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Being a male in our society these days is not easy. Sharing power and the workplace with women certainly has its advantages, but quite a few men are still struggling to adjust to modern society and its expectations. This can be most clearly seen in our schools today and might be one of the reasons why males appear to be slipping back academically in comparison to their female classmates.
For thousands of years men had a very clear picture of where they stood in the pecking order. They were top dogs. For some, modifying ‘what comes naturally’ can sometimes deal a heavy blow to their self esteem. No wonder there is so much unrest in Middle Eastern countries where hordes of bearded men are raging against their culture becoming infected with western ideas.
Advances in biotechnology must also seem quite threatening to these angry and anxious men. A recent headline in the news is sure to have them worried. It has been reported that Takehiko Ogama, in a Japanese laboratory, has successfully created synthetic sperm. He has artificially inseminated eggs from female mice with synthetic sperm and the offspring continued to have healthy young of their own – which has never been done before.
So, does this mean that it is ‘all over Rover’ and in the near future society will not need men for procreation? It seems so and women too might be redundant as well, because it appears other Japanese laboratories have recently created viable stem cells and embryos from skin tissue.
Fortunately, there will no need just yet for fuming Mullahs and rampant feminists to send suicide bombers to Japans laboratories and put an end to these experiments. These medical advances will be mainly used to fight diseases, organ damage and correct genetic problems. Human cloning is still a long way off.
Mind you, a trio of Nobel Prize winners this year have been honoured for advances in genetic manipulation and this will surely accelerate the dawning of something quite new in the way we reproduce all living things – including ourselves. In my opinion, this should not be feared. Instead, we should prepare for it by making sure it is carried out ethically and minimizing the wider impact on natural processes.
