“THE ONLY ONES” – WILL ALTERNATIVE REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES END HE-ISM AND SHE-ISM?
“THE ONLY ONES” – WILL ALTERNATIVE REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES END HE-ISM AND SHE-ISM?

Summary/Abstract: Humankind is essentially dichotomous, with men dominating the public sphere, and women lurking in their shadow. According to some theorists, such binary opposition is foremost biologically determined, labeling women as “the creators of life”, hence incapable of managing it. Are innovative technologies working in favour of women? Close analysis of the 2015 dystopian novel “The Only Ones”, by Carola Dibbell, will put into focus the dilemma of the ethicality of alternative reproductive technologies and their implications on reproductive rights and abortion laws. Dibbell foresees a rather precarious future for females, downgraded to the position of subjects of trade in organs, gametes, and bodily fluids on black markets. Her personal anxieties about the nature of assisted motherhood calls for serious consideration of legislative definitions of parenthood in the wake of biological versus social ownership to the rights of a child born through artificial means. It will be concluded that reproductive technologies work in favour of Shulamith Firestone’s insistence on the controversial truth that women will never be equal in society without the use of artificial womb technology. However, will cancelling biological differences bring gender equality or a “new” humanity, remains an open question.

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