Sometimes that 'bad science' tag is just a red herring...
...which brings me to Peter Griffin's sexual encounter with a mermaid in Family Guy (S08E21), the best modern pop cultural reference to "ambiguous genitalia" I feel like splashing around here. Ho, ho. (U.S. audiences were deprived of some great lines in that surrogate pregnancy-themed episode, by the way, as it never aired over there. If you can track down a copy ripped from either BBC3, or the Australian TV network which didn't act like a bunch of pussies when it came to broadcasting it, then I can recommend doing so.)
Anyway, the headline: "Ethicists Charge Doctor With Trying To Prevent Homosexuality In The Womb" may sound like it was constructed by a demonic committee Hellbent on getting archetypal, touchy-feely, everything's-great-and-anything-goes-because-this-planet's-lost-its-instruction-manual LiveJournalists frothing at their rainbow-painted mouths, but there's some hard science involved, so that should put 'em off. A bit.
Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. (No, really, it's okay - I've got Lady Gaga on speed-dial. Everything's going to be fine.) May I have a three-letter acronym (TLA) for that, please?
CAH.
That's better. All those scary words have gone away, cheerily compressed into something that rhymes with "Gah!" (This just gets more LiveJournal-ly by the paragraph.)
Do you need a hate figure? Someone to be a target for your as-yet-unformed, but still potentially massive disgruntlement? Go on - I bet you can find a photograph of Doctor Maria New online somewhere, and turn it into one of those roadsign things, with a red line through it, iconographically distilling your belief that This Is A BAD Person, and should be STOPPED. Time for a quotation:
"Bioethicists are accusing a noted American pediatric endocrinologist and researcher of what they claim is the first attempt to prevent homosexuality and bisexuality in the womb in a dispute that has drawn in leading major medical organizations."
Ooh, it's a big story! Better get ready to shorten the forthcoming URL, and tell four and a half hundred people you don't know very well, if at all, to re-Twat it, or whatever it is you do instead of hoovering, and sorting out those piles of rubbish in your yards.
"The accusations revolve around the experimental prenatal treatment of female fetuses for a condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), which can result in girls being born with ambiguous genitalia."
There it is:
Peter Griffin and the mermaid.
'The pediatrician, Dr. Maria New of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Florida International University, is a longtime champion of the prenatal use of a powerful steroidal medication called dexamethasone to prevent the development of CAH in the womb.
But some medical ethicists accuse New of having a hidden agenda. New has also taken part in research that has linked CAH to sexual orientation, noting that girls with CAH were more likely to be bisexual or homosexual and more likely to be interested in traditionally "masculine" careers and hobbies.
The bioethicists believe New's desire to treat female fetuses with dexamethasone stems from a desire to "prevent" lesbianism or bisexuality and steer girls toward classically defined femininity.'
As readers of my paper on Lighthouse-keepers and Betamax pornography in the 1980s will be aware, "Lesbian droughts" can be significant and alarming. A genetically-engineered shortage could have serious economic repercussions, if nothing else. Don't worry, Alice Dreger is on the case:
'"Her main goal has been to prevent ambiguous genitalia and all the things that come with it, including what she calls 'behavioral masculinization,'" charged Alice Dreger, professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. "She includes in that what she calls 'masculinized orientation.'"
Dreger described New's work as the first instance in the history of medicine that "clinicians are actively trying to prevent homosexuality."'
Oh...my...God. Hang on, sorry - forgot where I was. This is Sparta LiveJournal. OMG!?! WTFBBQ!!!!
Has Dr. New refudiated any of these claims that she's trying to wipe out the next generation of my bosses girls who don't want to play with dollies unless they're real? Yep:
'"In my six years at Mount Sinai I have not administered the drug to any woman for the purpose of treating an unborn child," New's statement read. "Allegations that my goal is to prevent lesbianism are completely untrue." She added that she has received approval to conduct long-term evaluation of children who earlier received treatment with prenatal dexamethasone for CAH.'
Hmm. That's not going to be enough for Dreger, is it?
'But Dreger said New's statement dodges the primary accusation that she and other ethicists have laid against the doctor: that New has recommended dexamethasone for use in treating CAH without notifying parents that the drug is not approved for that use.
"We're concerned that the women don't know the drug is experimental, or that they are part of an experiment," Dreger said. "All the major medical societies have said this is very experimental and should be done in clinical trials only, if at all."'
At the risk of pointing out the obvious, can't someone just get Maria New and Alice Dreger together...in a cage, maybe...covered in whipped cream...and let them fight it out until I someone can declare there's a winner?
More here, if you can stand it: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/641046.html
(And yes, reproduction is a lifestyle choice, it's not compulsory.)
Anyway, the headline: "Ethicists Charge Doctor With Trying To Prevent Homosexuality In The Womb" may sound like it was constructed by a demonic committee Hellbent on getting archetypal, touchy-feely, everything's-great-and-anything-goes-because-this-planet's-lost-its-instruction-manual LiveJournalists frothing at their rainbow-painted mouths, but there's some hard science involved, so that should put 'em off. A bit.
Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. (No, really, it's okay - I've got Lady Gaga on speed-dial. Everything's going to be fine.) May I have a three-letter acronym (TLA) for that, please?
CAH.
That's better. All those scary words have gone away, cheerily compressed into something that rhymes with "Gah!" (This just gets more LiveJournal-ly by the paragraph.)
Do you need a hate figure? Someone to be a target for your as-yet-unformed, but still potentially massive disgruntlement? Go on - I bet you can find a photograph of Doctor Maria New online somewhere, and turn it into one of those roadsign things, with a red line through it, iconographically distilling your belief that This Is A BAD Person, and should be STOPPED. Time for a quotation:
"Bioethicists are accusing a noted American pediatric endocrinologist and researcher of what they claim is the first attempt to prevent homosexuality and bisexuality in the womb in a dispute that has drawn in leading major medical organizations."
Ooh, it's a big story! Better get ready to shorten the forthcoming URL, and tell four and a half hundred people you don't know very well, if at all, to re-Twat it, or whatever it is you do instead of hoovering, and sorting out those piles of rubbish in your yards.
"The accusations revolve around the experimental prenatal treatment of female fetuses for a condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), which can result in girls being born with ambiguous genitalia."
There it is:
Peter Griffin and the mermaid.
'The pediatrician, Dr. Maria New of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Florida International University, is a longtime champion of the prenatal use of a powerful steroidal medication called dexamethasone to prevent the development of CAH in the womb.
But some medical ethicists accuse New of having a hidden agenda. New has also taken part in research that has linked CAH to sexual orientation, noting that girls with CAH were more likely to be bisexual or homosexual and more likely to be interested in traditionally "masculine" careers and hobbies.
The bioethicists believe New's desire to treat female fetuses with dexamethasone stems from a desire to "prevent" lesbianism or bisexuality and steer girls toward classically defined femininity.'
As readers of my paper on Lighthouse-keepers and Betamax pornography in the 1980s will be aware, "Lesbian droughts" can be significant and alarming. A genetically-engineered shortage could have serious economic repercussions, if nothing else. Don't worry, Alice Dreger is on the case:
'"Her main goal has been to prevent ambiguous genitalia and all the things that come with it, including what she calls 'behavioral masculinization,'" charged Alice Dreger, professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. "She includes in that what she calls 'masculinized orientation.'"
Dreger described New's work as the first instance in the history of medicine that "clinicians are actively trying to prevent homosexuality."'
Oh...my...God. Hang on, sorry - forgot where I was. This is Sparta LiveJournal. OMG!?! WTFBBQ!!!!
Has Dr. New refudiated any of these claims that she's trying to wipe out the next generation of my bosses girls who don't want to play with dollies unless they're real? Yep:
'"In my six years at Mount Sinai I have not administered the drug to any woman for the purpose of treating an unborn child," New's statement read. "Allegations that my goal is to prevent lesbianism are completely untrue." She added that she has received approval to conduct long-term evaluation of children who earlier received treatment with prenatal dexamethasone for CAH.'
Hmm. That's not going to be enough for Dreger, is it?
'But Dreger said New's statement dodges the primary accusation that she and other ethicists have laid against the doctor: that New has recommended dexamethasone for use in treating CAH without notifying parents that the drug is not approved for that use.
"We're concerned that the women don't know the drug is experimental, or that they are part of an experiment," Dreger said. "All the major medical societies have said this is very experimental and should be done in clinical trials only, if at all."'
At the risk of pointing out the obvious, can't someone just get Maria New and Alice Dreger together...in a cage, maybe...covered in whipped cream...and let them fight it out until I someone can declare there's a winner?
More here, if you can stand it: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/641046.html
(And yes, reproduction is a lifestyle choice, it's not compulsory.)