Seed of Putin idea unlikely to grow among war widows
- The Kremlin has hit upon a science-based, morale-boosting scheme for its soldiers fighting in Ukraine – a free service to preserve their sperm. But it’s more hype for the male psyche than a realistic child-bearing option for the women left behind
In 2003, an extraordinary study in historical genetics made headlines around the world: one in 200 men alive today are direct descendants of Genghis Khan. The study traced the Y-chromosomes exclusive to men from 2,000 males randomly selected from across Eurasia. From that, researchers extrapolated that about 0.5 per cent of males, or roughly 16 million men in the world, could call the great Genghis Khan their direct ancestor.
This week, there is another sensational news item about the sperm of warriors. Well, Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to preserve the spermatozoa of Russian soldiers who take part in the Ukraine invasion, or what Moscow has called a “special military operation”.
There is, I think, an instinctive interest in both stories because at a semi-conscious or primitive level, and against civilisation, education and social conditioning, being male means being able to preserve and spread your DNA. That is, incidentally, a fundamental thesis of sociobiology, which itself is a controversial discipline.
Russian troops entitled to free sperm freezing
More than any man who ever lived, the Mongol warrior-ruler managed to spread his seed far and wide. That should not surprise anyone. After all, he did amass the largest empire on land in history, however short-lived it might have been.
If the famous selfish gene theory of sociobiology is right, our bodies are just temporary receptacles for gene pools fighting each other for dominance like triad mobs over territories.
As the theory’s most famous proponent Richard Dawkins once wrote: “When we have served our purpose we are cast aside. But genes are denizens of geological time: genes are forever.” Well, human consciousness often gets in the way of the gene’s agenda, but that’s another long story.
Genghis Khan ought to be the patron saint of the theory. Historically, warriors reaped the greatest rewards – women, wealth and reputation, which in turn enabled the amassing of more wealth and women. But they also took the greatest risk – death.
Now Putin offers something Genghis Khan could not do for his warriors. Tass, the Russian state news agency, reported this week that Russian troops who had been part of a mobilisation drive would have the right to get their sperm frozen for free in cryobanks. The message is obvious: your DNA will be preserved, and if your wife or girlfriend chooses, she can bear your child or children even if you are killed.
I think the idea has an instinctual appeal to the male psyche. But I seriously doubt it can be anything more than a propaganda gimmick. More than 300,000 reservists have been called up in a highly unpopular mass mobilisation since September.
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Suppose just 10 per cent of the soldiers choose the service, that’s 30,000. From a purely practical point of view, how trustworthy are those cryobanks in terms of technology, administration and record-keeping? Keeping and retrieving accurate records over time may be a mundane concern, but given the task involved, it will be the most important biological question hanging over the service.
Presumably, the Russian state will not be paying top dollar that the wealthy pay to preserve their seed at those cryobanks.
Genghis Khan also offered something to his followers that Putin can’t, at least when it comes to Russian soldiers who do the actual fighting – wealth and women. A dead Russian soldier’s pension probably wouldn’t be enough for his wife or parents to live on.
While there may be exceptions, few women in such circumstances would choose to have children on their own. It would indeed be a serious burden, especially in an economy that has been contracting over decades, long before the invasion. Who would want to be a single mum when social safety nets in medical care, public housing and education, and welfare services, are, to say the least, insufficient for the working class?
Still, the idea may yet offer a degree of comfort for those who face the very real possibility of death. And with militaries from other patriarchal, son-centred societies, the idea may well catch on.
