Kaliyah Inswood
Prof. Kipple
ENGL 1202
12 November, 2015
One is the Loneliest Number: The Family Planning Policy in China (First Point)
The adverse effects of the one child policy has not only devalued China’s economy, but women in general. Once a daughter marries, she becomes obligated to her husband’s family and is only expected to care for her husband’s parents, leaving her own without any support in their old age. The policy has made a very clear social statement to the citizens of China: that survival and comfort lies in the hands of sons, and daughters are only an unwanted burden on the family (Hull). The one child policy demeans girls and, at one time, it was even acceptable to have a second child if your first was a girl or disabled. …show more content…
The natural ratio of boys to girls is 103:100. However, after the implementation of the one child policy, the ratio has been thrown off to as much as 130:100. Susan Scutti from Newsweek Global has commented that the one child policy has destroyed the sex ratios of China, “…so much so that it is predicted there will continue to be millions of ‘excess’ men –a full 12 to 15 percent of young adult men with no hopes of marrying.” The repercussions of the policy is a plethora of bachelors with no hope of marrying in a culture where marriage is widely expected. Chinese men who are unable to marry, ultimately cutting off their legacy, are called “bare branches.” The mental health implications the family planning policy has burdened the male population of China are staggering; it shapes the lonely future for these “bare branches” as one filled with depression, more thoughts of suicide, and higher levels of aggression than that of married men. The main combat tactic most men find is sex trafficking, resulting in 14.7 percent of unmarried men admitting to paying for sex in 2000 –almost double that in married men. The pronounced gender imbalance China is faced with has turned the People’s Republic into the largest sex- and labor-trafficking capital of the world
Prof. Kipple
ENGL 1202
12 November, 2015
One is the Loneliest Number: The Family Planning Policy in China (First Point)
The adverse effects of the one child policy has not only devalued China’s economy, but women in general. Once a daughter marries, she becomes obligated to her husband’s family and is only expected to care for her husband’s parents, leaving her own without any support in their old age. The policy has made a very clear social statement to the citizens of China: that survival and comfort lies in the hands of sons, and daughters are only an unwanted burden on the family (Hull). The one child policy demeans girls and, at one time, it was even acceptable to have a second child if your first was a girl or disabled. …show more content…
The natural ratio of boys to girls is 103:100. However, after the implementation of the one child policy, the ratio has been thrown off to as much as 130:100. Susan Scutti from Newsweek Global has commented that the one child policy has destroyed the sex ratios of China, “…so much so that it is predicted there will continue to be millions of ‘excess’ men –a full 12 to 15 percent of young adult men with no hopes of marrying.” The repercussions of the policy is a plethora of bachelors with no hope of marrying in a culture where marriage is widely expected. Chinese men who are unable to marry, ultimately cutting off their legacy, are called “bare branches.” The mental health implications the family planning policy has burdened the male population of China are staggering; it shapes the lonely future for these “bare branches” as one filled with depression, more thoughts of suicide, and higher levels of aggression than that of married men. The main combat tactic most men find is sex trafficking, resulting in 14.7 percent of unmarried men admitting to paying for sex in 2000 –almost double that in married men. The pronounced gender imbalance China is faced with has turned the People’s Republic into the largest sex- and labor-trafficking capital of the world