Fears of a distinguishable child arise from parental identity built on self-optimization.

Evidence

For some parents, this experience of not fitting, of being extremely and glaringly distinguishable, and not in ways that bestow status, clearly triggers deep fears about falling behind in the perfectibility race in this world of so many little mirrors. — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 656

Categorization

• XREF: ‘The world of so many little mirrors’ grounds the doppelganger device — the mirror is the operative metaphor of the whole book, and here Klein shows it doing psychic work on ordinary parents, not just on her own doubling. — connects to: The imagined child of pregnancy always disappoints against the real one — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1490; Commercialized genetics ultimately aims at self-directed DNA upgrading, not designer children — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 428