A prominent endocrinologist is giving an experimental drug to pregnant women who fear their babies are at risk of an abnormality that can result in "ambiguous genitalia." These girls tend to have more masculine qualities—tomboyish in youth and less interested in being mothers themselves as adults. Dr. Maria New's worst critics accuse her of using a risky procedure (it's an off-label use of the drug) to try to make sure that baby girls grow up to fit all our worn-out female stereotypes. They even say she's trying to weed out lesbians.
- Anna N., Jezebel: "New isn't just talking about babies' genitals here. She's talking about keeping girls from hanging out with boys, choosing dude careers ... and being gay."
- Dan Savage, The Stranger: "The existence of adult women who are not interested in 'becoming someone's wife' and 'making babies' constitutes a medical emergency that requires us to treat women who are currently pregnant with a dangerous experimental hormone."
- Sierra, Babble: "If these kids have a physical anomaly or a hormonal imbalance that is going to cause medical problems for them in the future, I’m all for medical research to help with that. But confusing 'lack of interest in babies' with 'medical problems' is pretty freaking creepy."
More on the medical specifics from a Hastings Center blogger
here, and
Time has a take with considerably less heat
here.
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