Abusing Their Privates!

As in many societies, Asia tends to value the birth of boys over little girls. Whether is it is for economic reasons – sons support their birth family, daughters support their husband’s family under social custom – continuity of the family lineage or just based on long-standing tradition, that’s simply the way it is. And China has a big problem. The Asia Sentinel (March 25, 2008) summarizes the resulting quandary like this: “China’s gender imbalance, the result of the one-child policy implemented in 1979 [which generally allows couples only one child], is creating a social time bomb that may threaten the already feeble status of women, who are already losing ground. While attention is focused on disturbing problems like social instability and rising crime resulting from the gender imbalance, people appear to be forgetting the gross injustice that women have long suffered, injustice that is growing both despite and because of their shrinking numbers.

“In 2005, the mainland China sex ratio at birth stood at 118 males to 100 females, having already increased from 108:100 in 1981 to 111:100 in 1990. It is substantially above the natural baseline which ranges from 103:100 to 107:100. By the year 2020, there will be 30 million more men than women, according to a report by the State Population and Family Planning Commission… The social implications are disturbing. A recent media report says that based on a Statistics Canada survey, the rate of robbery offenses for women is just 13 out of every 100,000, versus 110 for men. The same survey shows that men are seven to 10 times more likely to commit serious crimes, including robbery, homicide, sexual assault and car theft, and that women are less likely than men to re-offend or escalate their crimes.”

Quite a lovely visual, actually, of millions of angry horny men raging through the countryside with sex and/or violence on their minds. The lack of sufficient numbers of marriage partners for such a huge segment of the male population has all but squeezed the lowest paid agricultural peasants off the desirability list and hasn’t helped the bottom rungs of the Chinese socioeconomic ladder much in cities either. The one child policy has led to “gendercide” where female fetuses are simply aborted to give the family another chance… for a male child. A report from MSNBC.com dated September 14, 2004 provided the evidence of this phenomenon: “‘Prenatal sex selection was probably the primary cause, if not the sole cause, for the continuous rise of the sex ratio at birth,’ said population expert Prof. Chu Junhong… A slew of reports have confirmed the disturbing demographic trend.

• In a 2002 survey conducted in a central China village, more than 300 of the 820 women had abortions and more than a third of them admitted they were trying to select their baby's sex.
• According to a report by the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the vast majority of aborted fetuses, more than 70 percent, were female, citing the abortion of up to 750,000 female fetuses in China in 1999.”

Not a pretty picture, but one that gets worse when one particular solution – marital kidnapping – is added to the problem. MSNBC added: “The hint of ‘serious’ problems ahead can be seen in the increasing cases of human trafficking as bachelors try to ‘purchase’ their wives… China’s police have freed more than 42,000 kidnapped women and children from 2001 to 2003.” Argh!

So let’s see what China’s creative solutions might be for this nasty social problem with horrific social consequences. Well, given their official fear of the Internet, how about stopping soldiers in the Peoples Liberation Army from online dating? This would free up a pile of female marriage prospects for everyone else, and presumably the officers can keep their (armed? gulp!) soldiers under their strict command. The June 30^th Washington Post: “Rigid restrictions on Internet usage imposed this month on the 2.3 million-strong Chinese armed services are sure to cramp the already lackluster social lives of the predominantly young, male force. Online dating was given the boot, along with blogs, personal websites and visits to Internet cafes… It may seem harsh and out of touch, particularly for troops posted in remote regions of China who have little contact with the civilian world. But military experts said restraints are necessary to avoid compromising security for a Chinese military that prizes secrecy.”

While most military operations have some Web-use restrictions, China’s reaction is indeed on the extreme side. You might call this the “Don’t tell, don’t ask” policy, but for a soldier in China Match.com won’t become Match dot calm.

I’m Peter Dekom thinking about PRC soldiers who will never have that “date that will live forever in infamy.”