# Is there anything men can do to influence x or y sperm creation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 27, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-men-can-do-to-influence-x-or-y-sperm-creation/483179 "2009-01-27T03:26:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-men-can-do-to-influence-x-or-y-sperm-creation/483179/1 "2009-01-27T03:26:40Z")
A study last spring suggested (though a follow up doesn’t agree) that a woman’s diet before conception plays a role in determining if she’ll concieve a son or a daughter. [Women who](http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-04-23-1849445902_x.htm) ate breakfast, lots of bananas and consumed more calories are theorized to have boys more often than girls. But what about men? Has any study ever shown there to be something that might contribute to men producing more X or more Y sperm? Perhaps related to diet, physical condition, or body temperature? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-men-can-do-to-influence-x-or-y-sperm-creation/483179/2 "2009-01-27T04:01:11Z")
While there are certain “techniques” that some claim can influence the gender of babies, I can’t find any diet that males can use to influence gender. Others may be luckier than I was… [http://www.googobits.com/articles/p0-1011-can-gender-be-preselected.html](http://www.googobits.com/articles/p0-1011-can-gender-be-preselected.html) ---
**Author:** ![Cider\_Depot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Cider\_Depot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cider_Depot)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-men-can-do-to-influence-x-or-y-sperm-creation/483179/3 "2009-01-27T05:54:28Z")
X sperm cells have a slightly larger head than their male counterparts, so I suppose you could try mooshing the semen through a fine grade sieve.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-men-can-do-to-influence-x-or-y-sperm-creation/483179/4 "2009-01-27T06:04:02Z")
There may be something that influences x/y fertilization, but there can’t be anything easily done to influence x/y _creation_. They’re made in pairs, as the male’s XY somatic cell splits in two with one chromasome going to each sperm cell during meosis. The only thing that could change that would be crazy surgery that changes the man’s appropriate cells to effectively female (XX). I have no idea if that would render them useless though. I suppose the other method would be a nutball (heh) scientist creating a tricked-out enzyme to seek & destroy all X or all Y sperm before they completely develop. In short, no. ---
**Author:** ![Cider\_Depot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Cider\_Depot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cider_Depot)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-men-can-do-to-influence-x-or-y-sperm-creation/483179/5 "2009-01-27T06:32:44Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > nutball (heh) scientist That would be a Professor of Urology? ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-men-can-do-to-influence-x-or-y-sperm-creation/483179/6 "2009-01-27T06:47:31Z")
It’s been hypothesized that men who regularly experience high g forces, such as fighter pilots, are more likely to have daughters. My half-assed Google search turned up this [abstract](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3619847). There doesn’t seem to be much research in this particular area. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-men-can-do-to-influence-x-or-y-sperm-creation/483179/7 "2009-01-27T12:32:49Z")
Being rich. > **[Trivers–Willard hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivers-Willard_hypothesis)** > > In evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology, the Trivers–Willard hypothesis, formally proposed by Robert Trivers and Dan Willard in 1973, suggests that female mammals adjust the sex ratio of offspring in response to maternal condition, so as to maximize their reproductive success (fitness). For example, it may predict greater parental investment in males by parents in "good conditions" and greater investment in females by parents in "poor conditions" (relative to parents in good condit Tr... ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-men-can-do-to-influence-x-or-y-sperm-creation/483179/8 "2009-01-27T12:55:35Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > It’s been hypothesized that men who regularly experience high g forces, such as fighter pilots, are more likely to have daughters. My half-assed Google search turned up this [abstract](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3619847). There doesn’t seem to be much research in this particular area. Right, but as **Chessic Sense** points out, you’re looking at the results of fertilization, pregnancy and childbirth, not creation. You’d have to go in and count the sperm ripening in the testes to determine that fewer “Y-sperm” were actually being _created_, instead of a myriad of other possibilities why there were more female \*offspring \*observed. A whole lot can happen to a sperm (and a fetus) between creation and childbirth. Because of the haploid nature of gamete production, I’d be surprised if anything short of genetic tinkering could significantly alter the production of one chromosomal holder over the other. But men’s reproduction is not my field of specialty, I’m only beginning to learn about it. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-men-can-do-to-influence-x-or-y-sperm-creation/483179/9 "2009-01-27T13:37:11Z")
I have a cousin who has 8 boys. 8 boys. They tried for a girl since the second one. Obviously, the force is strong with him. Nice boys, all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-men-can-do-to-influence-x-or-y-sperm-creation/483179/10 "2009-01-27T14:40:00Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > I have a cousin who has 8 boys. Which is pretty remarkable – not many people have 8 children. However, out of those that do have 8 children, just by chance they’ll be all boys about one time out of 250. Given the number of families in this world, I think we’d expect to find a few 8-boy families just by chance. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-men-can-do-to-influence-x-or-y-sperm-creation/483179/11 "2009-01-29T07:49:36Z")
> [@Cider\_Depot](#): > > X sperm cells have a slightly larger head than their male counterparts, so I suppose you could try mooshing the semen through a fine grade sieve.🙂 **Chessic Sense’s** revelation that they’re made in pairs is sort of disappointing, but there is already a method to do something like you’re suggesting - sperm spinning, which uses a centrifuge to seperate Xs and Ys. Unfortunately, it works better for people who want girls than boys.