Chinese policies at root of gender imbalance
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 4/18/2009 4:05:00 AM
"[T]he parents will go in at 18-weeks gestation and have an ultrasound done -- and if the ultrasound reveals that they're carrying a little boy, they'll continue the pregnancy," Mosher remarks. "If it reveals they're carrying a little girl, they'll schedule an abortion."
According to the PRI spokesman, that is because of the cultural preference for boys. Most families in China are only permitted one child, so they tend to want males who will then care for the parents when they are aged.
Mosher explains that government officials have been considering a number of ideas to deal with the gender imbalance -- some that would not be considered in Western society.
"Up to and including polygyny [sic], which is several men marrying one woman, if you have a shortage of women," says Mosher. And in order to prevent some men from molesting girls and women, "there have also been proposals to go back to a form of eunuchoid, which would be castrating the little boy and removing their sex drive," he adds.
The gender disparity is having a noticeable cultural effect in China. Crime rates are now up, prostitution is increasing, the buying and selling of women is rampant, and rates of homosexuality are also increasing.
