Brooke Marcy

 

 

Summery of Eugenics: The Second Wave, Fleshmachine, Critical Art Ensemble

 

 

The essay, Eugenics: The Second Wave, Fleshmachine, Critical Art Ensemble, begins by looking at how, though dormant, eugenics has been waiting for the right time to reemerge into society.  The essay asks the question, “Why cant the body be constructed to best serve “the dominant values of culture?”  Eugenics has faced several problems, such as being associated with the Nazi regime, and a lack of acceptance by the general pubic who, though having no problem accepting medical advancements to support life, have a problem with science acting in the role of the creator. So in order to be accepted, eugenics must discover a way to sell medical intervention in creation, as well as, maintenance of the human body.

 

Fredrick Osborn stated in the early 30s that the only way for eugenics to find acceptance would be for the people “to come to eugenics.”  Osborn believed that the development of the “consumer economy” and the nuclear family would eventually lead to a renewed interest in eugenics. Just as food, shelter and healthcare are looked at as consumer products, so too could eugenics.  Human consumption has become a status symbol and when combined with the nuclear family “ the production of reproduction begins to significantly change.” Unlike the nuclear family, the extended family is seen as a threat to the “capitalist imperatives of production,” thus the continuation of the nuclear family structure is encouraged.

 

The education process plays an important role in keeping people tied to nuclear units, and in teaching children how to become active members of the workforce.  Children are separated from working parents at an early age allowing them “more time with their socializers-education services and mass media-than with significant others.”  People are led to equate work success with “satisfaction,” causing work to become more important than relationships.  The concept of the nuclear family fits in well with eugenics by placing an emphasis on creating a quality child and eventually a quality “satisfied” worker.

 

In the past, eugenic has been looked at as an option only available to the wealthy, leaving the middleclass to fend for themselves.  Yet recently there has been a change in thinking, now it is believed that in order for the developments of eugenics to continue, eugenics must become accessible to the middleclass.  Since middleclass people tend to be covered by healthcare, they are an acceptable option for eugenics, unlike the lower class that usually have no healthcare and over reproduce on their own.

 

The media is supporting a “eugenic consciousness” by creating gentler approaches to advertising, promising to help clients produce healthier “happier” children.   Since the word ”happy has been replaced with the word “productive,” a happy child is a productive child, and “a happy child parent relationship” is based on consumption and production. 

 

Most parents want absolute control over their children’s lives, indicating that control before birth would also be desirable. With eugenics women are guaranteed fertility even if they have been told that they would not be able to have children.  More money is spent on creating fertility than researching what causes infertility; this creates a greater demand for fertility products.  Eugenics also allows a woman to remain fertile longer, giving her  “more uninterrupted time to establish herself in the workforce,” and for a woman who have waited too long, eugenic practices are a renewed hope.

 

It is important keep medical breakthroughs within national bonds, insuring that any proceeds will affect the national economy. This being so, then action is required for “the time is right for eugenics practices to flourish on a macro as well as on the micro levels of society.” 

 

Many promises have been made concerning the use of eugenics, but few promises are, as they seem.  For example, eggs and sperm are considered donations because it is not ethical to profit from creation; on the other hand, implanting an embryo costs a large amounts of money. Just as people can choose to manipulate their babies’ genes they can also reduce the number of fetuses that they are carrying.  Often time’s more than one embryo is implanted, and if more than the desired amount of fetuses attach, they can be removed for health reason or desired outcome allowing the consumer to get what they paid for.

 

Now is the time for Osborn’s theories to become realities. Reproduction can be looked similarly to other consumer product dictated to us by “pan capitalist ideological inscription.”  Yet, none of this has come to pass, and will not, until the public is convinced that eugenics is a beneficial to a productive existence.