Book Review of Unnatural Selection by Hvistendahl - Paper Example

Statistics shows that about 160 million females are unaccounted for in Asian population which is more than the entire female population existing in the United States alone. This has resulted in gender imbalance which is the main reason behind the sex-selective abortions witnessed. This has not been an issue in Asia alone but across the world; parents want to be sure at least one of their siblings is a male. Many often prefer boys hence the skewed sex ratio during birth across the globe. In the book Unnatural Selection written by Mara Hvistendahl who is a journalist with specialization in science, she warns parents of the future hormonal tsunami that will be experienced as a result of excess Asian men which is expected to deprive the demographic ratio and create a world of male violence and continuous sexual predation. There exists intellectual inconsistency between the acceptable abortion to get male children, and to date, various pro-life movements have advocated attaching some other reasons to the various abortions witnessed across the globe.

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In a well-researched and massive well-documented book, male infants are outnumbering the female counterparts in Asia, all the way to Albania exceeding the normal sex ratio of 105 male infants to 100 female infants. Ideally, the surplus male children may feel happy at childhood, but as they grow, singlehood catches up with them. In the first segment of the book, the author has explored various reasons linked to the cataclysmic shift in the population. At first, when the scientists and sociologists focused on the existing imbalance, in the 90s, they thought that the female infanticide had reemerged and female girls were dying. However, they gradually realized that female infants were intentionally killed after identification through ultrasound then aborted.

Feminism has been blamed on gender imbalance related to the patriarchal cultural injustice against the girl child and daughters, but the author blames the complex geopolitical and the prevailing economic forces linked with political decisions and the intentions to control the faster-increasing population. She has focused on the growth and development of the ultrasound machines and the increase in the genetic counseling to curb population in countries such as China with single baby policy and the availability of the prenatal screening equipment. Various governments have also tolerated various abortion options to choose the sex of their children. She has identified the most common aspects related to sex ratio in each nation. First, the rapid development has allowed the prenatal screening. Secondly, there exist various abortion options which can be easily accessed by the parents and thirdly, the practice to decide on an infant sex originates from the elite groups in the society then transcends to the general population.

Besides the various factors that have caused the imbalance in the widespread desire to have a male child, in particular among the groups associated with technological advancement, many have continued giving birth until getting male children. Demographic experts and policy makers realized that many stopped giving birth early as soon as they acquire a male infant. This has been a powerful example of what happened when modern technology was mixed with various forces in the traditional society.

The last section of the book examines further the dire costs linked to the gender imbalance in the society: traffic in brides and increase in polyandry, sex tourism and various issues related to social violence in the society. The United States is known to be a male-dominated frontier and tracing the violence to the frontier can be simplistic. However, Hvistendahl has convinced the readers by backing details which are supported with in-depth interviews from China to California.

The author claims that there is a need to formulate an agency that can effectively manage fertility clinics in the U.S and various emerging technologies in the medical field. Various scholars have failed to think about the gender imbalance issue, and for this reason, sex determination has resulted in high-risk consequences to the point that parental screening should be halted and help prevent the continuous abortions. Anti-abortion campaigns can be used to stop the continuous abortions witnessed since she feels uneasy championing for the same through the political sector.

In a nutshell, the author, Mara Hvistendahl is seen as a whistleblower warning the society of terrible disaster that can occur and the action we can take in order to avert the situation. She is also seen as a Cassandra who describes the entire unavoidable human destiny focusing on the global horror affecting gender selection favoring male infants. She also traveled to the world to reach small rural pockets where the vice has thrived and to areas where corollary issues related to sex trafficking and bride buying. Stories covered in the book are moving, but her scope in writing the book extends beyond the complicated political history that engendered the issue. She has written a book on a topic that is complex, in a male dominated society and furthermore in the U.S frontier. The book is multifaceted and compelling to the readers.

Work Cited

Hvistendahl, Mara. Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men. New York: Public Affairs, 2011. Print.