Monday, April 13, 2009

It's raining men

The AP reports that the higher cultural value placed on male offspring has resulted in an excess of 32 million males in China. This is attributable to the widespread if unauthorized practice of sex-selective abortions, along with abandonment & infanticide, which has resulted in the birth of 119 males to every 100 females (in contrast to 107 to 100 in industrialized countries).

They’re predicting an uptick of antisocial & criminal behavior when all these men hit adulthood & find they’re in intense competition for women so they can produce an even greater imbalance of males.

I’ve never understood the cultures who place such an inordinate value on males because, without, you know, women, it’s really hard to produce more of either sex. To the extent that females are kept in ignorance & poverty, & made the objects of violence, the entire social structure is impoverished. I have no major degrees in anthropology, political science or sociology, & even I can see that. What’s wrong with these governments?

It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out in the People’s Republic. Let’s hope they don’t turn to the usual escape valve for an excess of frustrated males & start invading other countries.

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