April 2020

17/4/2020

Nature or Nurture
After listening to this father speak to PBB Media about his experiences as an older father of identical twins, I wanted to revisit this topic. This is a topic that has long intrigued me, because I am an identical twin. My genetical identical and I get on well. We are different in many ways, and similar in many ways. Whole people, not a half. And yes, even though we are in our 40s, we still get mistaken for each other.
I explored this topic upon stumbling across the 'nature nurture' shelf at my uni library in undergrad (in the days before I learned how to use a computer to search for resources). I sat in that quiet corner of the library oscillating between fascination and despair. Twins, especially identical twins separated at birth, have taught us a lot about human nature.

Twins are great research subjects, so much so that there is a 'twin research' group, which registers twins and uses them for various (usually health related these days) research projects. You have to opt-in, consent is still needed, but there is a sense that being a twin makes you public property. or a freak show. There are fantastic ideas about twins: that you feel each others pain, think each others thoughts, sense danger or sadness for the the other...that twins have unbreakable bonds.
The truth is twins are two unique people, even if it sometimes tricky to tell them apart until you get to know them.

So please: resist the temptation to dress them alike. For the same reason that uniforms serve to de-identify or unify the wearers. This may help for sporting teams or employees, no so great for siblings.

See also: identical twins and this poem: i am not my child

Hear the amazing Fleassy Malay in her ted talk discussing her experience of not being able to recognise faces, and how this impacts her ability to interact with people. If you are not familiar with Fleassy, check out her spoken word poetry here.

CALL TO ACTION!

This PBB media podcast with Jane Hardwicke Collings on Birth in a Crisis. highlights and very important issue of birth choices, and how the COVID-19 crisis may just be a brilliant opportunity. Jane has set up Hygieia Health to advocate choice. There is a petition asking Greg Hunt to take direct action in response to coronavirus, but also to action the need to provide homebirth more readily as a matter of course. Could this just be the Time for a major shift in birth services. This is about having all options equally available, so that women can birth in the way that they feel safest #NoOneWay