Times of danger: embryos, sperm and precarious reproduction ca. 1870s–1910s

Abstract

This paper discusses the rise and fall of the theory of paternal transmission, drawing attention to the hitherto underresearched debates about the importance and impact of male-mediated harm to the embryo in reproduction that peaked around the turn of the twentieth century. The focus is on the implications of the twin "great social evils," syphilis and alcohol, which converged at the time of a general transformation of medicine into experimental science and a concomitant rise in new concepts of heredity. Looking at the way in which the issue of time added to profound changes which were linked to particular visions of society and changes in the politics of gender at the turn of the century, I examine the asymmetrical relationship of sociopolitical and epistemological dimensions of time and reproduction. The paper shows how these debates were positioned within the wider context of eugenics and in relation to concepts of male reproduction that involved fundamental political, social and moral dimensions.