# Can two men have a child via sexual reproduction? Maybe... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 2, 2003, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-two-men-have-a-child-via-sexual-reproduction-maybe/172623 "2003-05-02T14:11:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nichol\_storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-two-men-have-a-child-via-sexual-reproduction-maybe/172623/21 "2003-05-05T13:38:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MaceMan \* > \*\*If it were possible for two men to produce an embryo, the sex of offspring would be weighted towards males in a 2:1 ratio: > XX = female > XY = male > YX = male > YY = dead \*\* Does anyone know what might happen if an embryo had two Y chromosones? As far as I am aware, it’s a natural impossibility, but then all sorts of chromosomal abnormalities pop up, so I could be wrong. .:Nichol:. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-two-men-have-a-child-via-sexual-reproduction-maybe/172623/22 "2003-05-05T15:20:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MaceMan \* > \*\*One serious problem with this idea is the phenomenon of “genomic imprinting.” Basically, imprinting means that genes inherited from your father and genes inherited from your mother are each marked in certain ways, and this in turn affects the way they behave. For example, there are some genetic diseases in which the same exact gene sequence will cause disease if inherited from one parent (say, the father) but not if it was inherited from the other (the mother). > \*\* Good call, **MaceMan**. I was gonna pop in here to talk about genomic imprinting. To answer **Blake** ’s question, Angelman Syndrome, Prater-Willi Syndrome, and Beckwidth-Wiedemann Syndrome pop into mind off the top of my head, but that is by no means a complete list. Search for genomic imprinting or uniparental disomy. In fact, total male (and female) parentage happens in humans in nature, and the results aren’t pretty. They are called hydatidiform moles. It is thought that these result from partial or complete paternal or maternal uniparental disomy, resulting in a variety of overgrowths and malformations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-two-men-have-a-child-via-sexual-reproduction-maybe/172623.md?page=1)