# Virgin Birth **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2001, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653 "2001-10-21T01:26:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dingleburg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@dingleburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dingleburg)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/1 "2001-10-21T01:26:46Z")
I heard that humans can reproduce without interaction of sperm and egg–that some small fraction of births (one in a million is the number I recall) is the result of an egg cell that splits spontaneously and grows into a fetus. Is there any truth to this? ---
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/2 "2001-10-21T01:34:38Z")
I’m inclined to think it would be a HELL of a lot more than one in a million. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/3 "2001-10-21T01:35:48Z")
IANAS…But seeing as how the egg does not contain all the chromesomes neccesary for developement, I don’t see how it could be. ---
**Author:** ![Toaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@Toaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toaster)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/4 "2001-10-21T01:39:23Z")
I think it might certainly split once or twice, but it’d die off quite quickly. That’s what I remember out of a bit of Biology back several years ago at any rate, so take some salt. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/5 "2001-10-21T02:29:24Z")
ACTUALLY, there is a way to get pregnant, and still be a “technical virgin”, or without having intercourse. If a couple are fooling around, naked, unprotected, and said male happens to ejaculate on said female’s vaginal area, sperm can indeed penetrate inside and impregnate her. But, I don’t think that quite qualifies as a “virgin” birth. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Greenkeys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dec6dc/32.png) [@Greenkeys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greenkeys)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/6 "2001-10-21T02:33:16Z")
I heard that it would be possible for lesbian couples to have a child via some sort of DNA hocus-pocus (as you can tell, I am obviously an expert on this subject 😉 Apparently it would only be possible for them to have a girl, since neither “Mother” possesses the Y Chromosome. (sorry, no link) I guess technically you could call this a virgin birth, since intercourse is not required. It all depends what you consider to be virginity which is kind of off-topic from the OP, but it’s still an interesting question. Suppose this hypothetical lesbian couple had each, never slept with a man? Are they virgins because the loss of one’s virginity is a penetrative act? Or are they not virgins because they have engaged in a sexual relationship with each other? If this is too inappropriate for the OP/ board, please feel free to tell me off 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/7 "2001-10-21T02:43:04Z")
Throwing “human parthenogenesis” at Google returns fewer than 30 hits, most of them in the areas of mythology (and _animé_, with only two hits on anything scientific. Both references are to listings of printed (non-web) journals that have had a single article mentioning the possibility. My guess is that it simply does not happen among humans. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/8 "2001-10-21T02:46:55Z")
**Greenkeys** , it may well be possible to manipulate genetic material to force a human virgin birth in the future. It would be rather similar to cloning. It does not yet seem to have happened. (And your post is _well_ within tolerances for _this_ board and _this_ crowd.) ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/9 "2001-10-21T02:48:02Z")
No, an egg can’t split spontaneously and form a fetus. An egg only has one set of chromosomes, and needs to get the second set from the sperm (or from really really fancy cell biology techniques, but that’s another story). What **Greenkeys** mentioned is one of the latter, in which an egg is taken from one person and one set of chromosomes is taken from a cell of another person and injected into the egg. ( IIRC, some scientists announced over the summer that they had done this, although I don’t remember whether it involved human cells or not. They certainly didn’t take it beyond a few cell divisions if human cells were involved.) **Hypothetically** , this could be used to make a non-clone, male-involvement-free baby, as long as the donor of the second set of chromosomes was female. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/10 "2001-10-21T03:50:33Z")
Cecil on [parthenogenesis in turkeys](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/991008.html) and [parthenogenesis in aphids](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_223.html). In the latter article (Nov 1989), Cecil mentions the fact that there is only one known case of human parthenogenesis. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/11 "2001-10-21T03:54:02Z")
> [@](#): > > only one known case of human parthenogenesis Who would be, of course, Jesus H(aploid) Christ. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/12 "2001-10-21T08:49:23Z")
Are you sure? Doesn’t “virgin birth” necessarily result in a female? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/13 "2001-10-21T09:00:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Somebody came up to me and said ‘Tom, is it possible for a girl to get pregnant without intercourse?’ I get that all the time. I mean, I get asked that all the time! Anyway… I said, for the answer to this we’re gonna have to go all the way back to the civil war. Apparently a stray bullet… This is the truth! A stray bullet actually pierced the testicle of a Union soldier, and then it went on to lodge itself in the ovaries of an eighteen year old girl who was standing two hundred, maybe three hundred feet from him at the time. They’d never even met! How’s that for luck! Anyway, you know, she was very happy of course, cause there was something kind of immaculate about the conception, and she did a lot of interviews and that type of thing, and people flew in, and she was on the cover of a lot of magazines at the time. The baby was healthy. Of course, the soldier was pissed off, wouldn’t you be? It’s actually a FORM of intercourse, but I don’t think it’s for everybody. Unless you like action. > _-----Tom Waits_ ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/14 "2001-10-21T17:27:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > Somebody came up to me and said ‘Tom, is it possible for a girl to get pregnant without intercourse?’ I get that all the time. I mean, I get asked that all the time! Anyway… I said, for the answer to this we’re gonna have to go all the way back to the civil war. Apparently a stray bullet…This is the truth!.. > > _-----Tom Waits_ > > \*\* Actually, it’s not the truth. It is an (old) urban legend that was completely fabricated. See this Snopes link: [http://www.snopes2.com/pregnant/bulletbl.htm](http://www.snopes2.com/pregnant/bulletbl.htm) ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/15 "2001-10-21T17:33:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > …for the answer to this we’re gonna have to go all the way back to the civil war. > > [snip] > > …and she did a lot of interviews and that type of thing, and people flew in… > > \*\* Also, how exactly did people “fly in” back in the 1860s? Did they flap their arms? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/16 "2001-10-21T17:39:42Z")
Hot Air Balloons. ---
**Author:** ![jmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmonster)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/17 "2001-10-21T19:53:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by robby \* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > …for the answer to this we’re gonna have to go all the way back to the civil war. > > > [snip] > > > …and she did a lot of interviews and that type of thing, and people flew in… > > Also, how exactly did people “fly in” back in the 1860s? Did they flap their arms? Tom’s not really known for hewing to reality. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/18 "2001-10-21T21:00:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > only one known case of human parthenogenesis > > Who would be, of course, Jesus H(aploid) Christ. \*\* I thought the H stood for Howard: _Our Father, who art in Heaven, Howard be thy name._ :D:D ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/19 "2001-10-21T21:41:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by robby \* > Actually, it’s not the truth. It is an (old) urban legend that was completely fabricated. It never occurred to me that anyone might actually believe that. Quite sad, really. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653/20 "2001-10-21T23:03:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > \*\*It never occurred to me that anyone might actually believe that. Quite sad, really. :rolleyes: \*\* Sad, indeed. :rolleyes: On the contrary, the story has often been passed along as truthful. Snopes mentions a “Dear Abby” column, and I’m _fairly_ sure it was in one of the _Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader_ books (which granted, are not known for their veracity). As far as the web is concerned, this [site](http://www.urbanlegends.com/medical/bullet_impregnation.html) and this [site](http://www.thehistorynet.com/civilwartimes/articles/0896_text.htm) acknowledge that the story is a myth, but this [site](http://www.maderatribune.com/pov/pregnancy.htm) and the museum it refers to do not. In any event, if you post an oft-times repeated urban legend with no accompanying commentary (or even a smilie), prepare to be called on it. We are here to eradicate ignorance, no? BTW, I’ve never heard of Tom Waits. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-birth/88653.md?page=2)