.authored by something.of.substance.
.virtually life-like.
And, in yet another fit of retro-inspired, socially-conservative feminist backlash, you can now reproduce online! No kidding. The past decade has already been detrimental to the equality progress of women. The third-wave sexual revolution has been used as an excuse by women to objectify themselves. Shows like “Desperate Housewives”, “He’s Just Not That Into You” and even “Sex and the City” all highlight dating and mating as the universe in which women’s lives orbit. Jokes abound in popular culture about women’s shrill-ticking biological clocks. Whole franchises are built around “catching and trapping” potential husbands with online support groups and associated materials included! Heterosexual women don’t even have a chance at glimpsing a life outside the home.
The site MakeMeBabies is designed to be used by any gender in seemingly any combination. However, the site features a young, ecstatic-looking girl and mildly repulsed guy waiting to see their future offspring. Underneath their photos is this exclamatory headline:
“MakeMeBabies‘ unique technology will show you exactly (well… almost exactly…) what your future child with another person will look like!
We take both your photos, do some magic calculations, and congratulations! You have a new baby!”
Apparently, over ten million fake children have been created and I’m sure guys aren’t lining up to know if they and the Jonas Brothers will make beautifully-blended, DNA-replicated music together.
Much like the proliferation of celebrity-inspired shirts proclaiming one to be the “future Mrs. Insert-a-celeb”, you too can see the celluloid child created by a fantasy exchange with a celebu-tante of your choice. But, keep in mind that the “children” manufactured for these virtual photo albums are composite blends of looks only. They don’t take into account actual factors one should consider before attempting reproduction such as risk-factors for the woman (endometriosis, blood pressure), family genetic histories or even basic concerns such as necessary time, income and maturity to raise a child. In fact, the site’s only mention of anything more than a bright, kilo-watt smile going into successful procreation is issued in their disclaimer:
“Disclaimer:
MakeBeBabies [sic] is rendering a unique baby face based on your facial features – but real life genetics is far more complicated than that.
Use this site for your entertainment only.”
The danger of such a site is that only further encourages women to see themselves as nothing more than viable breeding machines. I’m not discounting motherhood by any means. But, to make a sport of reproducing diminishes its meaning. The truly disheartening aspect of this website is that it’s simple, exclamation studded language (!), links to “add” on popular social networking sites Facebook and MySpace and colorful display market it to girls far too young to see relationships only in terms of their reproductive opportunities. In fact, not only is this site marketed to those barely physically-able to conceive, but it does nothing to warn of realities that go along with sex, like sexually transmitted diseases or emotional consequences. Yet, these girls go to the site and become starry-eyed over the thought of the babies they and any semen-producing male in a twenty-five mile radius could generate. Teaching women to be marriage and baby-obsessed procreation hunters can’t start too early, I guess.
MakeMeBabies doesn’t make me want to go gaga over the thought of potential offspring. Instead, it mostly makes my skin crawl.
Plus these digital Matrix-babies look creepy as hell.