Dream Child

Dream Child

        Unit 6 mainly dealt with Gender, Technology and Human Body including: Medical Ethics and the New Reproduction Technologies, Multiple Dangers of Fertility Treatment and Reproductive Technology.  How technology in reproduction has changed lives! The pros and Cons of reproductive technology. How technology has advanced our ability to design dream baby! The merits and demerits of gender selection etc.
         But, I think, gender selection is the major issue in this week’s learning experience.  Medical scientists have achieved a major breakthrough in IVF technology which can help millions of women around the world. It is a boon for a man or woman who may not be able to conceive a child. Ovum donation or sperm donation offers the opportunity for gestation and parenting of a child genetically connected to half of the couple.
        But there are some implications of this concept for practice. If the child design becomes possible, every parent would want to go for dream child. So only heroes will be born. No wonder they would look like twins and clones!

Most of all, the children in the next generation would be skeptical and feel probably they were handmade kids made out of somebody’s sperm, somebody’s cell and developed in somebody’s womb!

        In most countries boys are most wanted. So if gender selection is a choice the male to female ratio will be imbalanced. South Korea is an example of that. South Korea has more men and fewer women resulting in sucking in brides from abroad. In 2008, 11% of marriages were “mixed”, mostly between a Korean man and a foreign woman.” This will further give rise to new problems due to mixed cultures. Hence new technology has to be used discreetly and moderately.

Rosy

Women in Technology

Blog website Review

Review of classmate’s video blogs.

I watched, “Sex trafficking in Las Vegas” Video blog, posted by Marjorie Clark.
It was surprising to note that one in five is a child. More than fifty percent are brought from outside. It is called modern day slavery. As per this video information, since 1997, the rate of child pornography posted on the Internet has increased 1500 percent. So here we see the negative aspect of technology.

Another video blog that I watched is, “Chinese custom of foot binding” posted by Sravani Banerjee. I had read long time ago about foot binding custom practiced in China since several decades, but saw the clip now.

It begins from age four to six. Parents wear metallic shoes of the tiny feet of children preventing the natural growth of feet. In many cases it results into some skin or bone diseases. Sometimes the foot portion is dead like gangrene, requiring amputation. It is an example how customs are blindly followed from generation to generation. I don’t understand why only Chinese thought, small feet were beautiful!

Women in Technology