Once upon a time I'd agree with you. But particularly for humans, where socialisation is required to make us human, the line between "biology" and "behaviour" is so unclear I don't think it matters.
Another way to look at it: I think a "just and fair" society must take into account that only women can get pregnant, even if superficially, that means not treating everyone exactly equally.
-humans trying to limit access to birth control, thus (when they're successful) forcing most women to spend the bulk of their resources on baby-building -humans making judgments about how to resolve conflicts between maternal and fetal health -humans giving insufficient leeway, at work or at home, to women who are sick or otherwise impaired in their performance due to being pregnant -Et cetera, et cetera.
Oh sure, as things are currently, it's absolutely about human behaviour. But even imagining some fantastic utopia that's solved all of those things, it'll still be the women getting pregnant.
This has become increasingly obvious to me lately. (My wife is pregnant, and I'm planning on doing the same next year. It tends to make these things more gut-level real to both of us.)
I'm wondering to what extent you think that men contribute to the difficulty women have in controlling our pregnancies, and if they do, whether men's contribution is also fundamentally biological, or if it's part of culture in a way that could be unlearned if culture changed significantly. (I understand that human biology is wrapped up in culture and vice versa, but some aspects of culture seem optional and others don't, if that makes any sense.)
What do you think would prevent reproductive technology from being used to alleviate the greater reproductive burden of women? Or do you think that reproductive technology just won't be developed to that extent?
Thanks for the link. I don't think I see things quite as black-and-white as she does (from the summary), but it's clearly along the same rough lines. I also suspect I think more like an evolutionary biologist, oddly enough
( ... )
I don't think most men want the ability to be pregnant so much, but I think a lot of men want the ability to control pregnancy. (In general, I think people want a lot more control over their lives than "living in organic bodies" allows us to have.)
Not that I'm not guilty of wanting more control over things than I can possibly have. But I wonder if the traditional male/female power dynamic is more conducive to men wanting to control pregnancy? You do sometimes meet women who seem to be trying to control their husband's bodies, but it strikes me as a bit rarer (and equally unhealthy).
I do have to say I sometimes wonder if the whole concept of "omniscient, omnipotent" deities weren't invented by people who'd figured out they'd never have as much control as they wanted, so they had to displace that desire onto something else.
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Another way to look at it: I think a "just and fair" society must take into account that only women can get pregnant, even if superficially, that means not treating everyone exactly equally.
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-humans trying to limit access to birth control, thus (when they're successful) forcing most women to spend the bulk of their resources on baby-building
-humans making judgments about how to resolve conflicts between maternal and fetal health
-humans giving insufficient leeway, at work or at home, to women who are sick or otherwise impaired in their performance due to being pregnant
-Et cetera, et cetera.
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I'm wondering to what extent you think that men contribute to the difficulty women have in controlling our pregnancies, and if they do, whether men's contribution is also fundamentally biological, or if it's part of culture in a way that could be unlearned if culture changed significantly. (I understand that human biology is wrapped up in culture and vice versa, but some aspects of culture seem optional and others don't, if that makes any sense.)
What do you think would prevent reproductive technology from being used to alleviate the greater reproductive burden of women? Or do you think that reproductive technology just won't be developed to that extent?
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Not that I'm not guilty of wanting more control over things than I can possibly have. But I wonder if the traditional male/female power dynamic is more conducive to men wanting to control pregnancy? You do sometimes meet women who seem to be trying to control their husband's bodies, but it strikes me as a bit rarer (and equally unhealthy).
I do have to say I sometimes wonder if the whole concept of "omniscient, omnipotent" deities weren't invented by people who'd figured out they'd never have as much control as they wanted, so they had to displace that desire onto something else.
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