Hope for The Man Gene

My previous posts on The Man Gene have produced a mixture of comments, some thoughtful, some unprintable, and some I’m sure unsent. It’s still my view that The Man Gene is a relevant topic under the umbrellas of human resources and employment law. Workplace romances cause problems, sometimes leading to sexual harassment charges.

As reported by the New York Times, a possible new scientific development (and this isn’t the first time I’ve linked science to The Man Gene) provides hope for controlling The Man Gene. In neurological experiments, when oxytocin (a sexually stimulating harmone) is injected into the brain of a female mouselike prairie vole (one of the few mammals sharing human propensity for monogamy), the female immediately has sex with the nearest male.

Wait a minute, you’re saying. That doesn’t help control The Man Gene. Men often do that without having anything injected into their brains. Moreover, an unscrupulous man could use this drug for nothing but The Man Gene’s mischief by sneaking the love potion into a female co-worker’s drink, say at an office party or even during a business meeting.

Based on limited research with humans, the drug seems to have a prairie vole effect without injecting it into the brain. Indeed, squirting oxytocin into people’s nostrils has done the trick, so to speak.

Now comes the hope. It’s quite possible that an anti-love vaccine can be developed. In other words, you vaccinate Man Gene-tormented males with a drug that suppresses the desire to have sex with the nearest female — or, as the author of the Times article dubs it: “a vaccine preventing you from making an infatuated ass of yourself.”

So, when hiring, your drug test makes sure no oxytocin is in the system. And each man is given his much needed vaccination.