Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men [Paperback]

Mara Hvistendahl (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2012

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2011
A Slate Best Book of 2011
A Discover Magazine Best Book of 2011
"Ms. Hvistendahl is a first-rate reporter and has filled Unnatural Selection with gripping details.... There is so much to recommend." --Wall Street Journal "An important ... bracing work of investigative reporting ... As news of these (gender) imbalances has spread, many have blamed ancient preferences: India's patriarchal social systems, for instance, or Chinese beliefs that only boys provide for ageing parents. Hvistendahl's research puts the lie to these lazy claims." --Financial Times
"Massively well-documented.... A disturbing, engrossing book." --Washington Post
"It might be the most important book written about women in years." --Slate

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An important, bracing work of investigative reporting... As news of these (gender) imbalances has spread, many ave blamed ancient preferences... Hvistendahl's research puts the lie to these lazy claims." (Financial Times) "Unnatural Selection reads like a great historical detective story, and it's written with the sense of moral urgency that usually accompanies the revelation of some kind of enormous crime." (New York Times)"

From the Inside Flap

In 2007, the booming port city of Lianyungang achieved the dubious distinction of having the most extreme gender ratio for children under five in China: 163 boys for every 100 girls. The numbers may not matter much to the preschool set. But in twenty years the skewed sex ratio will pose a colossal challenge. When Lianyungang's children reach adulthood, their generation will have twenty-four million more men than women. 



The prognosis for China's neighbors is no less bleak: rampant sex selective abortion has left over 160 million females "missing" from Asia's population. And gender imbalance reaches far beyond South and East Asia, affecting the Caucasus countries, Eastern Europe, and even some groups in the United States -- a rate of diffusion so rapid that the leading expert on the topic compares it to an epidemic. As economic development spurs parents in developing countries to have fewer children and brings them access to sex determination technology, couples are making sure at least one of their children is a son. So many parents now select for boys that they have skewed the sex ratio at birth of the entire world. 



Sex selection did not arise on its own. Largely unknown until now is that the sex ratio imbalance is partly the work of a group of 1960s American activists and scientists who zealously backed the use of prenatal technologies in their haste to solve an earlier global problem. 



What does this mean for our future? The sex ratio imbalance has already led to a spike in sex trafficking and bride buying across Asia, and it may be linked to a recent rise in crime there as well. More far-reaching problems could be on the horizon: From ancient Rome to the American Wild West, historical excesses of men have yielded periods of violence and instability. Traveling to nine countries, Mara Hvistendahl has produced a stunning, impeccably researched book that examines not only the consequences of the misbegotten policies underlying sex selection but also the West's role in creating them. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; Reprint edition (May 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1610391519
• ISBN-13: 978-1610391511
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #782,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mara Hvistendahl is an award-winning writer and journalist specialized in the intersection of science, culture, and policy. A correspondent for Science magazine, she has also written for Harper's, Scientific American, Popular Science, The Financial Times, Foreign Policy, and other publications. Proficient in both Spanish and Chinese, she has spent half of the past decade in China, reporting on everything from archaeology to Beijing's space program. Unnatural Selection is her first book.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars compelling, vivid story and analysis of important world issue June 23, 2011

By dear reader

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Mara Hvistendahl's story of the worldwide horror of gender selection favoring baby boys is riveting. She has clearly traveled the globe to reach tiny rural pockets where this abuse thrives as well as its corollary issues of sex trafficking and bride buying for the generation of men coming of age with far fewer women to pair off with. The stories of the people affected are moving in a very human way, but her scope extends far beyond that to the complicated political history that engendered this problem, which involves the US in ways that are quite shocking. And she delves into the complex issues arising from a young, single male-dominated society, such as the one that flourished in the American frontier. This is a very thoughtful, multifaceted, and compelling book.

33 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, Visceral Non-Fiction June 1, 2011

By ShanMeilan79

Format:Hardcover

The breadth and depth of research, the complex nuance of the argument and the stunning writing make this book one of the best non-fiction works I've read in years. It also demonstrates what long-form narrative journalism may achieve when given the space and resources to do so.

35 of 45 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Overly sensationalized July 31, 2011

By A Reader from LA

Format:Hardcover

The book was often one sided and superficial. I have no doubt that sex selection, male or female, is unethical and fraught with negative consequences, as partially outlined by Hvistendahl. I agree that it should be outlawed internationally, and that better enforcement of existing laws is essential. However, clearly there is more to reversing this phenomenon than simply making it illegal and punishing those involved. We need to address the reasons that boys are preferred in the first place. Hvistendahl did not offer a clear explanation for why parents prefer boys to girls in societies around the world and what we can do to increase the value of women. To me, that is the obvious solution.

The research was often lacking. I was left with more questions than answers. For example, I wonder what the fate would be of millions of unwanted children (girls). For the women who were sold into arranged marriages, what was their alternative? What would their lives have been like otherwise? Some idea of the other side would have been helpful.

I also wonder how much truth there is to the statement that "After years of penalties for out-of-quota births, incentivized sterilizations, and forced abortions, Korean women had finally given in and stopped having children." That seems like an overly simplified explanation for a much more complex social phenomenon. Births rates have fallen to similar levels in many countries without those forces at play. The birth rate in the Ukraine currently is 1.12 children per woman and in Greece 1.25 children per woman; these countries are historically and culturally different from each other and from South Korea.

I wasn't taking notes as I read, and there were many other times when I disagreed with Hvistendahl or felt that she was rushing to conclusions without all the facts. Strangely reading the book took me from thinking that this is a horrible phenomenon to wondering if it's not just a trend that will eventually correct itself as societies realize the consequences. I'm not sure. Ultimately I felt like Hvistendahl herself was being a doomsayer even as she criticizes others for being doomsayers.