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Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls And The Consequences Of A World Full Of Men (2000)

by Mara Hvistendahl(Favorite Author)

3.83 of 5 Votes: 5

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review 1: Good up until the last 15 pages when suddenly it's all OH BTW IVF IS ALLOWING RICH YUPPIES TO CHOOSE GIRLS OH NO. Yes, this is a problem, I'm not denying that. But IVF is a legitimate fix to a legitimate medical problem, and it kind of glosses the fuck over that. People using it in ethically dubious ways (ie, for sex selection due to social preference rather than genetic reasons) could ruin it for everyone dammit. Stop it, people. Stop. (Also, as someone who went through IVF, I was never offered the option of sex selection. It's not like every clinic is a free-for-all buffet. BUT I DIGRESS.)Obviously I'm super biased when it comes to making IVF an attainable procedure for people in lower classes. But that's such a small portion of the book that it seems silly to d... moreevote this much time in my review to it. It's the last 15-some-odd pages! Overall, I recommend it. It's a good look at the domino effect, and of particular interest is the conservative history of actively promoting abortion-as-birth-control abroad due to fear of "the other".
review 2: When people are given freedom of choice, combined with the power of technology, should society intervene if the preponderance of such choices have negative consequences for society as a whole? We have that debate all the time about many issues, ranging from local zoning laws to gun ownership to wearing seat belts.This one takes on a subject fraught with emotional impact: the ability of people to choose the gender of their babies. Hvistendahl take on the phenomenon of the widespread use of inexpensive prenatal screening and abortion to assure families of having boys. This largely takes place in Asia, but exists in eastern Europe as well. Hvistendahl makes that case that sex selection is a socially destructive and, potentially dangerous practice. She mostly blames the population control advocates in the west, but takes plenty of shots at everybody associated with this.The question is, what, if anything, should be done about it?Read and draw your own conclusions. less

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