In a new book, Mara Hvistendahl writes about the sex-selection in China, India, and several other countries. (Thanks to Jeremy S. for the linkeroo.)

Because there are so many cultural pressures to produce male heirs, families are finding out the gender of their fetus and aborting the girls in mass numbers.

In nature, 105 boys are born for every 100 girls. However, "in India there are 112 boys born for every 100 girls. In China, the number is 121—though plenty of Chinese towns are over the 150 mark. China's and India's populations are mammoth enough that their outlying sex ratios have skewed the global average to a biologically impossible 107. But the imbalance is not only in Asia. Azerbaijan stands at 115, Georgia at 118 and Armenia at 120."

Societies without women are very bad places. Lots of violence and abuse of the remaining women. 

Over the weekend, Steve and I were talking about lead poisoning in China. Steve said, "that's all we need. The world's most populated country, full of young men who now are mentally unbalanced because of lead poisoning. It's a science fiction novel."