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Parents frequently prefer their offspring to be of a particular sex for a variety of reasons. Social sex selection or Human sex selection is the attempt to control the sex of offspring to achieve a desired sex. It can be accomplished in several ways, both pre- and post-implantation of an embryo, as well as at birth. It has been marketed under the title family balancing. This article is about modern humans. ...
For other uses, see Embryo (disambiguation). ...
Parturition redirects here. ...
Scientific methods
Pre-implantation methods Two major types of pre-implantation methods can be used for social sex selection.
Sperm sorting - The separation of X Chromosome sperm from Y Chromosome sperm. The resulting sorted sperm are used in either artificial insemination or in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures. Figure 1: A representation of a condensed eukaryotic chromosome, as seen during cell division. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a technique in which egg cells are fertilized outside the mothers body in cases where conception is difficult or impossible through normal intercourse. ...
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) - In sex selection cases, embryos resulting from IVF procedures are genetically tested for X or Y Chromosomes. The embryos of the desired sex are then implanted. In medicine and (clinical) genetics preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a method to test oocytes prior to fertilization or embryos before they are implanted in the uterus. ...
Post-implantation methods Prenatal diagnosis - Amniocentesis and/or ultrasound is used to determine sex of an offspring, leading to subsequent abortion of any offspring of the unwanted sex. Prenatal diagnosis is the diagnosis of disease or condition in a fetus or embryo before it is born. ...
Amniocentesis, or an Amniotic Fluid Test (AFT), is a medical procedure used for prenatal diagnosis, in which a small amount of amniotic fluid is extracted from the amnion around a developing fetus. ...
Ultrasound is a form of cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing, this limit being approximately 20 kilohertz (20,000 hertz). ...
Post-birth methods Infanticide - The killing, exposing or otherwise disposing of an offspring of the unwanted sex. It is noted that this is not legal in most parts of the world, but is still a common practice in many cultures. In sociology and biology, infanticide is the practice of intentionally causing the death of an infant of a given species, by members of the same species - often by the mother. ...
Adoption - The voluntary surrender of offspring of the unwanted sex. Less commonly viewed as a method of social sex selection, adoption affords cultures that have a gender preference a legal means of choosing offspring of a particular sex. For other uses, see Adoption (disambiguation). ...
Ethical concerns The application of these techniques to humans creates moral and ethical concerns. Listed here are some of the more common of those concerns:
Sexual discrimination - The idea that if one sex is preferred over another, those individuals in the non-preferred sex would be at a disadvantage. Opponents of social sex selection argue that the procedure would artificially unequalize the ratio of females to males, leading to discrimination, potential violence and abuse of the smaller group. Sexism is discrimination between people based on their Sex rather than their individual merits. ...
Eugenics - Many fear that PGD, in general, is a 'slippery slope' leading to a society where 'non-selected' individuals would be discriminated against. PGD is used primarily in the U.S. for the purpose of reducing birth defects and abnormalities, but opponents fear that there is nothing stopping persons from using PGD for more eugenic-based purposes. Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution: Logo from the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921, depicting it as a tree which unites a variety of different fields. ...
A congenital disorder is any medical condition that is present at birth. ...
Psychological Implications - There may be psychological implications for both the parents and child if the procedure does not produce a child of the desired sex. Furthermore, problems may also arise if the gender-related expectations of the parents are not subsequently fulfilled by the child. However, it may be the case that any child will fail to fulfill particular parental expectations, so perhaps more emphasis should be placed on promoting acceptance and tolerance within parents as opposed to completely banning sex selection.
Conflict with Kantian principles - Many argue that by selecting the sex of their child, parents are using the child as a means of fulfilling their own desires rather than respecting the child as a person and an end in their own right. Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (April 22, 1724 – February 12, 1804) was a Prussian philosopher, generally regarded as one of Europes most influential thinkers and the last major philosopher of the Enlightenment. ...
Demographic concerns In addition to the ethical concerns mentioned, issues of demographics arise in societies where social sex selection is common. A society may exhibit a widespread bias towards having children of a specific gender, either due to cultural biases or economic concerns (e.g. male children may be more employable in the future and thus provide more financial support). When combined with frequent social sex selection, this bias may produce a gender imbalance that has undesirable consequences. This phenomenon has been observed in many nations in the Far East, such as India and China, where social sex selection has produced unnaturally high male/female ratios in the population. China's gender imbalance is futher increased by the One Child Policy. In these nations, a lack of opportunity for many men to marry is believed to be producing increases in crime, demand for prostitution, and the selling of brides.[1][2] Demographics refers to selected population characteristics as used in government, marketing or opinion research, or the demographic profiles used in such research. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Sex ratio. ...
The far east as a cultural block includes East Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and South Asia. ...
The one-child policy is the current birth control policy of the Peoples Republic of China. ...
Whore redirects here. ...
History and folk beliefs There are a wide variety of social sex selections methods which have not been demonstrated to be effective. Because even implausible and ineffective methods have a "success" rate of 50%, many continued to be recommended by word of mouth.
As early as 330 BC, Aristotle prescribed the ligation (tying off) of the left testicle in men wishing to have boys.[3] Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC 340s BC - 330s BC - 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC 335 BC 334 BC 333 BC 332 BC 331 BC - 330 BC - 329 BC 328 BC 327...
Aristotle (Greek: Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ...
The testicle (from Latin testis, meaning witness [1], plural testes) or ballock is the male generative gland in animals. ...
Some people believe that timing conception according to astrological charts can influence a baby's sex,[4] though there is no evidence to support this or any other timing method. The term conception can refer to more than one meaning: Concept Fertilisation This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...
This natal chart, appearing in Ebenezer Siblys Astrology (1806), was drawn for the speculated birth date of Jesus Christ, midnight, December 25, year 45 in the Julian calendar. ...
Recently, a study published in 2006 indicated that mothers with toxoplasmosis have a significantly higher sex ratio of boys to girls. This has been discussed in connection with the manipulation hypothesis of parasites.[5] Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Sex ratio by country for total population. ...
Legality Social sex selection is illegal in India. To ensure this, prenatal determination of gender through ultrasound is also illegal in India. These laws are instituted to combat the prevalent practice of sex-selective abortion. However, these laws have generally failed to be effective and sex-selective abortion continues to be widely practised. Ultrasound is a form of cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing, this limit being approximately 20 kilohertz (20,000 hertz). ...
Sex-selective abortion is the practice of aborting a fetus after a determination (usually by ultrasound but also rarely by amniocentesis or another procedure) that the fetus is an undesired sex, typically female. ...
Notes A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ...
See also - Sex-selective abortion and infanticide
- Gender imbalance
- Trivers-Willard hypothesis
Issues of discussion Sex-selective abortion is the targeted abortion of a fetus based upon its sex. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Sex ratio. ...
In evolutionary biology, the Trivers-Willard hypothesis proposes that parents should invest more in the sex that gives them the greatest reproductive payoff (grandchildren) with increasing or marginal investment. ...
External links Ethical debates - Bioethics: Gender Selection
- Gender selection for babies poses ethical dilemmas
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