[Netporn-l] Tissue Banking

[lotu5]

http://technotrannyslut.com/2008/06/20/tissue-banking/

Before going into my job as a digitizer today, I stopped by the Tissue 
Bank. Since I'm about to begin my chemically assisted physical 
transformation soon, it seemed like a good idea to store my DNA so that 
I can still have the option of reproduction in the future.

After using my GPS to find the office because the satellite map from 
Google was missing a street sign, I walked into the lobby. Apparently 
the printed version of the address didn't have the suite number. The 
directory says Fertility Center of Caprica, Andrology and Cryobank 
Services, 3010. [ some names have been changed to create an illusion of 
privacy ]

Walking into the lobby and up to the counter, the receptionist hands me 
the papers to fill out and I glance at a sign that says something about 
Tissue Banking. I sit and begin to fill out the forms. The first form 
asks why I'm tissue banking, with a number of checkboxes for elective 
surgeries I may be undergoing in the future, including vasectomy, IVF, 
Artificial Insemination, Cancer Therapy. Under "other", I fill in 
"hormone replacement therapy".

I begin reading the "Consent/Agreement for Cryopreservation and Storage 
of Semen" and am caught off guard by the fact that the initials of the 
place I'm at are FCC. Throughout the document, I am signing over my 
tissue to the FCC. Since the Federal Communications Commission, who 
regulate the transmission of information over radio waves, is the FCC 
I'm most familiar with and have so much animosity for, I have a little 
chuckle to myself.

In this agreement, there is some language about how this procedure does 
not guarantee that pregnancy may result in the future from this tissue 
sample, which seems standard. As the document proceeds, though, it 
explains that in the case of natural disasters and unforeseen 
occurrences, there is no guarantee of storage. Given the food riots, gas 
prices over $5, tsunamis and earthquakes that are a daily occurrence 
today, this idea of natural disaster doesn't seem far off. There is some 
small feeling of security in the idea that some record of my DNA will 
now be stored here, but thinking of the immanent collapse of society 
that seems to be only a few decades away, at most, I imagine that the 
staff of the FCC will be defending my tissue samples with shotguns and 
kevlar, but that probably won't happen. So, I agree that I won't hold 
them liable in the case of "unforeseen" circumstances.

I continue reading my agreement with the Cryopreservation facility and 
it mentions their non-electrical storage tanks. The tanks use liquid 
nitrogen, which, given the earlier scenario I was imagining, is a 
reassuring fact. In the coming energy crisis, when we are making due 
without electricity, my local Cryopreservation facility will still be 
able to keep my tissue deposits safe, even if they can't email me about 
my policy changes, hopefully they can find a postman.

The next form asks who will be the owner of my tissue deposit in case of 
my death. Reflecting on my mortality for a moment, I actually find some 
strange comfort in the idea that now that my DNA samples are stored 
here, there still may be a little copy of myself running around in the 
case of my death. Of course, this is a huge oversimplification of the 
concept of childbirth and genetics, and completely disregards the other 
half of genetic content in the resulting embryo as well as the mysteries 
of proteogenomics and protein folding, but its a mildly comforting 
thought for a moment. I put down my lover's name, since we've been 
discussing the complicated desire to have children while maintaining a 
nonmonogamous relationship and living lives dedicated to challenging 
heteronormativity. The next part of the form asks if who I want my 
tissue deposit to go to in the case of my lover's death! I put my 
sister's name down, wondering how she might deal with the prospect of 
having only my DNA samples left after my death, since she already has a 
daughter who's about to start college.

I read the privacy agreement, which is unremarkable, they'll use my 
information to train staff and to get payment from me, okay. One of the 
forms mentions "gender selection" of the tissue sample, but I'm not 
interested in this and don't think its actually possible anyway. The 
language choice here is interesting, as if we could choose children's 
genders, not their sexes.

Handing back the forms, I'm escorted to the room where I am to make my 
tissue deposit. In the room is a large brown leather recliner, strangely 
out of place in this medical environment. The male nurse in his scrubs 
escorts me in, shows me the sample cup, sealed for sterility, the 
instructions and the "material" he calls it, a cabinet full of porn. I'm 
to make my deposit and leave it at another window with a counter when 
I'm finished.

Looking in the cabinet, I'm pleasantly surprised to find the July 2007 
issue of penthouse. I had read about this issue on fleshbot.com [1]. I 
remember thinking of the clear appearance of the mainstreaming of 
altporn, as well as the strong resemblance of this photo set to American 
Apparel's advertising campaigns. Flipping through the magazine, I think 
there's a trajectory here from the "gender selection" option in the 
initial forms to the construction of these images. In some of them, the 
models look bored, with their eyes closed and their mouths open in an O 
shape, clearly taking direction. The website for the FCC also has a 
disturbing eugenics like feature right on its front page, where there 
are drop down menus for hair and eye color and country of origin, which 
lead to an online shopping cart for buying sperm samples, with the 
gender selection optional. I look through the magazine and see some 
breasts which appear augmented and others which don't. I wonder if my 
chemically assisted breasts will ever look like those and I think that 
they won't.

I put down the magazines, use my imagination for a while and I'm 
finished, back in the lobby paying for my cryopreservation services. I 
look at the patient sign in and notice that my name has been covered up 
with a black marker, as has the person after me. Something I've never 
seen in other doctor offices. Apparently, there's some kind of extra 
drive for privacy with reproductive related cryobanking. The service is 
expensive, but affordable, a few hundred US dollars. Later in the day, a 
friend tells me that Walt Disney's head is cryogenically stored, to be 
brought back to life when the technology is ready. I wonder if it'll 
work. I wonder how long there might be an urge for secrecy about 
cryopreservation. I wonder if Walt will want the same kind of body or 
something totally new.

Author's note: Perhaps this is fiction, science fiction or social 
fiction. Perhaps it is non-fiction. I only ask you to decide on your own 
what is fiction and what is non-fiction, and why one should appear 
stranger or more uncanny than the other.

1.NSFW link: 
http://fleshbot.com/sex/magazines/sasha-and-terry-rip-up-penthouse-268569.php


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