One of the concepts I had difficulty wrapping my mind around this week was female infanticide. I understand it is normal in patriarchal societies, as male babies are an economic advantage. However, when we were discussing it in class as a form of "birth control", I became stuck. Though we do have contraceptives available in the United States, the gender of any child can never be fully guaranteed. It made me think: even if contraceptives were available in these societies regardless, I feel as though infanticide would still be a widespread problem. I guess I just do not feel that infanticide as a form of birth control is the right way to phrase it.
I also wonder how society would stand if all parents made the decision to get rid of female infants. Eventually, there would be very few women, and then who would be there to give birth to the next generation? If there was a shortage of females due to infanticide, could that potentially be the basis for great societal change?
The problem of a lack of females has actually happened historically in China, due to the One-Child policy that was once enacted. Since sons were considered more "valuable", eventually the male/female ratio became something around 8/1. As for this kind of shortage of females bringing about societal change, one would think that it would have to, or the society would simply die out.
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