Girl or boy? Sex to choose

2002/06/30 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Medikuntza

Although over 500 methods have been invented throughout history to select the sex of children, until the last centuries they have not been based on science. The development of science and, above all, advances in medicine have led people to think that the solution could be in the hands of doctors. Many times, the language and rare words used by scientists are no easier to understand than what has been said of witches, but as behind is the guarantee of science, they are considered true. In most cases, however, these methods have been as unsuccessful as those based on popular belief.

Although the beliefs of these scientists were wrong, they cannot be accused of lack of complexity and imagination, but they were very elaborate theories. In 1800, the Matrona de Princesas de Francia Millet published the method L’Art de procréer les sexes à volonté ou historie physiologique de la génération. It was based on the dissymmetry between the sexes: the heat and the right were characteristics of the boys, while the cold and the left were of the girls. At that time it was thought that God had placed male miniatures on Eve's right ovary and on the left the female miniatures. To awaken and develop these miniatures the participation of the seed of man was necessary. Therefore, Millet proposed certain attitudes in making love. For example, if you want to have a girl, the woman had to be lying to the right, so the woman's anatomy forced the seed to move to the left.

In the book were collected the statements of those who fulfilled their desire thanks to the method of Millet, which gave him credibility. It was published six times and was very successful. He also had an explanation for all cases: In 1748, doctor Procope Couteau, L’Art d’avoir des garçons, wrote that, after several fertilizations in his wife’s left ovary, he had had the boys on each occasion. Well, according to Millet, this exception was because his wife had situs inversus, that is, had organs in reverse.

If women enjoy too much, neither one nor the other

Design children created in laboratories gradually become reality.

Later, around 1880, zoologist Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire published a theory that reassigned all responsibility to women. The theory was based on the experience of a naturalist friend. Her friend's wife was a very innocent and uneducated woman, so she responded bluntly to the call of nature and her husband's requests. If his wife enjoyed making love, she saw the girls born. However, when she had given herself to her husband, but had a passive attitude, the boys appeared. Finally, if the pleasure was very great aborted.

Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire believed that embryos were hermaphrodites, which had both male and female characteristics. After analyzing his friend's experience, he proposed that two agents determine the sex of the child: the space the embryo had to develop and the amount of food it received. According to the zoologist, pleasure causes contraction if we were, so there is less room in the uterus and, in addition, they pass less food. Then the girl was born. However, if you do not feel pleasant, in the uterus there are plenty of places and food, which allows the child to develop. When pleasure is excessive, contractions are so strong that the embryo runs out of place and without food, with the risk of being born dead or not developing. And think that he developed all the theory from the experience of his friend!

Beware of what you eat

During pregnancy, many people have believed that children are born by eating chocolate and eating bananas.

Although these methods of sex selection seem rare, they are based on the science of the time. That's why, although today they give us laughter, then they were absolutely logical and serious. And with what is believed yesterday morning or right now, soon it can happen that it has neither legs nor head.

For example, in 1972 researcher François Papa related food to vaginal secretion and egg membrane. He says that if you eat a lot of potassium, the egg is fertilized by the sperm that carries the Y chromosome, while if you take a lot of magnesium, the one that has the X chromosome. So, in the first case the boy would be born and in the second the girl. He gave many explanations and relied on deep research, but it has never been proven.

One of the most recent is based on the weight area of the X and Y chromosomes. In the 1960s it was discovered that the X chromosome is larger and heavier than the Y chromosome. By 1990 the U.S. Department of Agriculture developed a sperm separation method with X or Y chromosome for application in cattle. And now an American company offers the same method to couples who want to have children of certain sex. Thanks to the tool called Microsort, we select sperm, fertilize the egg and finish! According to the company, success occurs in 90% of cases, and in children in 73%. If it is true, it is not so bad, but it is much cheaper to pay attention to the moon, frogs or saints. Perhaps science has advanced, but the price has also increased. As always

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