Posted on 08/26/2015 5:51:37 PM PDT by nickcarraway
In animal husbandry, the word "cull" means to remove undesirable animals from the herd — the scrawny and the sickly. To hear the word applied to human beings is harsh, but that's just how Valerie Hudson, professor in the Department of International Affairs at Texas A&M University, means it when talking about the growing worldwide trend of families — largely in Asia, Southeastern Europe, the Middle East and some parts of Africa — to have sons rather than daughters.
"This is a very troubling turn, that in the 21st century the culling of females is once again becoming more prevalent worldwide," she wrote in an email interview.
Nature favors boys at birth, with a consistent worldwide gender ratio of about 105-107 males born for every 100 females. But females eventually catch up. Girls have greater resistance to disease right from the start; they don't take as many risks, from playfully jumping out of trees to drinking and driving; they're less likely to fight in wars or barrooms; and overall women live longer than do men. In developed countries, like the U.S., the U.K., and Canada, women begin outnumbering men at about age 55.
So in the natural course of things, the male advantage in numbers decreases over a lifetime, with women ultimately gaining the advantage in numbers.
But in some countries the balance is tipped unnaturally toward an overabundance of boys, an imbalance that is likely to last through the reproductive years. Several things have combined to lead to what researchers call "missing women." Many countries have a deep-seated cultural preference for sons over daughters. Inexpensive blood tests that can determine the sex of a fetus as early as seven weeks have been developed. And countries around the world have imported ultrasound equipment. "Ultrasound is available even in very poor countries," says Hudson. "The Chinese government actually imported ultrasound machines mounted on carts in the 20th century, so that even the most remote village would have access to this technology."
In 1995, only six countries had such a marked imbalance of boys to girls. Today, 21 countries have a skewed sex ratio favoring boys. The growth of gender imbalance in only two decades points to widespread acceptance of modern technology that can predict the sex of the fetus, according to Hudson.
Technology has enabled even the poorest of countries to bypass the natural gender balance. "It's largely due to the abortion of females," says Hudson. "But it's also due to passive neglect, such as underfeeding, underimmunization, and failing to take girls to the doctor when they're sick." Abortions of females can happen before anyone in the community notices a pregnancy, she says. And when girls are abandoned or neglected so severely that they die, it often doesn't create much of a stir among people who understand the preference for boys. "No one raises it as a public issue within the community, so while it's not secret, it isn't commented upon," says Hudson.
The result of sex-selective abortions, infanticide and neglect of baby girls, according to the United Nations Population Fund, is more than 117 million "missing" females in Asia alone, and many more around the world.
And for every missing woman, there is a surplus man who will never establish a family. "Men are unable to marry," Hudson says, and frustrated, single men are more likely get into trouble. "It leads to instability. In masculinized societies, there are issues such as rising violent crime rates, increasing rates of gang activity and rebel group activity, increasing prostitution and trafficking, and greater constraints on the movement of women."
One country with a tradition of preferring male offspring has successfully corrected the imbalance. "South Korea is the only country I know of that has clawed back its abnormal sex ratios back to the normal range," says Hudson. And it did this not by trying to change culture, tradition, hearts or minds — but by changing laws. In South Korea, sons were responsible for performing ancestral rites and for the care and support of elderly parents. When the government began promoting a two-child norm in the 1970s, Hudson wrote in Foreign Policy, the ratio of boys to girls climbed to a peak of 116.5 to 100 in 1990. That's when the South Korean government began to overhaul laws that favored sons. Women gained full rights in inheritance and in heading families. The government enforced a ban on prenatal sex testing. A pension system was established so that neither sons nor daughters were fully responsible for the care of the elderly. And today, South Korea's ratio of boys to girls reflects nature's average.
But a growing number of countries continue traditions, policies and practices that favor sons over daughters. "These trends do not bode well for the stability and security of nations, regions and even the international system," says Hudson. "There is a real price to be paid for the devaluation of female life."
I teach a class called “Technology & the Culture of War” that is usually 90/10 male to female (because it’s basically a military history class). Today’s class roll: probably 60/40 female. Boys are steadily diminishing as a % of college students.
A lot of ambiguity in the headline. Of course, if this keeps up, they will be selecting boys, because no girls will be available.
And the ghastly abortion free for all in this country, we’re in no position to moralize.
But...I thought we couldn’t tell if they were boys or girls. Poor parents are going to abort a girl who thinks she’s a boy in favor of a boy who thinks he’s a girl. Hmmm..what a tangled web.
It’s a Jungian memory of pre-historic conflicts that may have spanned centuries, wherein humans found that men are good at fighting and woman are good on the baggage train. Fighters have a high mortality rate. Women merely get captured, enslaved and raped and repopulate during the more peacefull times.
/S just made up stuff.
Just imagine what would happen if all of those countries were really sexist like the U.S.
Or, is it that women are increasing as a % of college students? I may have missed your point.
Either or. We’re not sure which, but the % of men are declining steadily. It’s way below 50/50 now.
every country wants more soldiers for what they know is coming
Just wait until the “gay gene” is identified
RE: Selecting Boys Over Girls Is A Trend In More And More Countries
This, together with “gay marriage” legislation expanding worldwide will ensure the prevalence of sodomy.
So is this why ISIS and their ilk have to kidnap girls and make them sex slaves? Over populate with horny males and then go looking for girls? The UN should teach them how to jerk off if they want to continue this trend.
Think about all the aborted babies.
There is NO over-population problem in my opinion.
It is ironic that feminists value an absolute right to abortion, to the detriment and death of hundreds of millions of girls.
Population control. Lotta boys, lotta war. No females, no kids. Nature’s checks and balances.
This sort of discussion has been around for some time, along with agonized discussion about what sort of "abortion rights" is most properly feminist.
For example, see this 2013 thread: Why women have a right to sex-selective abortion
[...] even the most terrible reason for having an abortion holds more sway than the best imaginable reason for compelling a woman to carry to term.
I would think roughly 50/50 would be a good number.
But, your implication seems to be not that more women are going to college, but that many fewer men are. I wonder why that would be?
I would have a hard time going to college now, just because of the politically-correct-verging-on-fascistic environment nowadays. But, most college age men have been raised in schools like that, as have the women, so....I don’t know.
That’s one reason I’m retiring this year. I could teach five more years but the PC noose is tightening.
It is much deeper than that; once women’s primary role is no longer to bear children, there is little (or nothing) they will do better than a man.
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