Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

[Juniper]

I am cautiously posting this here because I'm not sure what sort of responses I should even expect. I'm hoping this topic won't go down the toilet, so please, in the interest preventing Godwin Law or any other method of beating this into the ground via LoLCats (etc), please be courteous in your replies, on topic, and since it's in debates... if you're talking statistics, have proof of numbers via citations and/or links to said proof. That said, the reason for this topic was inspired by a quote I read in another topic. I didn't want to derail that topic so here is the quote:

I'd like us to reach a point in evolution to where we can consciously choose to reproduce or not, and the body obeys. Of course this is just for females, but it would be a great quality of life improvement.

I think it is an interesting concept and I'm not sure if we will ever get to this point (I haven't done any research on this topic so I have no scientific stuff to post here) but it sounds neat. Do you think this will be possible in the near or distant future?
Also, I don't think this should be a female only trait. I think males should also be allowed to choose when they want to reproduce. Just because women carry the child for [about] 9 months doesn't mean they are the only ones who have the right to choose when and when not to reproduce, after all... it takes two to tango and if BOTH parties involved need to be "in the mood" (so to speak) to reproduce, I think it would make things a lot simpler.

I feel the need to also point out that I am not considering preventative circumstances such as women with conditions that render them infertile (such as women whom have PCOS, Endometriosis, or have had complete hysterectomies) (PS: PCOS and Endometriosis don't automatically render women infertile but can increase difficulty to become pregnant, or increase the chance of being/becoming infertile). I do not know the male equivalent of such conditions, but I'm sure they exist.

That said, I will leave for now and let some replies accumulate.

[Aeran]

Re: Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

I'm not sure what there is to discuss, why would anyone think more control over reproduction is a bad thing?

[Juniper]

Re: Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

I'm not sure what there is to discuss, why would anyone think more control over reproduction is a bad thing?

Well, for one... you could address my question in the post above.
"Do you think this will be possible in the near or distant future?"
and we can go from there?

[Medusa]

Re: Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

I don't think this will be possible in the near future. Why? I'm not a scientist, so you there out there, set me on some knowledge...are there examples of the body choosing things like this to begin with? Then I'll have a more informed opinion.

For now..if I don't want a baby..and I don't...I just keep doing what I do. I'm not the brightest woman on the planet. But I'm 42 and I don't have any babies, but I also have sex.

It's Magic!

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

I can't imagine that happening. It'd take a number of biological steps that I just don't think humans have the tools to take.

[Rowanwood]

Re: Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

I think its a bizarre question, to be honest. We've been able to consciously control procreation for centuries. It hasn't always been effective in prevention, so we came up with ways to deal with that too, from termination to adoption. I think scientifically we have bigger issues to address.


Don't want babies for absolute certainty? Don't have sex with someone who's stuff is compatible with yours for breeding. The end.

[Medusa]

Re: Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

Don't want babies for absolute certainty? Don't have sex with someone who's stuff is compatible with yours for breeding. The end.

So...sex with a Wolverine is ok then.

[ThorsSon]

Re: Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

There are animals that are capable of this... but they mostly rely on abilities that evolution has deprived us of... and in most cases, a particular ability that evolution has removed from us.

Almost all mammals have the ability smell pheromones. Homo Sapiens lack that ability. We also emit almost no pheromones. Most mammal species use pheromone detection to mate when reproduction is most likely. A few species have sex for pleasure, such as bonobos and dolphins... but it doesn't seem to stop them from mating during ovulation.

There are a lot of theories as to why evolution has robbed us of our pheromone emission/detection. But they don't matter for this discussion. We aren't likely to re-evolve that trait any time soon.

Any ability to consciously decide to be fertile would require many adaptations, and thus a LOT of time to evolve.

Thus, any ability to have absolute control over fertility would have to be technological or (bio)chemical. Female birth control medication is a huge step in that direction from the chemical approach. I long to see male birth control pills. Condoms and other barrier methods are examples of technological approaches to the problem. But I'm sure that the future (and not even the far-distant future) will see advancement in both areas (chemical and technological birth control), as population becomes more of a problem. Places like India and China, that are currently experiencing population crises, and have significant technological/scientific advancement might be where such advancements originate.

[Aeran]

Re: Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

There are allegedly meditative practices which can be used to prevent ejaculation when a man orgasms, and I've read that there are similar practices a woman can use to prevent her period happening/eggs being released from the ovaries, but even if that's true, I don't see them being any less prone to laziness and carelessness than medication or condoms.

[ThorsSon]

Re: Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

There are allegedly meditative practices which can be used to prevent ejaculation when a man orgasms, and I've read that there are similar practices a woman can use to prevent her period happening/eggs being released from the ovaries, but even if that's true, I don't see them being any less prone to laziness and carelessness than medication or condoms.

I know that there are breathing/timing/mindset techniques that can allow a man to have a smaller orgasm, and stave off the Big One, until later. This is the trick (at least for me), to male multi-orgasms... but, in my experience, even then, there is ejaculation... not a lot, but there is some... and it only takes one sperm to fertilize an egg.

[Medusa]

Re: Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

How do I stop my period from happening with natural tricks? Besides being anorexic and all that unhealthy stuff?

[Ophidia]

Re: Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

To answer the question, I do support more reproductive control. Taking the baby-making away from the body & growing babies in labs is probably the pinnacle of that.

There are some added benefits, too. If people didn't have sex to make babies, it might lower the rates of STDs/STIs and the financial issues surrounding teen pregnancy (but it might increase the rate of teen parenthood). It might also take some of the 'burden' off men - if women could just go to their local Baby Farm & grow a kid, there's no Deadbeat Dad or child support to worry about. More women might wait until they had their finances and careers under control, too.

[Medusa]

Re: Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

Along those lines father animals kill their young alot. Maybe we can implement that into our society. I mean if we are going the animal route. Que no?

[ThorsSon]

Re: Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

How do I stop my period from happening with natural tricks? Besides being anorexic and all that unhealthy stuff?

there are sharp rocks that occur naturally... I suppose you could use them to hysterectomize yourself... otherwise, I've got nothing.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm curious about the other contraceptive method animals have that evolution has prevented us from having.

Many animals (rabbits & deer come immediately to mind) can reabsorb fetuses in the womb when conditions are so poor as to prevent the survival of offspring - like in extreme stress, when they've got disease, or starvation. The mechanism only seems to 'turn on' in human women when they're carrying multiple fetuses, and many times the fetus isn't actually reabsorbed if it dies, but miscarried, which can be traumatic and even dangerous to the mother & remaining offspring.

I think that's a logical path for science to look down - how to 'turn on' the genes responsible for that in humans. It might also lead to a breakthrough for some women as to why they can't get pregnant - it's not that they don't get pregnant, but maybe that reabsorbtion gene is already 'turned on' for them, but no one's bothered to investigate it.

that is the other method that I know of, but I am not aware of primates being capable of it (other than miscarriage)... thus why I didn't discuss it further.

[Raphaeline]

Re: Choosing when to reproduce without "Protection"

Most replies are dealing with the issue of preventing pregnancy - that's something that humanity has been working on and has really made great progress with, although it's not a physical capability but something that involves some level of medical solution or, well, I guess technical solution. I got the sense that the question was leaning more toward whether humans might be able to choose whether to reproduce through will alone at some point.

I suppose it wouldn't be impossible, considering that we're more likely to suffer from overpopulation in the future based on current trends! But our species has always relied on plentiful reproduction to survive - as a species, we've pretty much been programmed to have the default setting of having as many offspring as possible.

When it comes to choosing to reproduce instead of trying to avoid it... again, our default setting, so to speak, is to reproduce when possible, so we actually already do that

I'm kind of sleepy, maybe I should have waited until morning to reply to this thread... I hope this reply made some kind of sense...