Welcome to Inkbunny...
Allowed ratings
To view member-only content, create an account. ( Hide )
Mister Reindeer?
« older newer »
Nose Reddening
survey__3.txt
Keywords male 1116473, female 1006000, dragon 139340, bdsm 20605, piercings 16099, petplay 3289, castration 2091, sprite 1657, castrated 718, body modification 666, neutered 634, eunuch 609, neuter 533, gelding 471, nosering 431, brand 416, branding 380, branded 235, declawed 191, gentling 180, rfid implant 162, defanged 154, gelded 150, dewclaw removal 133, freeze branding 104, declawing 91, implied castration 84, freeze branded 71, impending castration 49, freeze brand 43, just cut 42
I’ve let it slip elsewhere that I’m slowly grinding away at a lapdragon novel.  While the tone of the setting is still pretty optimistic and noblebright, this story introduces elements of organized crime and has a tone more akin to Batman Beyond - while the setting is definitely a nice place to live, it’s not without its high-tech low-life and corporate criminals.  

I don’t want to use my usual brain-trust for this, but I’d like to get feedback on this specific question in order to help set the zeitgeist for the novel.  

" When is it okay to fix kits?


Do they have to ask for it, unprompted?  Do they need to convince their parents?  Can those parents just take them to the vet and have it done?  And is it different if they’re also fixed, and want their kits to be like them?

I guess I need to figure out what the general American public thinks, living in a world where they’re used to dragons on leashes - consensually - would think about a whole spectrum of situations, starting most sympathetically with “What do you do when a dragon kit, a cub, or a minor wants to be fixed?”  WPATH standards of care should provide some insight for this, since it’s preferable for trans-kids to socially transition before starting school so they can start establishing an identity consistent with their internal self-concept.  Puberty-blocking drugs are used to delay puberty until the age of majority, when it becomes legal to do bottom-surgery, and the results are … beautiful, and natural, and you’d never suspect Stephanie was born Steven.  Or vice-versa.  

In the real world, we only tolerate such treatment because we don’t like children making irreversible decisions.  In this case, few decisions are irreversible.  Suicide, reproduction… that’s about it.

Perhaps I should start a spectrum of most-to-least sympathetic situations, on three axes, and take a poll where my followers draw the line they prefer?


AXIS 1:  Volunteering - How voluntary must it be on the kit’s part?
1. The kit brings it up, and displays an understanding of what’s involved.
2. The kit brings it up, but is hazy on the details.
3. Their parents want them altered, and they agree
4. Their parents want them altered, and they don’t disagree
5. Their parents want them altered, and don’t ask for input
6. Their parents want them altered, over disagreement.

AXIS 2: Motives - Parents’ motives for suggesting or permitting it are relevant.  How noble must their intentions be?
1. The kit was diagnosed by a specialist as a recognized (DSM or WPATH standards of care) variety of transgendered
2. Their parents were altered, and they like the result and want some for themselves.
3. Their parents are altered, and they want to be like their parents.
4. Their parents aren’t altered, but think it’s the best thing for their kit(s).
5. Their parents aren’t altered, but prefer fixed kits.
6. Their (unaltered) parents want them adopted out, and fixed kits are more in demand.

AXIS 3: Screening - how much should be involved?
1. Independent psychologists interview each client and they require a sign-off for consideration.
2. Company screening professionals ask open-ended questions, and are trained to spot signs of coercion and trafficking.
3. Any staff member available administers a questionairre and interview, listening for keywords.
4. No screening is carried out, only the clerk and medical staff’s “gut checks” must be passed.
5. Procedures performed by a vending machine, incapable of asking questions.

AXIS 4: Conformity - How much conformity pressure should there be, and how important should conformity pressure be?
1. It’s something you have to figure out for yourself that you want.
2. It’s something advertized in places that deviants frequent.
3. It’s something advertized in many places.
4. It’s something that is subject to peer pressure.
5. You can be legally compelled to be made to modify yourself for pethood.

AXIS 5: Societal Expectations - how seriously should a lapdragon’s role be taken after the procedure?
1. It’s about both parties enjoying the power-play; a pet is only in character during specific “sessions”.
2. It’s about both parties enjoying the power-play; a pet is in character most of the time but is free to break character at will.
3. It’s about a lifestyle; a pet is in character more often than not, and should carefully consider whether breaking character is necessary.
4. Pets are expected to be “in character” 24/7 unless given specific permission to break character.
5. It’s how they should *be* - it’s not a matter of acting a character.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
page
1
page
2
page
3
page
4
page
5
page
6
page
7
page
8
page
9
page
10
page
11
page
12
page
13
page
14
page
15
page
16
page
17
page
18
page
19
page
20
page
21
page
22
page
23
page
24
page
25
page
26
page
27
page
28
page
29
page
30
page
31
page
32
page
33
page
34
page
35
page
36
page
37
page
38
page
39
page
40
page
41
page
42
page
43
page
44
page
45
page
46
page
47
page
48
page
49
page
50
page
51
page
52
page
53
page
54
page
55
page
56
page
57
page
58
page
59
page
60
page
61
page
62
page
63
page
64
page
65
page
66
page
67
page
68
page
69
page
70
page
71
page
72
page
73
page
74
page
75
page
76
page
77
page
78
page
79
page
80
page
81
page
82
page
83
page
84
page
85
page
86
page
87
page
88
page
89
page
90
page
91
page
92
page
93
page
94
page
95
page
96
page
97
page
98
page
99
page
100
page
101
page
102
page
103
page
104
page
105
page
106
page
107
page
108
page
109
page
110
page
111
page
112
page
113
page
114
page
115
page
116
page
117
page
118
page
119
page
120
page
121
page
122
page
123
page
124
page
125
page
126
page
127
page
128
page
129
page
130
page
131
page
132
page
133
page
134
page
135
page
136
page
137
page
138
page
139
page
140
page
141
page
142
page
143
page
144
page
145
page
146
page
147
page
148
page
149
page
150
page
151
page
152
page
153
page
154
page
155
page
156
page
157
page
158
page
159
page
160
page
161
page
162
page
163
page
164
page
165
page
166
page
167
page
168
page
169
page
170
page
171
page
172
page
173
page
174
page
175
page
176
page
177
page
178
page
179
page
180
page
181
page
182
page
183
page
184
page
185
page
186
page
187
page
188
page
189
page
190
page
191
page
192
page
193
page
194
page
195
page
196
page
197
page
198
page
199
page
200
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
 
 
page
1
page
2
page
3
page
4
page
5
page
6
page
7
page
8
page
9
page
10
page
11
page
12
page
13
page
14
page
15
page
16
page
17
page
18
page
19
page
20
page
21
page
22
page
23
page
24
page
25
page
26
page
27
page
28
page
29
page
30
page
31
page
32
page
33
page
34
page
35
page
36
page
37
page
38
page
39
page
40
page
41
page
42
page
43
page
44
page
45
page
46
page
47
page
48
page
49
page
50
page
51
page
52
page
53
page
54
page
55
page
56
page
57
page
58
page
59
page
60
page
61
page
62
page
63
page
64
page
65
page
66
page
67
page
68
page
69
page
70
page
71
page
72
page
73
page
74
page
75
page
76
page
77
page
78
page
79
page
80
page
81
page
82
page
83
page
84
page
85
page
86
page
87
page
88
page
89
page
90
page
91
page
92
page
93
page
94
page
95
page
96
page
97
page
98
page
99
page
100
page
101
page
102
page
103
page
104
page
105
page
106
page
107
page
108
page
109
page
110
page
111
page
112
page
113
page
114
page
115
page
116
page
117
page
118
page
119
page
120
page
121
page
122
page
123
page
124
page
125
page
126
page
127
page
128
page
129
page
130
page
131
page
132
page
133
page
134
page
135
page
136
page
137
page
138
page
139
page
140
page
141
page
142
page
143
page
144
page
145
page
146
page
147
page
148
page
149
page
150
page
151
page
152
page
153
page
154
page
155
page
156
page
157
page
158
page
159
page
160
page
161
page
162
page
163
page
164
page
165
page
166
page
167
page
168
page
169
page
170
page
171
page
172
page
173
page
174
page
175
page
176
page
177
page
178
page
179
page
180
page
181
page
182
page
183
page
184
page
185
page
186
page
187
page
188
page
189
page
190
page
191
page
192
page
193
page
194
page
195
page
196
page
197
page
198
page
199
page
200
Outreach
Last in pool
Welp, the instructions are:  
• Tell me if this is a good survey or a bad one.
• Tell me the number of the maximum number you’re okay with in each axis.  For example, if you agree with statements 1 through 5, then the number that represents your answer is 5.  If all of the examples in a given question are too outrageous for you, you may enter a 0.
• If you can’t, because they’re in the wrong order, tell me how it should be laid out.
• Tell me the number of the maximum number you think the American public would be okay with in 2050.
• If you want to "fill in the blank" anywhere, go for it!

PS:  This is mostly about helping me design a good survey.  This should give me an ethical and legal “lay of the land” for the setting, and is extremely helpful.

Once it doesn't suck, this will be distributed via SurveyMonkey or something like that, maybe Google Forms.

Keywords
male 1,116,473, female 1,006,000, dragon 139,340, bdsm 20,605, piercings 16,099, petplay 3,289, castration 2,091, sprite 1,657, castrated 718, body modification 666, neutered 634, eunuch 609, neuter 533, gelding 471, nosering 431, brand 416, branding 380, branded 235, declawed 191, gentling 180, rfid implant 162, defanged 154, gelded 150, dewclaw removal 133, freeze branding 104, declawing 91, implied castration 84, freeze branded 71, impending castration 49, freeze brand 43, just cut 42
Details
Type: Writing - Document
Published: 7 years, 11 months ago
Rating: General

MD5 Hash for Page 1... Show Find Identical Posts [?]
Stats
349 views
2 favorites
20 comments

BBCode Tags Show [?]
 
joelfeila
7 years, 11 months ago
well based on the closest thing to this in real life. l, circumcision,  you could go two ways. one the kit can be compelled against his will by his parents like in America.  but that would be kinda dark and it sounds like you want a more optimistic setting.  

so let's say take a France on this one, the parents can't make them. and they have to be screened by a. professional first before a certain age.  for this let's say 10. after that the kit have it with parental consent. and kit consent.


since it is a surgical procedure i would say don't make be to casual like a vending style machine.  maybe a simple day procedure that gives the kit. 2 days off from school or something that can be done over a weekend.

I'd. imagine that conformity would be pretty high with Disney style staring a fixed kit and modeling agencies using them in government sponsored adds
Chrontius
7 years, 11 months ago
" Joelfeila wrote:
but that would be kinda dark and it sounds like you want a more optimistic setting.
I do, but this story is going to go dark places before things get better.  There may be a trilogy before the story is completely resolved.

So, if I read you right, you're something like 4x24x - do you have opinions on axis 2 and axis 5?

As for the vending machines, they were rolled out in 2044, and quietly relocated behind counters in 2045 after a scandal you may be able to predict.  

" since it is a surgical procedure i would say don't make be to casual like a vending style machine.  maybe a simple day procedure that gives the kit. 2 days off from school or something that can be done over a weekend.
In this case, it'd be something they do during winter break - a pilot program designed to mimic a summer sleepaway camp (but with more elective surgery) during the winter 2049 season, and something approaching the scale of the Reindeer program in the winter of 2050-2051.  They can be expected to have a month or two off school, in this case, for recovery and charity activities.  However, whereas the pilot program was aimed at holiday breaks, the two-day-off thing you mention may be about right for a full-scale rollout.

" I'd imagine that conformity would be pretty high with Disney style starring a fixed kit, and modeling agencies using them in government-sponsored ads
I am intrigued - can you elaborate on this?

PS:  if it turns out that castration is more common than circumcision, that irony will be acknowledged in the book at some point.  :D
joelfeila
7 years, 11 months ago
would say axis 5 go with 3 or 4, it allowed but very look down on.  Fore 2, 3 would be good if you wantto add to the circumcision analogy other then that all of them are good.  

for the show and model thing.  Picture a show like Hanna Montana or zach and cody, but staring a fixed kit.  For modeling im pictureing internet videos and build board showing fixed kits and adults. maybe some parent get their kit fixed  just so they can get a job as a model.  
Pyrogenetic
7 years, 11 months ago
1.- 5
2.- 6
3.- 5
4.- 4
5.- 3

Seems like a solid survey. But what the public would be okay with...well considering we seem to be going into 'government knows what's best for you'  direction I don't really know, however that could also lead into eugenics which can be pretty dark although logical too.
CeilYurei
7 years, 11 months ago
How I feel in order: Axis 1: 1
Axis 2: 1 and MAYBE 2,
Axis 3: WHile down to 3 may seem good, 1 and 2 are best.
Axis 4: 1, and 2 to be reasonable
Axis 5: 1, and 2 if the "pet" really loves pet play.
RoyalTheKitten
7 years, 11 months ago
I've got 3 views on this, my personal view, and two in character views, one dominant, one submissive.

Personally:

Axis 1 - 0 (Kits haven't got life experience enough to understand how they feel, that's why they can't join the army, get married, and don't get executed for crimes generally.)
Axis 2 - 1 (Assuming the standards are able to show the kit has complete understanding of the ramifications.)
Axis 3 - 3 (Since the previous 2 leave this less an issue.)
Axis 4 - 5 (Pethood could be a good system to replace prisons.)
Axis 5 - 2 & 5 (2 for voluntarily pets, 5 for compelled pets)

In Character Dominant:

Axis 1 - 3 (Parents effectively can do this today with other medical issues, organ transplant donation for example. Hell, sometimes they can do it over a disagreement anyway.)
Axis 2 - 6 (As with the last, really the parental relationship is more controlling than any Master Pet relationship. Considering the society in 2050s with lots of readily available placements for adoption, this seems like a good way for a breeding pair to handle too many kits.)
Axis 3 - 2 (Don't want any kidnapping victims to slip through, don't want any extortion, etc.)
Axis 4 - 5 (Hey, sometimes the kits might be older and try to fight their parents wishes, this is a two sided coin. If they can block a parent via courts, they can just as easily be ordered via courts.)
Axis 5 - 5 (A pet is a pet. It defeats the point of Pethood if they can  back out. You don't want to become a pet completely, don't. There's plenty of other options for you.)

In Character Submissive:

Axis 1 - 1 (This isn't a game and the kits should understand what they are asking for. Completely Voluntarily, but parents shouldn't be able to prevent it either.)
Axis 2 - 1 (This just goes along with showing the kits understand what they want.)
Axis 3 - 2 (I'd be afraid of someone coaching a kit into it otherwise.)
Axis 4 - 3 (It _is_ a business, screening is there to keep people from doing it without understanding it.)
Axis 5 - 3 (There is a reason for safewords, Pethood is a 2 way street, but you don't want to hurt your partner by telling them they're going to far either. Better to make sure boundaries are known ahead of time so you don't have to break character without need.)
Chrontius
7 years, 11 months ago
I love the justifications on each answer!  I should have asked for that - I'll get so much more useful and interesting feedback that way...

Once I sit down to answer that for myself, that's likely to be helpful.
CeilYurei
7 years, 11 months ago
Only life saving proicedures should be forced on kits, not sterilization. As for the idea of being able to be legally sterilized, theyt already used to do that. Up until even the 80s in some state mental hospitals. Even though it was deemed unconstitutional like a decade earlier. It's still done in some countries. ANd easily abused. Hell, they used to sterilize all kids a person had starting with the second born if two kids had anything from any form of autism to treatable "mental disorders" of ANY kind. it's fucking barbaric.
RoyalTheKitten
7 years, 11 months ago
You're forgetting that in this setting, and reality quite nearly for that matter, sterilization isn't. Technology in this 'verse is far enough advanced that anyone desiring it could have vat grown replacement gonads in no time flat, and if they just want offspring without the 'nads, they can just as easily clone germ-line cells, I wager the only reason they do collection in these stories is storage is cheaper than manufacture.

When you have a world where the consequences of an action can be undone as easily as they were created, they aren't consequences any longer; they are options.
Chrontius
7 years, 11 months ago
" FawkesFenrium wrote:
You're forgetting that in this setting, and reality quite nearly for that matter, sterilization isn't.
Isn't what?  Permanent?  "fucking barbaric"?  Word of God, it's neither.  In the real world, initial recovery can take as little as three days with negligible pain.  One person I spoke with was castrated to treat severe, chronic pain caused by a botched vasectomy.  Immediately after surgery when he woke up, he told his nurse he felt great - she told him he hadn't given him any pain meds yet.  Most people who've had that surgery and are willing to admit to it have an easy time of it, unless there are complications.  WebMD says…
" WebMD wrote:
Regular activities are usually resumed within 1 to 2 weeks. And a full recovery can be expected within 2 to 4 weeks.
Genetically engineered people heal faster, by design, so expect a full recovery after perhaps a week, and normal activity levels after maybe two days' rest.

" FawkesFenrium wrote:
Technology in this 'verse is far enough advanced that anyone desiring it could have vat grown replacement gonads in no time flat, and if they just want offspring without the 'nads, they can just as easily clone germ-line cells, I wager the only reason they do collection in these stories is storage is cheaper than manufacture.
Testicles, like kidneys, can be manufactured for transplant - and you can get sterile "blanks" that don't produce sperm, but have normal endocrine function off the rack (or rather, out of most hospitals' freezers).  Gametes can be created without an organ from a cheek swab - hardly invasive - and are typically delivered in a couple weeks' time.  With sacrificial testicles, large batches of manufactured semen can be created cheaply by using the entire supply of stem cells present in each organ simultaneously - this skips a lot of de-differentiation and re-differentiation steps with the swab method, and starting with a large population of stem cells, pints of semen can be manufactured in a matter of hours.  Further, using the same technology used to manufacture organs, living testicles can be stored and continuously "milked" for a lifetime - this has become a popular way to donate sperm.

Storage has a cost that increases linearly with duration; manufacture of a batch of gametes has a moderate one-time cost.  From a purely economically rational standpoint, if you plan on storing sperm or organs for a long period of time, it may be cheaper to discard them and have them cloned when you want to start a family.

" FawkesFenrium wrote:
When you have a world where the consequences of an action can be undone as easily as they were created, they aren't consequences any longer; they are options.
Demographically, most people castrated in the setting were done for birth control, and maintain normal hormone levels - depot implants, or modification of the adrenal glands are the usual methods.  Second to that, it's people who had a prosthetic endocrine system put in.  Just like using injectable steroids, this will destroy your testicles sooner or later, and can cause cancer.  Some delay the removal until damage is evident, others have them removed at the same time as the implants are placed - either to spare them having to watch the long, slow shrink, or to have them cryopreserved so they can have kids in a decade's time.
RoyalTheKitten
7 years, 11 months ago
I mean sterilization isn't sterilization. Sterilization today means you can't produce germ-line cells ever again. The tech is on the way in to make that an artifact of bigone days.

In the setting you have made, it's long past sterilization having any meaningful permanence. All you have to do to fix it is ask.
Chrontius
7 years, 11 months ago
Yeah, this is mostly me trying to ask questions about futureshock and see what happens.

I, for one, enjoy the sensation of futureshock, but it's clearly not universal.

I need help understanding that kind of perspective if I'm going to write effective SF.
CeilYurei
7 years, 11 months ago
If my mate is too fucking lazy to jsut where a condom and gets their genital chopped off then I'm gone and they can go live somewhere else being somebody else's living sex toy. Sterilization in this case is just fucking laziness.
RoyalTheKitten
7 years, 11 months ago
I'd tend to agree with you that it's lazyness driven. It comes from having a culture where self gratification is more important than societal expectations.

I don't see castration that can be easily reversed as any different from abortion myself.

If a woman can choose to kill an unborn human, why can't a man choose to remove his reproductive system?

I personally wouldn't stay with a mate who did either for convenience, it means they don't care enough to handle the consequences together.
Chrontius
7 years, 11 months ago
I enjoy playing Devil's advocate, and my old political discussions don't happen any more  :(

" I don't see castration that can be easily reversed as any different from abortion myself.
Excellent point.

" I personally wouldn't stay with a mate who did either for convenience, it means they don't care enough to handle the consequences together.
And now the Devil's advocate starts.  Long-acting reversible contraceptives are the current standard of care - for females.  Males don't have an adequate standard of care, yet.  If your mate got an IUD, would you feel the same way?  Why or why not?
Chrontius
7 years, 11 months ago
First, please decouple current eugenic practices from this - past and present ones were hardly data driven, and we didn't even understand the genetic mechanisms we tried to manipulate.  Consider that crime in cities was epidemic - turns out it was mostly caused by the amount of aerosolized lead exposure causing brain damage in children creating criminals 23 years later as their brains matured wrong.  Not genetic at all - environmental toxicity.  

Likewise, there's no eugenic component (yet) in the dragon-fancy community.  The drugs given and modifications are carried out in order to tune gene expression and phenotypes, akin to the way one TED talk describing MIT's "food computers".  A better comparison is the rise of designer babies in the future, where traits and gene complexes are manipulated individually, rather than simply culling the "weak".  In this case, rather than changing the genome's sequence (still in the science-fictional future, this is an involved undertaking) we're manipulating the genes' environments so as to trigger and block gene promoters to get what we want out of a genome.

Most people in the setting won't understand all of the technical side of that, but it represents the way the average person (amongst those who go in for personal biomodification) intuitively approaches these things.
CeilYurei
7 years, 11 months ago
Sterilization is fucvking wrong and if my mate came home neutered they can go find someplace else to fucking live.
Chrontius
7 years, 11 months ago
Fair enough.

Just wanted to make clear that eugenics isn't a fair characterization of what's going on here, and it's much … weirder.  
CeilYurei
7 years, 11 months ago
Yeah.
Chrontius
7 years, 11 months ago
Ookay.  Once the Spokesbeast™ takes a public opinion on this matter, his responses and justifications are…

1: 5 Everyone's heard of this by now.  The only reason not to have registered an opinion is if you don't care.  If you don't care, well… you don't care, right?
2: 6 The right thing for the wrong reason is still the right thing, right?  Besides that, nobody gets to know what the right thing was, retroactively.  There aren't any time machines.  if a relatively noninvasive procedure helps in the happiness or healthiness departments, that's great.  If not, there's always insurance.*
3: 4 The Reindeer™ program will take a human off the street, turn you, let you help us raise money, and put you back exactly as we found you after a month.  I'm not sure what screening is there to prevent, honestly.
4: 4 We never planned on the Reindeer program being nearly as popular as it was, but that's a good problem to have.  We go where we think the clients and patients are, and if people envy them, it's just an indication that trans is underdiagnosed - or maybe there's an existential dread, or boredom, or desire for something profoundly different.  I helped build a race of dragons - I have no latitude to judge, here.
5: 3.66 If you want to be a pet, and you have someone willing to put a collar on you, you shouldn't want to break character in the first place.  This is a chance to spend a decade or two doing something completely different than your day to day experiences - why squander the opportunity?

Having said that, once he is taking a public opinion on these matters, he's been drugged for eight weeks, five days.  They had five weeks to work on him before he publicly changed his mind on the Fawn program.  The drugs that replaced his usual hormone implant included entactogens, mood elevators, and carefully engineered steroids.  The effect of the cocktail - all legal, individually, in smaller doses - is best described as contentment, affection and love, pair- and group-bonding, loyalty, submission, and gratitude.  His deference to those who suggested these opinions to him comes naturally to him, and he's comfortable with them, even if he didn't vet them himself.  Hell - he's grateful to have been counseled on them, admits he was probably wrong in his assessment, trusts his advisors, and is happy he has such wise partners to help him with complicated ethical questions like this.

Except wasn't he always something of the company's Jiminy Cricket?

Oh well - he must not have been very good at it.  He's glad that he has a few other officers willing to advise him on these matters; he must have been doing a barely passable job for the last few years, and he's glad to have some experts to defer to, now.
New Comment:
Move reply box to top
Log in or create an account to comment.