by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster
It
started with philosophers sitting around observing the world around
them and extrapolating on how things worked, which they could not
actually see. Anything related to sex was naturally of extreme
interest, the profession of philosopher being entirely male.
Theophrastus,
Hippocrates, Aristotle and Aeschylus, weighed in with theories of how
babies came about. Then one of them, likely, in 458 BC, who must
have had very good eyesight, looked closely at some sperm, which he
reportedly held in his hand. He deduced that sperm were tiny human
beings, homunculi, which would be planted in the womb of the woman.
He then proposed the interesting theory that the male was the only
real parent of the child, the female carrying out the role of "nurse
for the young life sown within her".
In
the 1700s this interesting theory received more attention and back up
through the work of Dutch microscopist
Anton van Leeuwenhoek
(1632-1723). Anton discovered what he called "animalcules"
in the sperm of
humans and other animals. You can imagine these fellows peering
intently into the lens of their microscope.
These
scientists started a school of thought known as the "spermists"
repeating the original contention of Aeschylus that the only
contributions of the female were to provide the womb.
The Theory
of the Homunculus was noted by legal sages who were writing law and
became the justification for giving fathers the entire legal control
of the children born to his wife.
Naturally,
this ignored the room and board, so to speak, the woman had provided
for nine plus months and the related services of nourishing and
caring for the child after the often painful and dangerous process of
birth was completed.
If you
calculate the entire biological capitalization needed to produce a
baby, conception to birth, ownership, or liability, would be viewed
very differently, of course.
Sperm
generally have a negative value since men must pay to give them away.
Human eggs cost around $8,000, ready to be fertilized and implanted.
Payment for gestation services runs up to $100,000. Therefore, the
capitalization of the baby making, calculated monetarily, is around:
Male 1 Share, Female 99,000 Shares.
This
example of using theory to make law without thoroughly thinking
through the ramifications and objectively assessing each contribution
to the entire process is a useful exercise today.
It gives us
a moment to pause and consider many other issues which need
rethinking.
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