Telegony

Telegony is a theory that states that a woman's sexual intercourse with one man can influence the children she bears as a result of subsequent intercourse with other men. This theory has ancient roots, and it still causes controversy and debate among scientists.

The idea of ​​telegony was first proposed by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who argued that the first male a female comes into contact with leaves an “imprint” on her genetic material. This imprint is then passed on to offspring, which may be fathered by another male. In other words, according to the theory of telegony, the first male influences the genetic material of the female, which can subsequently affect the genetic material of the offspring.

However, the scientific community does not accept telegony as a scientific theory because it is not supported by any scientific research. There are some cases that may seem to support the theory of telegony, but they cannot be explained by this theory. For example, some studies have shown that children born to mothers who had more than one partner during pregnancy may have a more diverse gut microbiota. However, this is not direct evidence of telegony, since the gut microbiota is not associated with genetic material.

Thus, telegony remains an unconfirmed theory, and many scientists consider it outdated and unscientific. Despite this, the theory of telegony continues to attract interest among some scientists and animal science enthusiasts, and perhaps future research will reveal more about it.

Telegony is an unsubstantiated theory that sexual intercourse with one man affects children born from subsequent intercourse with other men.

According to this theory, the traits of a woman's first sexual partner are somehow "passed on" to her future children by other men. For example, if a woman had an intimate relationship with a man with red hair, then she may subsequently have children with red hair from another partner.

This idea was popular in the 19th century, but modern genetics and developmental biology have disproved the possibility of telegony. There is currently no scientific evidence that a woman's previous sexual intercourse has any effect on the genetic material of her future children. Telegony is considered a false theory that has no scientific confirmation.

In biology, there is a group of theories of the so-called “heredity of sins” or “sinful telegony”. They are based on the idea of ​​the possibility of the formation of a negative effect or disturbances in anatomical or physiological development in offspring living during the mother’s exposure to negative environmental factors (including during the development of the egg or embryo) or during pregnancy. Based on these ideas, several pseudoscientific theories have emerged that contain statements about the possibility of a negative impact of sexual contact with a previous partner on the physical or psychological development of the offspring. Such theories got their name from the English concept “telegony”, meaning “adultery; dishonor, debauchery.”

The term "telegogy" was created approximately 2 thousand years ago. It was believed that a woman would lose all her beauty and fertility if she happened to meet a man before marriage, and then move on to the man chosen by fate. This idea appeared in ancient times. Having migrated through various religious and philosophical teachings, it has come to us in its original form in this term to denote sexual promiscuity. According to modern research, at conception, neither the sperm fertilized by the sperm nor the eggs themselves contain any traces that can influence the subsequent transmission of genetic information to the parents. Even with pathological damage to germ cells, there is no evidence of the existence of such a disorder in them that would predetermine the similarity of the offspring with such an ancestor. Therefore, science says that telegony is an unscientific concept. During fertilization, the man's seminal fluid enters directly into the vagina and completely merges with vaginal lubrication, which contains a certain amount of hormones released during a woman's arousal. But there can be no question of the transfer of these hormones by the male sex glands to the partner. It should be noted that germ cells are transmitted recombinatively, and each of the homozygous parents has half of their genes in gametes, while hybrids have only the other half of their genes. Hybrids are always at least half different from their parents. They have the same number of chromosomes and the same genes as their parents, but these genes are located differently. There cannot be any sudden influence of the previous sexual partner on the new zygote. There is no basis for its development, since there are no situations that would cause such changes.