Umm... wow. So I guess that's "normal" for that area of the world, but it's just so weird to me. Thought I'd pass it along. Apparently if I want to learn anything about what's happening in the world OUTSIDE of the US, I have to go to BBC.

There is a really bad typhoon headed towards Southern China - but I've heard nothing about that here in the US. Nice...

More from the abortion story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5237980.stm

This is actually a reversal of the 'one family, one child' policy introduced by Beijing to stem population growth. Up until recently the abortion of female foetuses was a major problem, especially in rural areas, they were being aborted for the simple reason of being female.

Yeah that's what the article was saying that people wanted a boy and therefore were aborting little girls. That's just so weird to me. *shrug*

It's a hangover from the Confuscionist nature of Chinese society which the iron grip of Maoism didn't just fail to get rid of, but secretly encouraged to retain it's grip on power.

I'm not trying to discourage your newfound love for the BBC or anything, but I'm American and this isn't new news to me. Admittedly, I can't tell you where I first heard it, but I think that's because I heard it from a number of sources.

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This practice has been going on for a while due to females not viewed as the breadwinners and how society views women and treats them.

Here is a good article.

http://www.gendercide.org/case_infanticide.html

"Typical also is China, where

culture dictates that when a girl marries she leaves her family and becomes part of her husband's family. For this reason Chinese peasants have for many centuries wanted a son to ensure there is someone to look after them in their old age -- having a boy child is the best pension a Chinese peasant can get. Baby girls are even called "maggots in the rice" ... ("The Dying Rooms Trust")

i agree, it's not like it is impossible to find news about other world issues if you live in America.

i do like BBC though.

India has the problem just as bad if not worse. Girls get treated like they are inferior from even birth and it's sad but even though people keep saying the statement "This country has been trying to combat female infantcide and how females are treated" it has to be a lie because those same people make lives for females harder and make it so that females become dependant on men to survive instead of them having the same oppurtunity as men so parents because of how society still treats females seem females as a burden who won't pass on their family name and the list goes on.

I don't see their society doing much about it at all!

Another article



Social scientists say that India is missing 40 million girls, aborted en masse over the years by parents, rich and poor, who saw them as a liability, while boys are cherished for continuing the family line and providing economic security. All over India, since the 1980s when the country was flooded with cheap ultrasound technology, this mobile killing machine, wielded by doctors with no ethics, has been doing its lethal work. Villages may not have clean drinking water or electricity, but they have access to ultrasound tests. Some clinics in towns load the machine on to a van, along with a generator, and go to remote towns offering sex-selection services. In some villages no girl has been born for years.

The Indian Medical Association estimates that five million female foetuses are aborted each year. As a result, the sex ratio in the 0 to 6 age group in some northern areas (where the craze for boys is at its worst) is amazingly skewed: 793 females for every 1,000 boys. In some areas it is 754, and in parts of Punjab and Haryana, the figure is about 600.

These figures are truly shocking -- far worse than anything I've seen in even the most alarmist discussions of the situation in China.

...read more

http://www.cronaca.com/archives/002547.html

Oh no, no I wasn't saying this was really new to me per se... it's just weird. I've heard about this before. My comment about not be able to find anything in American news is just irritation that there are a lot of crappy things happening in other areas that you NEVER hear about here. So yeah... it was sort of off topic. I just posted this for discussion purposes really.

For instance, I never hear or see American news covering anything about the Lord's Resistance Army - but I quickly found coverage of it on BBC. I don't ever see coverage of the Congo area either with the women and children suffering from fistulas from rapes and unhealthy births (unless you're watching Oprah)... onward though from the "whatever I can find this information in American news" posts...

consequently, there is also a shortage of eligible females in china for chinese men. i know a few people whose relatives have come over to america just to find wives.

I just searched that on the New York Times and got four pages worth of articles. I'm not saying I love the American media, but I'm not sure you're looking everywhere.

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Yeah and unfortunately, parents are only concerned about that! Our son can't find a wife now. BOOHOO HOO! In China, it's hard to make a change as a citizen. They restrict their media to the point that nobody knew of a man that courageously stopped tanks from killing more chinese during a protest by simply standing there. His face was wiped from the media and google for chinese users. People who complain about American media not showing everything going on in the world should be grateful actually because at least you as a westerner don't have restrictions of what you can look up on the web. The information is out there and you can't rely on Fox and CNN and even they report more incriminating news than the Chinese. New York Times I'd have to say is the greatest with practicing their freedom of press. If it were China, nobody would have ever heard of the NSA.

I think the problem in India is worse because in China they have the one baby law unless your child is born a female then you have the option of trying again until you get a male.

In India, there are no such restrictions.

This has been practiced for thousands of years and it's not because of nature, it's because of pressure from that society, religion, marriage laws and job opportunities.

In America, even in America, there may not be female infantcide but there are still mostly conservative parents that just view their daughters as someone to pass off to a man for marriage and focusing on driving the male for a successful career.

But at least in America you have options to build your own life regardless of gender. Sure you may have to deal with obstacles but at least you have a chance, other places like China and India, you don't have a chance if you are killed or your mother manages to keep you but takes better care of the son and leaves you dealing with getting ill alone. That's just wrong!

I'm tired of hearing their societies claim they are really trying to get rid of the problem because it's not true. If it were true, there wouldn't be so many female babies dying at an alarming rate.

Another difference between China and India. In China, the ones who practice female infantcide are the farmers (still not justifiable) but in India the rich and the poor practice it.

Along with honor killings in the middle east that happens to females or gay sons. If a female is raped by her brothers, she dies. If a woman is even suspected of cheating, she dies and in a gruesome manner.

So any man or woman that is anti-feminism, why? Why are you anti-feminism when it's the women that are being tortured, killed at birth, killed for being raped, killed by their husbands all for being a female and deemed the low lives of society. Really, what does male chauvenism achieve? Making women feel inferior and I cannot believe there are women that have followed the mock feminist trend. Feminists have a valid goal and men are paranoid about losing control and think that if a female is successful then she's out to get him.

When I read these things, the one thing I keep thinking is: How can you carry on your family line/lineage without women to give birth to it?

What, is there the designated village "baby machine" that they all go fuck? What the hell is their problem?

Women are vital for survival, period, why do so many people not respect this?

This is all drops in the bucket of the big picture, sadly and very unfortunately.

Why women all over the world are going through such horrors, mistreatments and disrespect does not make the slightest bit of sense.

As I said before, the fact alone that they give birth should be reason enough to deeply respect them.

And anyone can say what they want about America, but honestly, all the information you could need is all an open book if you want it to be. Many countries do not have such luxuries. Enjoy.

And how far along in the pregnancy before you can tell the gender of the child? I say these abortions are happening in the last trimester.

applauds

The Times is not typical American media though. It's definitely on the right of The Nation. but it's known for caring more about foreign affairs, civil rights and other liberal issues, than your usual American media.

The point she's making is that you don't hear about it on the news. Sure, you can find the story anywhere, if you search for it directly.

Although I'm not sure under what awe inspiring circumstances you would look for a story that you had no prior knowledge of to begin with. It's not like I purposely look up "China AND abortion" in Google everyday.

I haven't heard anything about the LRA besides what I've read on left wing outlets. Of course I don't generally go to Fox and look up stories that I probably know more about than their reporters do anyway.

Well, it's mainstream, over a hundred years old, and known as 'the paper of record.' I've almost always lived in and around NYC, and I'm not much for tv news, so maybe my perception is off. But I think the NYT is more comparable to the BBC than the local 6 o'clock news.

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