all 26 comments

[–]hennaojisan 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (11 children)

Some countries are apparently still practicing infanticide with males being the favored sex.

[–]magnora7[S] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

Yeah. And then the female heavy ones are where all the men died in wars, by the millions or tens of millions in Russia's case

[–]Ash 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

Russia's last 'great war' with millions of male causalities was in the 1940's. Every effect on the male population is balanced out since then.

Men tend to die earlier and Russian/Eastern European men are not known for their healthy life choices.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Men tend to die earlier and Russian/Eastern European men are not known for their healthy life choices.

Maybe because they're viewed as disposable tools of the state?

[–]Ash 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Maybe. I never thought about it from this perspective. I always thought that the harsh environment left a mark on it's people.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Yeah it's probably both, that's a good point. But Norway has a harsh environment too and they have nowhere near the rates of alcoholism, suicide, and dangerous activities that we see men commonly do in Russia. So I think the "disposable tool" hypothesis and the dejection explains the data the best, imo

[–]Ash 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

You are right. I forgot about Norway, Finland, Scandinavia, basically all countries with harsh environments with populations acting differently from Russians. It seems that they (ordinary Russians) always have been struggling and fucked over by whoever group was in power since centuries or forever. Being 'tough', having a death wish, alcoholism, macho behavior seems to be ways to cope with the harsh realities of Mother Russia.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think you're absolutely right. Good realizations.

[–]hennaojisan 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

A lot of mostly agricultural countries practice(d) infanticide on female babies because women tend to marry and leave home. Men marry too, of course, but they tend to stay home or nearby and take care of the old folks. So female babies are/were seen as a burden on the family. Then there is often the additional problem of raising her dowry. Some days I sound so pedantic.

[–]Ash 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The keyword is agriculture- There are /were many peoples that are practicing exogamy marriages for both gender. You'd either gain a daughter in law or a son in law.

Most agriculture based societies or beyond that stage (introduction to Property and inheritance laws along patrilineal lines) favor male offspring.

A fun (and good to know) fact, the most egalitarian and equal for both genders societies are those without the Western notion of property and those were women contribute at least half if not more to the daily subsistence struggle. The infanticide of females is unheard of in those cultures-You don't kill the mouth that will later feed you. Our ancestors used to live like this before they settled (going from Nomad to farmer) and introduced property (land, animals, houses..), and it went downhill since then. Suddenly it was important to gate-keep womens sexuality and ensure the right bloodline will inherit those possessions.

Agri cultural societies don't have the egalitarian structures of hunter and gatherer societies were women contribute to most of the daily subsistence. Forget about the myth of the successful hunter, Stoneage hunter that brings back home a slap of meat every single day to his family. In reality most hunts are not successful, dangerous and could take up days and they'd rely on the female gatherer who would hunt small game, fishing and bring back roots, mushrooms and plants to secure their everyday survival. Those societies often practiced exogamy marriages-exchanges whereas the male (as often as females) moved to or was already living with his parents in law. If the male is successful in his hunt (not frequently or often-don't let Hollywood or the media fool you! Try hunting big game with only a spear or an arrow and bow) he is obliged to give part of his loot to his Chief, parents, in laws, the other hunters he's owing a favor when he was broke etc. There's not much left for his family to feed, except for his gatherer woman who would provide them with most of their necessarily calorie intake to survive. Hunters only provided 'extras' on top of basic needs.

Every society that settled down (agriculture) and introduced property is inherently not egalitarian and sexist in favor of men who would control women (their bloodline) in order to secure that only their offspring will inherit the 'properties' they have amassed.

Tl:dr -Western notions of Property are linked to female infanticide -Our ancestors/some societies not too long ago valued females because they would contribute to more than half of the daily subsistence for a humans to survive (Marvin Harris, I think, went into the diet of Hunter and Gatherers), and compared them to modern people. -Mode of development is linked to Property, Equality between the genders, sex

[–][deleted] 0 insightful - 1 fun0 insightful - 0 fun1 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

ban abortions women are natural infanticiders

[–]sodasplash 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is a really old theory you are espousing.

I don't see much red on this map. Which countries is it that you think apparently practice female infanticide?

Men statistically die younger and more often so most countries should naturally have a bent toward female populations, a fact borne out by this map.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

Oman was a bit surprising. Also I didn't realize India and Pakistan were both so male-heavy

[–]sodasplash 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

Sorry to be a dick but how could you not realize that?

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Why would I? I knew about almost every other country though. I'm not omniscient lol

[–]sodasplash 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

ok. didn't mean to be a dick

this was a big story probably 5-7 years ago

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

No worries. I guess I missed that story. I've heard it about China a million times, but not India, and definitely never about Pakistan.

[–]sodasplash 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Yes, China with the one child policy has always been the big news story on this topic. But too many males and not enough females has long been one of the key factors in both Pakistan and India’s internal (and sometimes external) strife.

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Ah I'd never heard that, but it makes perfect sense.

[–]sodasplash 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It seems trite to say but societies need balance. Just look for the spots of greatest imbalance and those are the spots of near-term strife and discord.

Listen to the music of nature, not the words of the press.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Wise words.

[–]fred_red_beans 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

[–]magnora7[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Look at this graph by country: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b7/Deaths-of-WW2.gif

Russia lost so many men in that war, it's almost unbelievable. Indonesia is surprisingly high on this list

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It might e due to immigration in some case, as men are the ones who usually move for work.

[–]sodasplash 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

No data for Greenland?

Little known fun fact -- Greenland is going to be a great place for male dominated jobs in 5-10 years...

[–]sodasplash 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

i.e. how to predict wars