In Like a Virgin Aarathi Prasad looks at historical notions of virgin birth and explores the possiblity of a future without the need for pregnancy
FIRST, seal a man’s semen in a glass tube. Then bury the tube in horse manure for 40 days, remove it, magnetise it and watch the semen assemble themselves into a tiny human form. Voilà – conception, without the pesky uterus.
This was the recipe for life suggested by the 16th-century scientist Paracelsus. His was one of the first enquiries into whether children could be born without the need for women. According to the prevailing scientific…
