Stress at conception

General Questions
#1

I was watching the Chicago NBC news and they had a spot about a new scientific study. the study basically stated that the sex of the child may be influenced by the stress levels on the woman at concetion. They said that there was a marked increase in the number of female children when there were natural disaters or deaths in the families near the time of conception. They gave no info for me to find a cite to include, anyone else hear about this

Now I see a bunch of implications of this. First it speaks volumes about what makes chicks tick. If they’re stressed at conception, it sure seems to stick with them. Always nagging. And what about the girl being stressed about looking fat, and having the lights on. How are we ever going to get a son?

Any thoughts, or links to support this?

#2

Interesting. My theory is that it’s a survival of the species thing: women are more important in procreation than men. One man can impregnante many women (and I’m just the man to do the job, should it be needed :slight_smile: ), but women can only be impregnated once or so a year.

I’d bet it’s the body reacting to the stress and saying “the species is in danger, we need more women.”

#3

[quote]
Now I see a bunch of implications of this. First it speaks volumes about what makes
chicks tick. If they’re stressed at conception, it sure seems to stick with them.
Always nagging. And what about the girl being stressed about looking fat, and having the lights on. How are we ever going to get a son?

[quote/]

Isn’t it the sperm that determines the sex at conception? Maybe it’s the guy who needs to take a valium if he wants a son.

#4

I heard a similar theory to this one that said it was sexual orientation (i.e., gender, in some sense), and not sex, that was influenced by stress during pregnancy.

The justification was that increased stress in women during pregnancy increased the flow of estrogen and progesterone to the fetus, influencing the biological/hormonal, but not the genetic sex of the child.

The evidence was a study conducted on children who were in utero in London, England during the Battle of Britain. The high stress levels of pregnant women hiding in bomb shelters at night was correlated to those children’s orientation; the results showed a sixfold increase in homosexuals for that specific group.

A similar study purported to show that women in stressful or abusive relationships during pregnancy were 2-3 times more likely to have gay children.

Critics of both studies pointed out the relatively small samples for each, but I don’t recall anyone impugning the researchers on political grounds.

On a related note, is it possible to be genetically one sex and biologically another? I recall an urban legend that Jamie Lee Curtis is chromosomally XY.

#5

Yes, it is possible to be XY and appear to be female. I think people like this are called androgen-insensitive males. They are genetically male, but their bodies don’t respond to prenatal testosterone, so a real penis never develops, and their testes remain inside, and they have no uterus (and so can’t have children). They look female, although they tend to have somewhat more “boyish” bodies than average women (e.g., narrower hips). I wouldn’t venture any guesses about Jamie Lee Curtis.

#6

Yeah, us chicks are always nagging and worried about the lights being on. Sheesh.

I can see how there could be some truth to the theory. It is the sperm that determines the sex of the child, but it seems entirely possible that a woman’s body could either attack or be less receptive to sperm carrying XY than XX. I’ve read some stuff about how, for example, XX-carrying sperm have a “slow and steady” approach, whereas XY-carriers swim really fast. Maybe when she’s stressed, a woman’s body can differentiate between the two and choose one over the other. Interesting stuff, anyway.

“It says, I choo-choo-choose you. And it’s got a picture of a train.”
– Ralph Wiggum

#7

Hansel, see the thread " ‘Cure’ Imposed on Victims of Circumcision Accidents". In addition to victims of circumcision accidents, the thread discusses babies born with ambiguous genitals, as modern medical science has tended to treat both situations with the same “cure” (a cure worse then the desease, IMHO).

#8

I read (please don’t ask me where) that it’s the pH balance that affects gender.

According to this thinking, XY embryos are more adaptable in basic environments, while XX embryos do better in highly acidic environments. So if a woman conceives XY after a ten-day lemon juice binge, the embryo is less likely to “take hold”.

There may be a connection between a woman’s stress level and the acidity of the uterus…?

#9

Actually Loco, you’re on the right track…

It is the vagina that is acidic though. It keeps the beasties at bay. Yeast, for instance, doesn’t eaxctly flourish in an acidic environment.

There is a doctor (can’t remember his name) that believes X and Y sperm do better at different pH levels, so advises wannabe parents of a particular gender to douch with a baking soda solution.

#10

That would be douche…before intercourse.