Reproduction and pregnancy in science fiction

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.

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)John Allman, "Motherless Creation: Motifs in Science Fiction", "North Dakota Quarterly", v.58, n.2, pp. 124-132 (Spring 1990).] Valerie Broege, "Views on Human Reproduction and Technology in Science Fiction", "Extrapolation", v. 29, n.3, pp. 197-215 (Fall 1988).] ;
* gender issues and political concerns around reproduction (as in male pregnancy [Robert J. Sawyer, [http://www.sfwriter.com/20pregna.htm Male Pregnancy] .] , 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 fictionArwen Spicer, " [http://genre-commentary.com/node/80 Impossible, Yet Inevitable] : Unintended Pregnancy in Farscape, Deep Space Nine, Star Wars, and The X-Files", "Genre-Commentary.com", Jan. 23, 2007.] 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.] );
* 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").

Reproduction and technology

The use of technology in reproduction (as in cloning and ectogenesis, i.e., artificial reproduction)John Allman, "Motherless Creation: Motifs in Science Fiction", "North Dakota Quarterly", v.58, n.2, pp. 124-132 (Spring 1990).] Valerie Broege, "Views on Human Reproduction and Technology in Science Fiction", "Extrapolation", v. 29, n.3, pp. 197-215 (Fall 1988).] ;

* Aldous Huxley: "Brave New World" (1932) (all children produced in artificial wombs and engineered for specific social niches)
* Marge Piercy: "Woman on the Edge of Time" (1976) (fetuses raised externally in breeders rather than in the female womb)
* Lois McMaster Bujold: "Diplomatic Immunity" (2002) -- uterine replicators play a major part in this story again
* Lois McMaster Bujold: "Barrayar" (1991) (artificial wombs as helpful for fetuses endangered by exposure to toxins, and as vulnerable to kidnapping or sabotage by enemies of the parents)
* Lois McMaster Bujold: "Ethan of Athos" (1986) (all-male society, reproduction via artificial wombs)
* David Weber: The "Honor Harrington series" - Military and professional women often "tube" (externally gestate) their offspring, including the titular character.
* "Gattaca", 1997 film in which reprogenetics and their impact on society feature heavily.

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,Fact|date=November 2007 and other times used to explore the boundaries of humanity (for example, "Star Trek".Fact|date=November 2007

* John Wyndham: "The Midwich Cuckoos" (1957) (human women simultaneously impregnated with identical alien children) and the short story "Consider Her Ways"
* Naomi Mitchison: "Memoirs of a Spacewoman" (1962) (the protagonist, at one point, is pregnant with an alien)
* "" (1997 film, written by Joss Whedon and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet; Ellen Ripley has been cloned to facilitate study of the alien queen embryo with which she was implantedA. Samuel Kimball, "Conceptions and Contraceptions of the Future: Terminator 2, The Matrix, and Alien Resurrection", "Camera Obscura", v.17, n.2 (2002).] 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).] Barbara Creed, "Alien and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection" in "Alien Zone: Cultural Theory and Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema", ed. Annette Kuhn (1990).]
* "Species" (1995) SF film about an alien-human hybrid's attempt to become pregnant
* Octavia E. Butler: "Xenogenesis" trilogy (1987, 1988, 1989) (alien and human females impregnated by alien intermediary-sex individuals with the DNA of males, in "fivesomes")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).] 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).]

pecies-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;Fact|date=November 2007 "Make Room! Make Room!" by Harry Harrison is one of many works which have examined the converse, the implications of massive human population surges.Fact|date=November 2007 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.Fact|date=November 2007

; Over-population
* Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle: "The Mote in God's Eye" (1974) (alien race that has to continuously breed and the consequences of its resulting overpopulation crisis)

; Infertility
* Brian Aldiss: "Greybeard" (1964) (universal infertility persists as a future, dystopian Britain ages and society fragments, finally some women become fertile again)
* "The Last Man on Earth" (1924) (silent film in which all males are killed or rendered infertile, but for one)
* "It's Great to Be Alive" (1933) (musical comedy remake of "The Last Man on Earth")
* Pat Frank: "Mr. Adam" (1946) (all but one man rendered infertile by a nuclear mishap)
* Karel Čapek: "R.U.R." (1921) (universal infertility, invented the word robot, hint at sex between robots)
* Anthony Burgess: "The Wanting Seed" (1962)
* Nancy Kress: "Maximum Light" (1998) (widespread infertility due to environmental pollution, hybrid human/chimpanzees used as surrogate children)
* P.D. James: "The Children of Men" (1992) (universal male infertility, starting in 1995)
* Margaret Atwood: "The Handmaid's Tale" (1985) (widespread infertility in a theocratic United States)

; 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)

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"Fact|date=November 2007
* "Rosemary's Baby" (1968) (based on the 1967 novel by Ira Levin) (a woman is tricked into a satanic pregnancy by her husband)Lucy Fischer, "Birth Traumas: Parturition and Horror in Rosemary's Baby", Cinema Journal, v.31, n.3, pp. 3-16 (1992).] Karyn Valerius, "Rosemary's Baby, Gothic Pregnancy, and Fetal Subjects", College Literature, v.32, no. 3, pp.116-135 (Summer 2005).]
* 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.Fact|date=November 2007)
* 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.Fact|date=November 2007)

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" [Robert J. Sawyer, [http://www.sfwriter.com/20pregna.htm Male Pregnancy] .] has been used to comedic effect in mainstream literature and film, and has developed a following in fan fiction — the "m-preg" genre.Fact|date=November 2007

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.Arwen Spicer, " [http://genre-commentary.com/node/80 Impossible, Yet Inevitable] : Unintended Pregnancy in Farscape, Deep Space Nine, Star Wars, and The X-Files", "Genre-Commentary.com", Jan. 23, 2007.] 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.] .

; Dystopian control of reproduction
* Margaret Atwood: "The Handmaid's Tale" (1985) (theocratic government controls fertility and reproduction)
* Aldous Huxley: "Brave New World"
* Marge Piercy: "He, She and It", where privileged women debate whether to bear their babies themselves, or by other means

;Utopian control of reproduction
* Aldous Huxley: "Island (novel)", couples can choose to use donor sperm to increase the likelihood of positive characteristics in their offspring
* Marge Piercy: "Woman on the Edge of Time", pregnancy takes place in a artificial womb in a lab, but both men and women breastfeed the infant, who has three social parents and unknown genetic ones

; Male pregnancy
* "Junior" (1994 film, dir. Ivan Reitman; a comedic film about male pregnancy)Amy Cuomo, "The Scientific Appropriation of Female Reproductive Power in Junior", "Extrapolation", v.39, n.4, pp. 352-363 (Winter 1988).]

; Transgender and alternate sexuality
* Alejandro Jodorowsky: "Metabarons" (1992-2003) series (Aghora, a transman who still has his ovaries intact, impregnates himself with a clone taken from the biologically male DNA of his brain)
* Ursula K. Le Guin: "The Left Hand of Darkness" (1969) (planet inhabited by androgynes, biologically bisexual humans, who can both sire and bear children)
* Geoff Ryman: "The Warrior Who Carried Life" (1985) (female warrior turned male turned female bears a child)
* Naomi Mitchison: "Solution Three" (1975) (mandatory homosexuality, reproduction via surrogate mothers carrying cloned children)
* Theodore Sturgeon: "Venus Plus X" (1960) (a sexless and genderless society of androgynous breeding couples)

; Utopian parthenogenesis
* Charlotte Perkins Gilman: "Herland" (1915) (parthenogenesis# in an all-female society)

; Gender imbalances and shifts in fertility
* Élisabeth Vonarburg: "Chroniques du Pays des Mères" (aka "The Maerlande Chronicles" or "In the Mothers' Land") (1992) (mainly female society with few males, who are forced to do the "Service")
* David Brin: "Glory Season" (1993) (mixture of parthenogenesis and sexual reproduction in a mainly female society)

References

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)

ee also

* Sex in science fiction
* Gender in science fiction
* Homosexuality in science fiction
* Cyborg feminism