]
  • Judith Merril, "That Only a Mother" (a woman gives birth to a child, glowingly described to her long-distance husband, who returns home to find that her maternal perception is very different from those of other people.[19])
  • Alien tetralogy - (The manner in which the alien species implants human hosts with its eggs, which then burst forth, destroying the human host, has been frequently compared to pregnancy.[20])

[edit] Politics and gender politics

Pregnancy and control of human reproduction have often been used as proxies for treating gender issues or broader themes of social control; works dealing with pregnancy and human reproduction have also been used to closely explore gender politics. For instance, "male pregnancy"[21] has been used to comedic effect in mainstream literature and film, and has developed a following in fan fiction — the "m-preg" genre.[22]

The genre of feminist science fiction has explored single-sex reproduction in depth, particularly parthenogenesis, as well as gendered control over the ability and right to reproduce. See also numerous dystopian stories about state-controlled reproduction, abortion, and birth control, such as The Handmaid's Tale. These works have often been analyzed as explorations of contemporary political debates about reproduction and pregnancy.[4][5].

Dystopian control of reproduction
Utopian control of reproduction
Male pregnancy
Transgender and alternate sexuality
Utopian parthenogenesis
Gender imbalances and shifts in fertility

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b John Allman, "Motherless Creation: Motifs in Science Fiction", North Dakota Quarterly, v.58, n.2, pp. 124-132 (Spring 1990).
  2. ^ a b Valerie Broege, "Views on Human Reproduction and Technology in Science Fiction", Extrapolation, v. 29, n.3, pp. 197-215 (Fall 1988).
  3. ^ Robert J. Sawyer, Male Pregnancy.
  4. ^ a b Arwen Spicer, "Impossible, Yet Inevitable: Unintended Pregnancy in Farscape, Deep Space Nine, Star Wars, and The X-Files", Genre-Commentary.com, Jan. 23, 2007.
  5. ^ a b Linda Badley, "Scully Hits the Glass Ceiling: Postmodernism, Postfeminism, Posthumanism, and The X-Files", in Fantasy Girls: Gender in the New Universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy Television (2000), pp. 61-90.
  6. ^[citation needed]
  7. ^[citation needed]
  8. ^ A. Samuel Kimball, "Conceptions and Contraceptions of the Future: Terminator 2, The Matrix, and Alien Resurrection", Camera Obscura, v.17, n.2 (2002).
  9. ^ Aline Ferreira, "Artificial Wombs and Archaic Tombs: Angela Carter's The Passion of New Eve and the Alien Tetralogy", FemSpec, v.4, n.1, pp. 90-107 (2002).
  10. ^ Barbara Creed, "Alien and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection" in Alien Zone: Cultural Theory and Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema, ed. Annette Kuhn (1990).
  11. ^ Eva Federmayer, "Octavia Butler's Maternal Cyborgs: The Black Female World of the Xenogenesis Trilogy", Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies, v. 6, n.1, pp. 103-118 (Spring 2000).
  12. ^ Roger Luckhurst, "'Horror and Beauty in Rare Combination': The Miscegenate Fictions of Octavia Butler", Women: A Cultural Review, v.7, n.1, pp. 28-38 (Spring 1996).
  13. ^[citation needed]
  14. ^[citation needed]
  15. ^[citation needed]
  16. ^[citation needed]
  17. ^ Lucy Fischer, "Birth Traumas: Parturition and Horror in Rosemary's Baby", Cinema Journal, v.31, n.3, pp. 3-16 (1992).
  18. ^ Karyn Valerius, "Rosemary's Baby, Gothic Pregnancy, and Fetal Subjects", College Literature, v.32, no. 3, pp.116-135 (Summer 2005).
  19. ^[citation needed]
  20. ^[citation needed]
  21. ^ Robert J. Sawyer, Male Pregnancy.
  22. ^[citation needed]
  23. ^ Amy Cuomo, "The Scientific Appropriation of Female Reproductive Power in Junior", Extrapolation, v.39, n.4, pp. 352-363 (Winter 1988).

[edit] Further reading

  • John Allman, "Motherless Creation: Motifs in Science Fiction", North Dakota Quarterly, v.58, n.2, pp. 124-132 (Spring 1990).
  • Marleen Barr, "Blurred Generic Conventions: Pregnancy and Power in Feminist Science Fiction", Reproductive and Genetic Engineering, v.1, n.2, pp. 167-174 (1988).
  • Jes Battis, Investigating Farscape: Uncharted Territories of Sex and Science Fiction (chapter on pregnancies)
  • Valerie Broege, "Views on Human Reproduction and Technology in Science Fiction", Extrapolation, v. 29, n.3, pp. 197-215 (Fall 1988).
  • Carol Clover, Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film (1992).
  • Jane Donawerth, "Illicit Reproduction: Clare Winger Harris's The Fate of the Poseidonia in Daughters of Earth, ed., Justine Larbalestier (2006), pp. 20-35.
  • Carol Duncan, "Black Women and Motherhood in Contemporary Cinematic Science Fiction", in Andrea O'Reilly, ed., Mother Matters: Motherhood as Discourse and Practice (2005), pp. 79-86.
  • Maria Aline Salgueiro Seabra Ferreira, I Am the Other: Literary Negotiations of Human Cloning (2005), including discussion of male pregnancy, sexual politics, and parthenogenesis
  • Dominick Grace, "Frankenstein, Motherhood, and Phyllis Gotlieb's O Master Caliban!" Extrapolation, v.46, n.1, pp. 90-102 (Spring 2005).
  • Zoë Sophia, "Exterminating Fetuses: Abortion, Disarmament, and the Sexo-semiotics of Extraterrestrialism" Diacritics, v. 14, n. 2, pp. 47-59 (Summer, 1984)

[edit] See also