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.

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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 (for example, Star Trek);
• the use of technology in reproduction (as in cloning and ectogenesis, i.e., artificial reproduction)^[1][2];
• gender issues and political concerns around reproduction (as in male pregnancy^[3], 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 fiction^[4][5]);
• concerns about the impact of the environment and reproduction on the future of humanity or civilization (e.g., The 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)^[1][2];

• 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.

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,^[6] and other times used to explore the boundaries of humanity (for example, Star Trek.^[7]

• 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)
• Alien: Resurrection (1997 film, dir. 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 implanted^[8][9][10]
• 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")^[11][12]

Species-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;^[13] Make Room, Make Room! by Harry Harrison is one of many works which have examined the converse, the implications of massive human population surges.^[14] 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.^[15]

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)
• John Middleton Murry, Jr.: The Twilight of Briareus (1974) (gamma rays from a nearby supernova create global infertility while couples in Britain come to terms with this)
• 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 infertility, starting in 1995)
• Lost (2004-Present); All women who get pregnant on the island in the television series die before carrying to term.^[16]
• 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"^[17]
• Rosemary's Baby (1968) (based on the 1967 novel by Ira Levin) (a woman is tricked into a satanic pregnancy by her husband)^[18][19]
• 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.^[20])
• 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.^[21])

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"^[22] has been used to comedic effect in mainstream literature and film, and has developed a following in fan fiction — the "m-preg" genre.^[23]

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.^[4][5].

Dystopian control of reproduction

• Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale (1985) (theocratic government controls fertility and reproduction)

Male pregnancy

• Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (a male scientist creates human life)
• Junior (1994 film, dir. Ivan Reitman; a comedic film about male pregnancy)^[24]

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)

Utopian parthenogenesis

• Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Herland (1915) (parthenogenesis in an all-female society)
• Shelley Singer: Demeter's Flower (1982) (a post-apocalyptic utopian novel. Society of women impregnated by eating a certain flower.)

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, which 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)

See also

• Sex in science fiction
• Cyborg feminism