...During the eugenic movement there were internal concerns about criminals, insane, feeble mindedness, alcoholics, paupers, derelicts, delinquents, orphans, prostitutes and those unable to support themselves. These traits were considered to be hereditary defects that cannot be eliminated by environmental procedures. Many studies supported and illustrated the use of sterilisation as negative eugenics such as the Juke family published in 1875 and the Kallikak family in 1912 where one or more members of the family were considered to be unfit. In 1907 Indiana was the first state to pass involuntary- sterilisation based on the eugenic ideologies of the unfit. By 1931, 30 states had passed this law. As the concept of the “unfit” was subjective and...
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...Hassan 1 Hussein Hassan Mr. Horn AP Seminar February 2 2015 The Perfect Human: The Flaws in Modern Eugenics With global technologies rapidly advancing, specifically those based in the field of genetics, one might wonder where humanity is headed in terms of their offspring. The answer? Modern eugenics. Francis Galton's eugenics, centered around forced sterilization and selective breeding to eliminate undesirable traits and foster the spread of more advantageous ones (Galton), is dead. However, the idea of focusing on one’s inherited genes to eliminate passed down diseases is alive and well, albeit in a more “modern” fashion. Is modern eugenics the right way of the future for humanity? To what extent should modern eugenics be viable? Before ambitious genetic projects had begun, such as the Human Genome Project which mapped out the entirety of the human genome (Genome.gov), the only way to tamper with an individual’s genes was through their parents. Gregor Mendel earned the moniker “The Father of Genetics” because of his experiments involving the breeding of plants in the mid 19th century (Biography.com). However, modern eugenics focuses on the genes of child more than the parents through abortions and the genetic altering of the embryo to achieve the desired results. This can be achieved through a process called genetic screening, which observes an embryo’s chromosomes for any lapses or breaks (Galloway a). Embryo’s that show signs of a genetic disorders...
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...involvement of eugenics and its deep participation in the Third Reich. The SS Main Office served as a driving force in distributing propaganda. For example, slogans had been imprinted and displayed on walls, most often containing violent warnings of the dangers of mixing Aryan blood with other races which were considered undesirable. Similar to American ideology, Nazi leaders believed that the degradation of the German race was due to the addition of primarily Jewish blood. These ideas were followed by enforcement of the Nuremberg laws in 1935 that prohibited the union, and sexual relations between unfit members of society, like the Jews and Roma, and those with pure German blood. The SS Main Office is also responsible for the creation of Lebensborns. Lebensborns were special programs that were composed of eight rules which focused on Aryan women and their duty to have as much offspring as possible in order to create their ideal race. Doctors also encouraged SS soldiers to...
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...fears, Herbert Spencer would spur the American eugenics movement. Eugenics is the study of human heredity and genetic principles for the purposes of improving the human race by limiting the proliferation of defective gene pools (Polirstok, 2012). As Charles Davenport introduced the eugenics movement...
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...Eugenics and Beneficence Eugenics and Beneficence On October 27, 2014, the North Carolina state legislature became the first in the country to officially begin compensating citizens and their families who were subjected the state’s forced sterilization program. Ninety years after the legalization of forced sterilization in the United States and forty-one years after the first lawsuit was brought by sterilized North Carolinian Nial Ramirez, it would seem as though the country is now ready to do penance in financial terms for its past actions via reparations to Mrs. Ramirez and others. (Burns, 2014) The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of eugenics, specifically to view it through lens of beneficence, to try and view the issue from the points of view of all involved, and finally to explore some future implications about the nature of beneficence from this episode in the history of American health-care. Eugenics is the study of ways to influence (usually to improve) a population by selective breeding. ("Mosby’s Dictionary," 2009) The idea of influencing the quality of animal populations has existed since the beginning of domestication by humans, but the idea of subjecting the human race to systematic selective breeding is a more recent phenomenon. Western thought about the nature of living creatures until the 19th century had been shaped by Judeo-Christian traditions in which a creator god made and sustained all the diversity of life, and further had created...
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...Abstract Social Darwinism is a political theory that emphasizes struggle and competition, and claims that human racial stock improves by allowing ruthless and unrestrained competition in the economic realm. Social Darwinism apples the concepts of biological evolution to social and moral development by stating that it is social evolution through the "survival of the fittest" in a struggle for an existence in which the strong prevail and the weak are defeated. Currently, we use the terms of Darwinism, natural selection, and evolution interchangeably and use them to describe a process which uses random variations, and mutations are preserved through a process of natural competition that favors beneficial changes. A History and Understanding of Social Darwinism The term Darwinism may cause confusion in some people because they confuse Darwinism, the scientific theory, with Social Darwinism, the ethical theory. In truth, except for the name and a few basic principles, the two ideas do not have much in common and has very little to do with Charles Darwin, the English naturalist who famously suggested the scientific theory which states that a branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection. Social Darwinism is a term that started near the end of the nineteenth century and describes a set of social policies and theories designed to reduce the power of government with theories that attempt to explain the biological cause of human behavior. For the...
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...Immigration, Eugenics, White Ethnics, Mexican Americans U.S. Immigration Legislation (Tyner, 60) -1907: U.S. Japan Gentlemen’s Agreement -Denied entry to Japanese laborers -1917: Immigration Act -Denied entry to illiterates (meant to exclude Southern and Eastern Europeans) -Designated an “Asiatic Barred Zone” denying entry to people from the lands between India, Australia, and Japan 1924: Johnson-Reed Act (National Origins Act) -Promoted by the American eugenics movement -Designated to maintain national purity and security -America should remain a white, Protestant nation -All others must either assimilate or be relegated to a permanently inferior status. *Eugenics want to keep white/Anglo-Saxon -Product of scientific racism - Applied to Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory to modern, industrial civilization (Social Darwinism) -1890s: popular with educated Americans concerned about an imminent “race suicide” due to low Anglo-Saxon birth rates -1903: American Breeders Association founded -1906: its Committee on Eugenics formed “to emphasize the value of superior blood and the menace to society of inferior blood.” -1908: first Eugenics Society (England) -1909: first professorial Chair in Eugenics established (University College, London) -By 1910: emergent international eugenics movement proclaimed itself “the science of human improvement through programs of controlled breeding.” -Eugenicists advocated selective eugenic mating, immigration...
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...Nicolas Moy Dr. Sheila Abraham BIOL 2633 01 March 2, 2012 DVD Project “Who’s Afraid of Designer Babies? The Ethics of Genetic Screening” An Australian family with a son diagnosed with a rare disease called “Hyper IGM” which essentially is a congenital condition in which a person is born with a vital piece of his/her immune system missing requiring that they receive constant blood transfusions. In this case, the couple goes through a PGD procedure making another child with no disease to cure the oldest child. This procedure of PGD to identify a unimpaired embryo Summary Leanne and Stephen, the Australian couple are in desperate search for a cure to treat their son, BJ’ fatal disease in which doctors determined that the medical name of BJ’s disease is called “Hyper IGM” which is a rare disease, actually, so rare that 2 out of every million children born are diagnosed with this condition. Using PGD (Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis), doctors who specialize in assisted reproduction helped Leanne and Stephen in the journey to find a solution to their child’s issue. The plan would be to essentially create a “extra-parts baby” by testing for a disease-free and HLA matching embryo. If successful, this would procedure would use the blood tissue from the newborn to cure BJ. Of course, once this case hit the public ethical debates arise. One very predominant argument was whether by allowing this couple to proceed with this procedure for therapy, this could potentially...
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...worked both separately and together to get women the right to vote, be recognized as persons, and to be able to have positions in the senate. Along their road to success, these two women also, in some people’s views, faltered. They both supported the sterilization act in Alberta, and Emily Murphy was particularly racist. These two women have achieved amazing things for Canadian workingwomen, as well as Canadian women and the law; but did they do more harm than good? More specifically, does their work in favor of women’s rights, and women becoming recognized “persons”, make up for their love of eugenics and the many lives they ruined sue to their beliefs that people of different races and with different mentalities were not suitable for parenthood? This paper will explore both sides of their work, looking at the persons case, women becoming involved in the senate, as well as the eugenics and sterilization that they supported. These two women were not solely good or bad, they were good with some poor decisions along the way, “although their vision, like our own, was sometimes faulty and incomplete, it also embodied an uncommon personal politics of courage and optimism…Feminists don’t have to be perfect to be worth a respectful hearing.” (Strong-Boag). Nellie McClung is a feminist hero of Canada, “her zest, and her convictions, her campaigns helped shape the Canada we live in today.” (Gray, 5). She was a popular novelist, and she helped improve the conditions of working women. She...
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...right to choose the sex of their child. I’m Melinda and along with Angelique and Melissa we will be presenting the affirmative argument and the negative argument will be presented by Kristen, Judy and Deb. Sex selection, also known as gender selection, has attracted great interest and controversy over the years. Gender selection has been associated with a number of ethical, moral, social and legal issues. Sex selection may be performed for medical reasons to avoid sex-linked diseases or for parental preference. The topics I will be covering include eugenics, beneficence, utilitarianism and pre-genetic screening in regards to sex linked diseases. Eugenics can be defined as the study or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species. In the context of IVF treatment positive eugenics encourages reproduction by implantation of healthy embryos with inheritable desirable traits and negative eugenics seeks to identify and dispose of embryos found to carry undesirable inheritable traits. Utilitarianism in the context of IVF sex selection and genetic screening is defined by the principle of utility which seeks to judge moral rules, actions and behaviours on the basis of their consequences. Where an action produces the best possible outcome; that being the greatest good for the greatest number it is seen as ethical and moral. Therefore the testing, screening and disposal of genetically impaired embryos and implantation of only healthy and preferred embryos...
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...A)Violence against Women -Wrestling with manhood -Violence is connected to manhood (real men invite confrontation, trash talk) -Fear and respect go hand in hand -Bark like a dog (subordination of women is part of the “man” package) -Comparison to women as a challenging idea (you are a “bitch”) -Chyna becomes so strong, she is stripped of femininity (later rejects public image) -violence as “deserved,” even really crazy awful sexual violence (“bark like a dog”) -“...it's only entertainment.” -Sex Trafficking (Trade) B)Gender, Beauty, Normalization -Wolf, beauty as a prerequisite for success for women -“girls learn that stories happen to 'beautiful' woman but don't happen to women who aren't beautiful” -beauty as a market and product -the female body as a constant -Kaw, Asian Americans (3% of pop., 6% of cosmetic surgeries), most likely ethnicity to get c. surgery -encouragement of self hatred -pressuring women to conform to standards of normality -media representation of Asians as “sleepy, dull, uninterested” -origins in facial reconstruction at WWI -now used to “fix” completely natural features -Valenti, beauty as a “shut the fuck up” tool -beauty is a distraction -women are too ugly or too pretty to be consequential/deserve public attention -Bordo, Slender Body -double bind: producer v. consumer -moral coding: fat is seen as lazy, thin as control -cultural...
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...The progressive movement often oscillated between emphases on social justice, economic inequality, and political reorganization. Due to this, it is difficult to characterize the period with a singular defining trait. It is more constructive to analyze the era in terms of three major areas of reform. First, the progressive era focused on redefining the role of government, secondly, there was a push to counteract the negative effects of industrialization, and, finally, there was a movement to bridge the unequal aspects of society. The three pronged reform approach that progressives pursued led the nation through a moment of uncertainty, which prepared the United States to be more accommodated as a global power and a contributor to modern industrial...
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...(Hannaford, 1996, p.188). However, almost all studies agree that a distinctive development of racial thinking began to take place in the Nineteenth Century (Hirschfield, 1998, p.35). The Nineteenth Century saw the search for the historical and biological origins of race (Hannaford, 1996, p.235). It went beyond the simply classification of race and towards a more significant delineation of race into one that embodies characteristics, personalities and even mental abilities. Several key developments were relevant to this progression. These will be examined as follows: first the importance of the development of biological categories and the influence of power will be examined. Secondly, the development of scientific dialogue of Darwinism and Eugenics will be discussed. Thirdly, an examination will be made of the influence of nationalism and imperialism. Finally, the notion to which the discourse became self-serving will be considered in that as the connection...
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...Throughout the past year, many forms of inequality have been put under the limelight. Movements like Black Lives Matter and issues like the North Dakota pipeline have made all U.S and global citizens aware of the rampant inequalities in the world. In the past, there have been many attempts to find the origin of this inequality. Previous movements like the Eugenics movement tried to establish the root of these problems as differences in genetics between different peoples. Though the moral grounding of this theory was incredibly unstable, it still gained popularity in the early 20th century. However, this theory has been proved immoral and incorrect countless times. The real origin of this inequality is the geographical locations of different...
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...However, within research results they have found a series of risks. Such risks include: that not all cells in the embryos have been repaired, the unintentional cutting and insertion of nonmutant genes, and the possible exposure of new diseases (Sas and Lawrenz, 2017). Therefore, from a scientific standpoint the risks do outweigh the benefits and is deemed unethical at this point of research. Future advancements in this technology may cause for an upset in this...
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