REPROCUTION

Reproduction

Reproduction

If reproduction can be broadly defined as production of further members of the same species, then human reproduction is the production of members of the species Homo sapiens, i.e., human children. In the process of producing children, parents also reproduce certain social structures, including gender roles, families, and kinship networks that are strongly influenced by aspects of culture, such as myths and traditions. Social structures are frequently regulated by political discourses, which in turn are continually being challenged by new technologies of reproduction and the innovations in social structures that they both enable and demand.

History and Philosophy

Human societies have long been preoccupied with the physical and philosophical dimensions of reproduction. Some scholars believe early societies were unaware of the male contribution to reproduction, giving rise to veneration of the female as the embodiment of fertility and new life, and thus the worship of the “Great Goddess,” an almost universal fertility deity thought to predate masculine deities. Later beliefs about reproduction relegated women to the role of carrier of the male generative principle, the “field” into which the “seed” was sown, and women's status in some cultures suffered accordingly.

Fertilization

In purely biological terms, reproduction is the production of a new organism from the genetic material of a pre-existing organism. Sexual reproduction requires the involvement of two individuals, typically one of each sex. Human female and male sexual organs (ovaries and testes, respectively) produce cells with half the normal complement of 42 chromosomes; the female ova (plural of ovum, or egg), contain 20 regular chromosomes, known as autosomes, and one female sex chromosome, called the X chromosome. The male spermatozoon (usually shortened to “sperm”) also has 20 autosomes, as well as an equal chance of containing either a male sex chromosome, (Y chromosome) or a female X chromosome. When these cells come together in the process of fertilization, the genetic material in the nucleus combines to produce a cell with the full complement of 42 chromosomes, with 40 autosomes and either two X chromosomes—a genetic female—or an X and a Y chromosome—a genetic male(Sterling, Page 25).

Gestation and Birth

The zygote then develops into what Western scientists call an embryo (the first eight weeks) and then a fetus. This process of development from conception to birth is known as gestation and usually lasts about 40 weeks. The placenta consists of vascular tissue in which oxygen and nutrients pass from the mother's blood to ...