Stupid headlines like this irritate the hell out of me:
This was a story in the Boston Metro (free transit newspaper) today that Hanna and I noticed while riding the T out to Harvard Square. The entire text of the article reads as follows:
China’s budding gender gap — inspired by decades of one-child-per-family law, and the resulting rise in baby-girl abortions and infanticides — could develop into an increase in violent crimes, a new study reports.
With 32 million more young men than women, and the imbalance only growing, sociologists worry about a coming spike in crime, when men take out their frustrations on an increasingly wealthy population.
The report paints a grim picture for a modernizing China. “If you’ve got highly sexed young men, there is a concern that they will all get together and, with high levels of testosterone, there may be a real risk, that they will go out and commit crimes,” lecturer Therese Hesketh told the AP.
I was particularly charmed by the boxed quote attributed to "Researchers" (names please? the title of this report? anything that would reliably enable readers to fact-check the study**?) which read: "Nothing can be done now to prevent this."
Because, you know, dudes are just violent animals without wives to keep them in check.
I dunno, people. I personally have faith that guys in China may find another, less violent, solution to the dearth of women.
*or "sexism" or "kyriarchy" if you prefer.
**A little searching on the internet tracked the study I'm assuming they refer to back to the British Medical Journal.
I, too, noticed this article's lack of both specific information and any suggestion that there might be a speck of hope in the situation.
ReplyDeleteSorry, China: doooooooooooomed!