Bubbling away in the background is a crazy belief regarding DNA
The idea is this – every time a woman has sex, some of the DNA from that guy is infused into her. Then later, when she has a kid, the DNA from all her previous partners is passed on to the kid.
That’s your cue for a rant that commences with, “But that’s literally not how …“.
Yes, I know, and I know that you know, but there are people out there who really don’t.
You might indeed pause and ask if people really do believe this?
You need not doubt it …
Meanwhile, if you are wondering about his thread, then be aware that it descends into a wild ride of sciency sounding pseudo-scientific gibberish.
Yes, he really is claiming that lots of sex will literally alter a woman’s DNA, and as a bonus claims that it is all well-understood science and that the term for it is Microchimerism (Spoiler: No it is not, but we will come to that shortly).
But that’s just one nut, surely there can’t be others who buy into this crazy stuff?
You need not even ask …
… and the crazy part is that they are sure this is a confirmed fact …
OK, let’s dig into this a bit.
A common word being tossed around to try and justify this belief is Microchimerism. So what is that?
(Spoiler 2: It is not what they think it is, but you could already guess that)
Microchimerism
Microchimerism is the presence of a small number of cells in an individual that have originated from another individual.
This is Fetomaternal.
To put it in very simple terms, when a mum is carrying a baby there can be a two-way exchange of immune cells through the placenta
What you end up with here is …
- Fetal microchimerism (FMc) – Fetal cells in the mother
- Maternal microchimerism (MMc) – Maternal cells in the Fetus
What this word does not describe in any way is the injection of DNA into women via sperm and thus turn women into some form of DNA bank, that’s literally not a thing.
Also, just to be wholly clear, sperm does not alter a woman’s DNA.
The problem is that you do get the occasional article popping up that make claims like this …
Scientists have discovered that women retain and store, for life, the DNA of every man they’ve ever had sexual intercourse with.
This bombshell discovery has been unearthed by the University of Seattle and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center during a brand-new study.
The scientific study actually discovered the surprising information by accident whilst conducting other research.
The cited study there is this one …
… and now that you understand what Microchimerism actually is, you can see clearly that the above study is a reference to women carrying male cells that came from a foetus, and not because her DNA has been altered or corrupted by her lover.
Translation: The claim being made by the article is bullshit.
There is another more accurate word used to describe the claim, so let’s briefly cover that.
Telegony
What is actually being claimed is the ancient Greek belief that children born can inherit the characteristics of a previous mate and not the current father. The word Telegony was created in the 1800s by August Weismann to describe this belief, so it is not an ancient Greek word itself, only the concept is.
Why does this belief gain any traction?
What has been happening is that women sometimes given birth to children that look more like a previous lover, hence the idea takes root.
So what is going on?
The answer is obvious, and easy. Here are a few options …
- Her former lover is still her current lover, but she does not want to admit to that.
- Her former lover got her pregnant and then abandoned her. Her current partner is officially “father”, and so the child has two loving parents who have a secret they will never reveal.
Religious purity culture also loves the concept and will often roll it out as the reason why a god wants you to remain pure.
Christianity is at its core very patriarchal …
“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.” – Ephesians 5:23
Women are directed by Paul to be silent, and so the idea of being pure and virgin, ready to be the exclusive baby making machine and property of her husband.
Yes I know … not all Christians … but way too many do buy into crazy beliefs, and so a Telegony belief is one more useful tool to keep the women in line.
Beyond religion, it was once quite a popular belief. Here for example is the Surgeon-General of New York, the physiologist Austin Flint, in his Text-Book of Human Physiology (fourth edition, 1888) describing it …
A peculiar and, it seems to me, an inexplicable fact is, that previous pregnancies have an influence upon offspring. This is well known to breeders of animals. If pure-blooded mares or bitches have been once covered by an inferior male, in subsequent fecondations the young are likely to partake of the character of the first male, even if they be afterwards bred with males of unimpeachable pedigree. What the mechanism of the influence of the first conception is, it is impossible to say; but the fact is incontestable. The same influence is observed in the human subject. A woman may have, by a second husband, children who resemble a former husband, and this is particularly well marked in certain instances by the colour of the hair and eyes. A white woman who has had children by a negro may subsequently bear children to a white man, these children presenting some of the unmistakable peculiarities of the negro race
“inexplicable” he says … er no, she was doing the deed with somebody else, but in 1888 she was never going to admit that so the belief works as a better “solution”.
There is also a rather famous and often cited example from the 1820s called “Lord Morton’s mare” …
In 1820, George Douglas, 16th Earl of Morton, F.R.S., reported to the President of the Royal Society that, being desirous of domesticating the quagga (a now extinct subspecies of the plains zebra), he had bred an Arabian chestnut mare with a quagga stallion and that, subsequently, the same mare was bred with a black stallion and Lord Morton found that the offspring had strange stripes in the legs like the quagga. The Royal Society published Lord Morton’s letter in its Philosophical Transactions, 1821
We now understand that this is not Telegony …
Biologists now explain the phenomenon of Lord Morton’s mare as the result of dominant and recessive alleles. The mare and black stallion each carried genes for the striped markings on the foal, but the markings were hidden in the parent animals by dominant genes for normal color. Striped “primitive markings” are in fact commonly seen in domesticated horses, particularly those with a dun coat color.
Is it in any way Scientific?
TL;DR; – No.
Those that still promote it will claim it is, but check what they are citing as proof and you will discover that their “evidence” is not robust.
We know how reproduction works.
Exactly half the genetic material comes from the producer of the sperm (the father) and the other half comes from the producer of the egg (the mother). There is literally no mechanism for bits to be infused into the mother from a previous mate and then passed on.
Sometimes old ideas will persist and so this is yet another example of an old idea sticking around and gaining a bit of traction. Other notable and more famous examples include creationism, and flat-earth.
An understanding of what is real and what is not real can be muddied a bit by an emotional affection for ideas and beliefs that appear to confirm previously existing beliefs we hold for cultural reasons.
Don’t permit such individuals to fool you into embracing pseudoscientific nonsense.
One more very obvious Important Observation
Some might indeed be distressed about the thought that their kid is not genetically their kid, but the reality is that being a parent is far more than simply passing on some genetic material. This is confirmed by the observation that many couples adopt and they do a truly excellent job of being true parents.