Gender Selection

Gender or Sex Selection is a programme designed to influence the gender of your child combining the theories and techniques of 3 different approaches for maximum advantage. However, there are obviously no guarantees, although many of the authors of these theories claim very high success rates of 80 – 90%.

Sex Selection can be seen as meddling with nature and also as an indulgence, although, in practice, most people who make the effort to achieve a particular gender for their children do so for quite serious reasons. These may include the desire to avoid passing on a sex-related inherited disease, or to redress the imbalance in a family already oversupplied with one sex. There are, however, those who seek to influence the sex of their children for sexist reasons or because of the demands of a sexist society.

Even without our interference, there are some surprising trends in Nature’s allocation of boys and girls.

More girls tend to be born to:

·         Older parents

·         Parents with more children

·         Parent who take Clomiphene (a fertility drug, commonly known Clomid or Serophene)

·         Negroes

·         Parents who conceive after some disasters, eg flood, smog and hepatitis outbreaks

·         Anaesthetists

·         American fighter pilots

Boys, however, predominate with:

·         Parents conceiving shortly after wars

·         Parents in the first 18 months of marriage

·         Parents having their first child

·         Parents giving birth at certain times of the year (often 9 months after a national holiday, a cold snap, or an energy blackout)

·         Parents who have more of the trace elements selenium and arsenic in their bodies

·         Caucasians

·         Jews

Is sex selection ethical?

Sex selection can offer the chance for more balanced, smaller families and more children feeling wanted.

A girl who knows that her parents would prefer her to be a boy, or vice versa, has an unnecessary burden in life. If parents could choose their children with more success, there would be more love, less rejection and a reduction in family size.

The pros and cons of sex selection were debated in a collection of essays in a book called Sex Selection for Children. This is a summary of some of the points raised.

For

·         Better population control

·         Better family planning

·         Happier families

·         Fewer unwanted children

·         Women’s status improved by being ‘chosen’

·         Avoidance of sex-linked diseases

·         Balanced two-child families

Against

·         Preference for boys (historically)

·         Sex selection might only be available to certain groups (rich, educated)

·         Concentration of first- and second-born traits

·         Precedent for genetic engineering

·         Possible political abuse

Who’s responsible?

The debate through the ages about who is responsible…the man or the woman?

According to Dr Shettles, a pioneer in the field of sex selection, it turns out fortunately to be both.

Dr Shettles, of Columbia Universities College of Physicians and Surgeons, a specialist in the field of reproductive physiology whose advice on sex selection will be one of the approaches outlined here, asserts that there are two types of sperm.

One, he says, is smaller, round-headed and contains the male-producing ‘Y’ chromosome. The other larger, oval-headed type carries the female-producing ‘X’ chromosome. These fertilize the ovum, or egg, which contains another ‘X’ chromosome, to give ‘XX’ females, and ‘XY’ males.

According to Dr Shettles, in most cases, the round (male) sperm, or androsperm, outnumber the oval (female) gymnosperm. There are in fact more boys born than girls, but as we’ve seen, they even out in the end, the female baby showing greater survival capacity.

The durability of the female of the species is borne out even at this most elemental level, the female chromosome carrying sperm, in Shettles’ theory, being more resistant to hostile environments (such as an acidic vagina), whereas the male chromosome-carrying sperm are faster and more agile in favourable conditions.

However, their vulnerability means that although the ‘male’ sperm start out with a considerable advantage in numbers, they end up only slightly ahead and live only 24 hours, whereas the ‘female’ sperm can survive up to 3 days. It’s a case of speed versus endurance.

So, according to Dr Shettles, the male contributes two types of sperm and the female supplies the environment which favours one or the other.

He claims that, occasionally, a test can reveal which parent is responsible for large single-sex families; for example a highly acidic mother or a father with (very rarely) only androsperm (a couple with both characteristics could be infertile), but that in most cases no blame can be levelled at either partner.

What’s Involved.

The program involves an initial 1.5 hour consultation to get your full case history and teach you how to chart your menstrual cycles. The consultation includes instruction in identification of fertility at mid-cycle through observation of body symptoms and monthly cycle charts to record observations as well as naturopathic treatment to regulate cycles and for menstrual, hormonal, reproductive and nutritional health

You will need to purchase the Natural Fertility Management Kit ($160) to send away for your lunar dates and the sex selection notes ($25) which take about 2 weeks to receive. After about 2-3 weeks, we will have another 1 hour consultation to go through the sex selection notes specifically and instruction in the use of the bio-rhythmic lunar cycle as well as check on your previous charting.

Natural Fertility Management Kit:

·         Individual computer-calculated charts for lunar fertile times for the next 10 years

·         Book: Natural Fertility by Francesca Naish

·         Audio-CD giving instruction in all aspects of charting and observations of fertility awareness

·         Comprehensive printed material

·         Relaxation and auto-suggestion audio CD for synchronized, healthy and regular hormonal cycles, confidence & motivation

·         Current year moon calendar, fertility thermometer & time-zone calculator

The Three Gender Selection Approaches:

1.         The Shettles method

This method relies on Dr Shettles’ observation of the characteristics of the gymnosperm (female-chromosome-carrying sperm) and androsperm (male-chromosome-carrying sperm) as set out earlier. To take advantage of these different qualities, he recommends different procedures including intercourse positions, douches, timing in cycle etc to favour either Gymnosperm (female sperm) or Androsperm (male sperm).

2.         The Dietary method

This method, involves a dietary plan based on the theory that eating specific foods affects the pH conditions in the females reproductive tract. Evidence shows that sea worms immersed in a potassium solution produce males, and those in a magnesium solution, females. The diets are high in calcium and magnesium (for girls) and sodium and potassium (for boys). I also prescribe specific nutrients to optimise this pH.

Two French scientists claim a 95 per cent success rate for sex selection by placing the prospective mother on a particular diet for at least one full month before the conception. A French doctor, who has used the method extensively and written a book about it, claims an 80 per cent rate. The method is described more fully in Boy or Girl? By Dr Francois Papa and Francoise Labro (who is a journalist), Souvenir Press, UK, 1984.

3.         Lunar Cycle

Dr Jonas, the Czech psychiatrist who was responsible for discovering and researching the lunar cycle of fertility and using it both for contraception and helping raise the odds in infertile situations, also claimed a very high rate of success (85 per cent) for his sex selection theory based on the position of the moon.

This formed the basis for his Rule No 2 “The sex of the child depends on the position of the moon at the moment of conception”. This was, in fact, the first of his theories to be evaluated, and claims that when the moon is in a positive (male) sign of the zodiac, a boy is conceived, and vice versa. This complies completely with the traditional astrological viewpoint, and is possibly connected to the effect of the moon on the acidity or alkalinity of the secretions of the endometrium, which then favour either gymnosperm or androsperm.

Dr Rechnitz, a Hungarian obstetrician who also used Jonas’s methods, claimed a similar rate (87 per cent), with ‘retrospective’ calculations giving an almost 100 per cent (theoretical) accuracy, which is borne out by an Austrian clinic which uses lunar calculations with 98 per cent success. Other surveys gave an 83 per cent figure. Altogether, thousands of cases have been surveyed. A slightly lower rate of 70 per cent was found in a study of 800 cases carried out in California.

The ‘male’ and ‘female’ signs alternate through the zodiac.

Male (positive) signs (fire and air) – Aries (fire), Gemini (air), Leo (fire), Libra (air), Sagittarius (fire), Aquarius (air).

Female (negative) signs (water and earth) – Taurus (earth), Cancer (water), Virgo (earth), Scorpio (water), Capricorn (earth), Pisces (water).

The moon travels from one sign to the next in approximately 2.5 days.

Because it is impossible to predict when ovulation will occur to within a 2.5 day interval, conception with this method is usually timed to take place at your lunar fertile peak.

Since your lunar fertile peak can be calculated in advance, the moon sign at that moment can also be worked out. So it is possible to plan the likely times for a female or male conception.

It is obviously recommended to combine all 3 methods to maximise results rather than simply using one method alone.

To quote Dr Jonas, ‘The worst that can happen is that a child is born whose sex is the opposite of what was wished for. However, this has happened before!’