Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls And The Consequences Of A World Full Of Men (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
As someone takes gender issues very seriously, this book has greatly expanded my view on sex selective abortion and the effects of imbalance sex ratio on women's welfare. Economists wrongly assumed that scarcity of females due to sex selective abortion would make females very valuable. Despite the economic value of females in terms of commodity has increased (females brought and sold as brides, prostitution, etc...), females' status has not. On the contrary, girls are being exploited evident by widespread sex trafficking. This book also taught me few surprised facts:1) U.S. and other Western countries had supported sex selective abortion in Asian countries (Japan, South Korea, China, India) as a mean of population control, providing funding and technology. 2) The math formula/theory the Chinese officials used to develop One-Child policy was from Dutch mathematicians (formulated to work in an theorized world). 3) Not only Asian countries have skewed sex ratio with lots of extra men, Russia and other Eastern European countries also practice sex selective abortion4) While Asian countries selected for male babies, fertility clinics in the U.S. have a majority of clients who selected female babies using cutting edge IVF technology. Imbalance sex ratio problem is a very big problem that can affect the evolution of entire human species, yet we often ignore it as an Asia-problem, or cross our fingers, hoping that the imbalance would eventually balance out with time. Overall, if you don't know much about this topic, this book is a very good start. Unnatural Selection was eye-opening and completely heart breaking. It is true that there are a lot of issues in this world that people don't really want to face, especially when the topic is a global concern. But I think reading a book like this can help fight that despicable stigma that I sometimes see in my own home, community, and high school.What this book is about...is a consequence of years of gender discrimination. In a world ruled by men, populated overwhelmingly by men alone, women would only find themselves in worse situations. Why is it so hard for people, for society in general, to view women as totally equal to men? Even in the 21st century, problems are so apparent. And now, the globe may be feeling the affects of the horrible sex-selective abortion rampage that took Asia by storm only a couple decades ago. And of course, Western civilization has perhaps the largest role in all of this. Images of forced sterilizations, campaigns for abortions, for female abortions alone, can never be erased from my mind now. This was a really informative book, but it was also painful to read. I hope many more people read this book and realize the problem of the way society has valued and treated women.
What do You think about Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls And The Consequences Of A World Full Of Men (2000)?
By far the scariest book I've read in a long time.
—CRAZYBREAD85
Shocking, maddening, and insightful.
—ProfessorChess
