Speculative andscience fiction writers have often addressed the social, political, technological, and biological consequences of pregnancy and reproduction through the exploration of possible futures or alternative realities.
As real-world reproductive technology has advanced,SF works have become increasingly interested in representing alternative modes of reproduction.[1] Among the uses of pregnancy and reproduction themes regularly encountered in science fiction are:
The phenomenon of pregnancy itself has been the subject of numerous works, both directly and metaphorically. These works may relate pregnancy toparasitism orslavery, or simply use pregnancy as a strong contrast with horror. For example, in the film,Rosemary's Baby (1968) (based onthe 1967 novel byIra Levin) a woman is tricked into a satanic pregnancy by her husband.[4][5]
Inter-species reproduction and alien-human hybrids frequently occur in science fiction, and women being impregnated by aliens is a common theme in SF horror films, includingI Married a Monster from Outer Space,Village of the Damned,Inseminoid, andXtro.[1] The theme has even been parodied, such as in the soft pornWham Bam Thank You Spaceman.[1]
In the filmAlien Resurrection (1997),Ellen Ripley has been cloned to facilitate study of the alien queen embryo with which she was implanted[6][7][8] InOctavia E. Butler'sLilith's Brood trilogy (1987, 1988, 1989) alien and human females impregnated with the DNA of males by alien intermediary-sex individuals, in "fivesomes".[9][10]
The latter part of the 2000s decade has also seen an upswing of films and other fiction depicting emotional struggles of assisted reproductive technology in contemporary reality rather than being speculation.[11]
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 byP. D. James is just one of many works which have considered the implications of globalinfertility;Make Room! Make Room! byHarry Harrison is one of many works which have examined the converse, the implications of massive human population surges. Numerous other works, such asImplosion,The First Century after Beatrice,Venus Plus X andMore Than Human byTheodore Sturgeon examine the future of humanity as it evolves, or particular breeding programs.
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" has been used to comedic effect in mainstream literature and films such asJunior (1994 film, dir. Ivan Reitman),[12][13] and has developed a following infan fiction—thempreg genre.[14]
The genre offeminist science fiction has explored single-sex reproduction in depth, particularlyparthenogenesis, as well as gendered control over the ability and right to reproduce. See also numerousdystopian stories about state-controlled reproduction, abortion, and birth control, such asAtwood'sThe Handmaid's Tale, or her short story,Freeforall. These works have often been analyzed as explorations of contemporary political debates about reproduction and pregnancy.[15][16]
^Federmayer, Éva (Spring 2000). "Octavia Butler's Maternal Cyborgs: The Black Female World of the Xenogenesis Trilogy".Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies.6 (1).University of Debrecen, Hungary:103–118.JSTOR41274076.
^Luckhurst, Roger (Spring 1996). "'Horror and Beauty in Rare Combination': The Miscegenate Fictions of Octavia Butler".Women: A Cultural Review.7 (1).Taylor and Francis:28–38.doi:10.1080/09574049608578256.
^Hellekson, Karen;Busse, Kristina (2006), "Introduction", in Hellekson, Karen; Busse, Kristina (eds.),Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays, McFarland, p. 11,ISBN9780786426409,Within fan fiction, a number of subgenres are well recognized....mpreg, where a man gets pregnant.
Barr, Marleen (1988). "Blurred Generic Conventions: Pregnancy and Power in Feminist Science Fiction".Reproductive and Genetic Engineering.1 (2).Pergamon Press:167–174.OCLC16678507.
Battis, Jes (March 30, 2007), "Moya: births, biomechanoids, and companion species", in Battis, Jes (ed.),Investigating Farscape: Uncharted Territories of Sex and Science Fiction, Investigating cult TV series, London: I.B. Tauris, pp. 41–64,ISBN9780857713650.
Duncan, Carol (2005), "Black Women and Motherhood in Contemporary Cinematic Science Fiction", in O'Reilly, Andrea (ed.),Mother Matters: Motherhood as Discourse and Practice, Toronto, Canada: Association for Research on Mothering, pp. 79–86,ISBN9781550144369.
