This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Citizen: A note to future generations of wiki-ites: Don't dump irrelevant essay-summaries into subexamples. I'm going to have to lighten the load on Ethan of Athos...
kicking_k: Because the women still have to give birth the usual way, I've removed the following entry:
* The short story "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis has a group of rebellious young women in the future objecting to this technology and wanting to return to "natural" methods— until they find out exactly what those methods entail. Seems the youngsters Did Not Do The Research, and the older women are more than happy to gleefully fill them in on just what they've missed out on.
In fact, the societal change is simply that women don't have to menstruate. The eccentric "Cyclists" simply want to experience their natural cycle. It's the blood, pain and debilitating hormone swings that are seen as disadvantages. The story's "ammenerol" is devoid of the side effects which some women suffer from the real-life methods, and released through a permanent implant. But to have a baby, you have to have the implant removed and risk menstruating until you get pregnant - one of the characters mentions this. I think this means that the babies aren't Gattaca-ish as such!
