How do you ever find out herm children will be okay if you don't make herm children in the first place? I'm not sure I agree that modding the parents so that they will produce offspring like themselves is just like modding babies. Wouldn't it be just as risky (or perhaps even more so) for herm parents to have non-herm children, who might develop issues because they're different from their parents? Wouldn't it be just as unethical to say "Fine, then anyone who wants to be a herm (or is naturally born herm) can't reproduce?" Forbidding herm surgery entirely to sidestep the reproduction issue isn't exactly ethical, either.
I'm not sure there are any good ethical answers here, much less ones that will fit into Bujold's world, since Bujold has...odd and often problematic takes on gender and sexuality.
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How do you ever find out herm children will be okay if you don't make herm children in the first place? I'm not sure I agree that modding the parents so that they will produce offspring like themselves is just like modding babies. Wouldn't it be just as risky (or perhaps even more so) for herm parents to have non-herm children, who might develop issues because they're different from their parents? Wouldn't it be just as unethical to say "Fine, then anyone who wants to be a herm (or is naturally born herm) can't reproduce?" Forbidding herm surgery entirely to sidestep the reproduction issue isn't exactly ethical, either.
I'm not sure there are any good ethical answers here, much less ones that will fit into Bujold's world, since Bujold has...odd and often problematic takes on gender and sexuality.