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Quote by: loser  However, it takes a pretty ignorant person to believe that way in today's world. The ability of women to have children without a male sperm donor is now common knowledge. |
But Mary isn't supposed to have lived in today's world. It also takes a pretty ignorant person not to know that offspring from a female without male participation are always female.
It's known as parthogenesis and is known to occur naturally only in a few arthropods, reptiles, and apparently, certain sharks. There are no known cases of natural mammalian parthogenesis. All examples have been artificially stimulated in the laboratory. Of course, such offspring more frequently than not suffer developmental abnormalities.