WorldWideScience

Sample records for infanticide

  1. Infanticide: A Concept

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arneet Arora

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Infanticide is killing of a child < 12 months of age by a mother who has not fully recovered from the effects of pregnancy, giving birth and lactation, and suffers some degree of mental disturbance. However, in India, infanticide means unlawful destruction of a newly born child and is regarded as murder in law and is punishable under section 302 completely neglecting postpartum psychiatric state of mothers' mind. Several studies have indicated a high incidence of postpartum depression in mother of developing as well as developed countries. The lack of awareness in medical fraternity, legal experts, and society leads to miscarriage of justice. In this article, we have compared legal status of infanticide in various countries vis-a-vis India and thus tried to arrive at a more humane and pragmatic approach in cases of infanticide keeping in mind the psychological state of mother, gender inequality, weak public health infrastructure, and the prevalent practice of homicide of unwanted/female child. A psychiatric or medical assessment model of mother by panel of experts in case of infanticide should be evolved. Information and awareness of postpartum psychiatric illness among medical professionals, legal persons, and society is an important aspect.

  2. Infanticide: A Concept

    OpenAIRE

    Arneet Arora; Jayanthi Yadav; Sanjay Kumar Yadav; Hans Raj Singh

    2017-01-01

    Infanticide is killing of a child < 12 months of age by a mother who has not fully recovered from the effects of pregnancy, giving birth and lactation, and suffers some degree of mental disturbance. However, in India, infanticide means unlawful destruction of a newly born child and is regarded as murder in law and is punishable under section 302 completely neglecting postpartum psychiatric state of mothers' mind. Several studies have indicated a high incidence of postpartum depression in moth...

  3. Interrogating Infanticide/ Child Euthanasia in the Roman Christian ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The purpose of this paper is an attempt to examine infanticide practices in the Roman Christian era and interrogate infanticide and child euthanasia in the same era. It also attempts to point out infanticide practices in Abuja and makes a distinction between infanticide and child euthanasia in Abuja. The study employed ...

  4. Infanticide and illegal infant abandonment in Malaysia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Razali, Salmi; Kirkman, Maggie; Ahmad, S Hassan; Fisher, Jane

    2014-10-01

    Infant abandonment and infanticide are poorly understood in Malaysia. The information available in the public arena comes predominantly from anecdotal sources. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence and characteristics of infanticide and illegal infant abandonment in Malaysia and to estimate annual rates for the most recent decade. Summaries of data about infanticide and illegal infant abandonment were gathered from police records; the annual number of live births was ascertained from the national registry. The estimated inferred infanticide rates for Malaysia were compared with the infanticide rates among countries of very high, high, medium, and low rankings on the Human Development, Gender Inequality, and Gini indices. From 1999 to 2011, 1,069 cases of illegal infant abandonment were recorded and 1,147 people were arrested as suspected perpetrators. The estimated inferred infanticide rate fluctuated between 4.82 and 9.11 per 100,000 live births, a moderate rate relative to the infanticide rates of other countries. There are substantial missing data, with details undocumented for about 78-87% of cases and suspected perpetrators. Of the documented cases, it appeared that more boys than girls were victims and that suspected perpetrators were predominantly Malays who were women, usually mothers of the victim; the possibility of arrest bias must be acknowledged. Economic and social inequality, particularly gender inequality, might contribute to the phenomena of infanticide and abandonment. Strategies to reduce rates of infanticide and illegal infant abandonment in Malaysia will require strengthening of the surveillance system and attention to the gender-based inequalities that underpin human development. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Infanticide in tree squirrels - a male reproductive strategy?

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    1986-07-25

    Jul 25, 1986 ... ... of such behaviour. The interpretation of infant killing as a sexually selected male reproductive ... stones of the sexual selection hypothesis of infanticide. The ... of genetically based strain differences in the occurrence of infanticide in ... Aggression plays a prominent role in social behaviour, with both males.

  6. When is deliberate killing of young children justified? Indigenous interpretations of infanticide in Bolivia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Hilari, Caroline; Condori, Irma; Dearden, Kirk A

    2009-01-01

    In the Andes, as elsewhere, infanticide is a difficult challenge that remains largely undocumented and misunderstood. From January to March 2004 we used community-based vital event surveillance systems, discussions with health staff, ethnographic interviews, and focus group discussions among Aymara men and women from two geographically distinct sites in the Andes of Bolivia to provide insights into the practice of infanticide. We noted elevated mortality at both sites. In one location, suspected causes of infanticide were especially high for girls. We also observed that community members maintain beliefs that justify infanticide under certain circumstances. Among the Aymara, justification for infanticide was both biological (deformities and twinship) and social (illegitimate birth, family size and poverty). Communities generally did not condemn killing when reasons for doing so were biological, but the taking of life for social reasons was rarely justified. In this cultural context, strategies to address the challenge of infanticide should include education of community members about alternatives to infanticide. At a program level, planners and implementers should target ethnic groups with high levels of infanticide and train health care workers to detect and address multiple warning signs for infanticide (for example, domestic violence and child maltreatment) as well as proxies for infant neglect and abuse such as mother/infant separation and bottle use.

  7. From Right to Sin: Laws on Infanticide in Antiquity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obladen, Michael

    2016-01-01

    This is the first of three papers investigating changes in infanticide legislation as indicators of the attitude of states towards the neonate. In ancient East Asian societies in which the bride's family had to pay an excessive dowry, selective female infanticide was the rule, despite formal interdiction by the law. In Greece and Rome children's lives had little value, and the father's rights included killing his own children. The proportion of men greatly exceeding that of women found in many cultures and epochs suggests that girls suffered infanticide more often than boys. A kind of social birth, the ritual right to survive, rested on the procedure of name giving in the Roman culture and on the start of oral feeding in the Germanic tradition. Legislative efforts to protect the newborn began with Trajan's 'alimentaria' laws in 103 CE and Constantine's laws following his conversion to Christianity in 313 CE. Malformed newborns were not regarded as human infants and were usually killed immediately after birth. Infanticide was formally outlawed in 374 CE by Emperor Valentinian. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  8. Infanticide for handicapped infants: sometimes it's a metaphysical dispute.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, T A

    1988-01-01

    Since 1973 the practice of infanticide for some severely handicapped newborns has been receiving more open discussion and defence in the literature on medical ethics. A recent and important argument for the permissibility of infanticide relies crucially on a particular concept of personhood that excludes the theological. This paper attempts to show that the dispute between the proponents of infanticide and their religious opponents cannot be resolved because one side's perspective on the infant is shaped by a metaphysics that is emphatically rejected by the other. In such a situation philosophical argument is powerless to bring about a resolution because there can be no refutation of one side by the other. PMID:2969052

  9. Infanticide: accounting for genetic variation in mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Svare, B; Kinsley, C H; Mann, M A; Broida, J

    1984-07-01

    Infanticide, the killing of young, is one of a number of sexually-dimorphic traits in mice that is dependent upon androgen stimulation during perinatal life and during adulthood. Genotype also influences infanticide in that males of some strains of mice (C57BL/6J) exhibit high levels of this behavior while males of other strains (DBA/2J) seldom kill young. The experiments conducted here show that strain differences in pup killing behavior exhibited by males are not related to postweaning social factors nor are they due to differences in perinatal, pubertal, or adult levels of circulating hormones. These results, in combination with those previously reported, suggest that strain differences in the tendency of mice to kill young may instead depend upon the interaction of genotypic features such as prenatal hormone titers and/or sensitivity to these hormones, as well as on extra organismic factors such as intrauterine position. A model for understanding the manner in which genes and hormones may interact to influence infanticide and other hormone dependent sexually-dimorphic behaviors in mice is presented.

  10. Contextualizing Female Infanticide: Ming China in Early Modern European Travelogues

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachana Sachdev

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available One of the essential components of the early modern European response to China was an emphasis on the fabulous wealth and social organization of Chinese society. Despite their knowledge of the wide-scale abandonment and killing of newborns within the society, and despite the categorization of infanticide as a great moral sin by the early Christian church, the European travelers to China commented on infanticide dispassionately, without any moral revulsion, and continued to project an image of China as a virtual utopia for its residents. One reason for the detached descriptions of abandonment of children and infanticide in China might be the fact that conditions with regard to children in Europe were no superior to those in China and were probably far worse; the vast numbers of abandoned and dead children in Europe blunted the edge of criticism with regard to Chinese customs. Another might be that infanticide was practiced within Europe contemporaneously, even though the killing of newborn children there was practiced much more surreptitiously, and public opinion had firmed up connections among single women, illegitimacy, concealment, and murder. However, the dire social circumstances within their own countries had not prevented the Europeans from soundly criticizing and morally reproving cannibalism or infanticide in other cultures. In order to understand their acceptance of this “sinful” practice in China, we must look elsewhere.

  11. Od eutanazie k infanticidě

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hříbek, Tomáš

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 5, č. 1 (2015), s. 5-27 ISSN 1804-8137 Institutional support: RVO:67985955 Keywords : euthanasia * infanticide * the replacement argument * experiential and critical interests Subject RIV: AA - Philosophy ; Religion http://www.ilaw.cas.cz/medlawjournal/index.php/medlawjournal/article/view/79

  12. Fighting female infanticide by working with midwives: an Indian case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murthy, R K

    1996-06-01

    In many cultures throughout history, parents have preferred to conceive and bear sons rather than daughters. In May 1995, Adithi, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) working in parts of Bihar with resource-poor women, and Bal Mahila Kalyan (BMK), an NGO working with poor people in general, organized a workshop with traditional midwives on the issue of female infanticide. A prior study found that traditional midwives are often called upon to kill female infants. These women mainly belong to the dalit community, are mostly illiterate, typically live in poverty, and have little power in the community. The workshop goals were to explore gender discrimination in different caste and religious groups; to understand the history and extent of female infanticide in the area, and to examine whether the incidence varies with caste, class, religion, and birth order; and to identify strategies to combat female infanticide. 28 traditional midwives participated. This paper describes the proceedings of the workshop and examines strategies for combatting female infanticide.

  13. Sociological portrait of infanticide in the United states, end XX - beginning of XXI century: victims and perpetrators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. V. Bogdanov

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This article focuses on mortality in children under 5 years in the United States of homicides. Infanticide has become one of the most common crimes against the person in the United States during the second half of XX - beginning of XXI centuries. This fact contributed to the problem of violent crime against children has been actively developed in American criminology. The following article is devoted to mortality from homicides among children under the age of 5 years old in the United States of America. Statistical reports of the Federal Bureau of Investigation during the period of 1980-2013 have been used as an empirical base for research. Carried out a critical analysis of a wide range of research of American specialists in various branches of science (criminologists, sociologists, psychiatrists, physicians, devoted to the problems of infanticide in the United States. The basic parameters of infanticide, the dynamics and characteristics of this type of crime. Revealed a rather complicated dynamics of infanticide in the United States for a designated length of chronological period’s ups and downs in the development of this type of crime. Victimization characteristics of children died of homicides as per sex, age and race have been presented. It is found that among American children under the age of 5 years, the greatest risk of becoming a victim of premeditated murder was in children under the age of 1 year. Generalized characteristics of criminals having committed infanticide during this period of time as per sex, kinship of the victim, means used to murder have been revealed. This study found that during the period under review the chronological development of the United States of persons detained by the police for the murder of a child under the age of 5 years, which is numerically dominated by men. These statistics can be traced in all age groups of persons who have committed infanticide in the United States in the 1980-2013 periods

  14. Gender and the Politics of Female Infanticide and Prostitution Regulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margaret Kuo

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Michelle T. King. Between Birth and Death: Female Infanticide in Nineteenth-Century China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2014. 264 pp. $50.00 (cloth/e-book. Elizabeth J. Remick. Regulating Prostitution in China: Gender and Local Statebuilding, 1900–1937. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2014. 288 pp. $45.00 (cloth/e-book. The two works under review are both compelling historical studies that use gender as a category of analysis to make important contributions to our understanding of the construction of the modern Chinese state, the periodization of modern Chinese history, and the political and cultural significance of controlling the female body. While both books engage with gender as broadly construed, they adopt different approaches. Michelle King’s analysis focuses on discursive representations that took place, for the most part, outside the context of the state—what Confucian elites, foreign experts and missionaries, and Chinese nationalists wrote about female infanticide over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This discursive approach has been used before but rarely to such insightful effect. King’s research deepens our understanding of gender and imperialism in the nineteenth century by illustrating how imperialist notions of China as a backward and heathen place were constructed in part on dubious claims that identified female infanticide as an emblematically Chinese cultural practice. Elizabeth Remick’s gender analysis, in contrast, centers on the state institutions that were developed in the early 1900s to regulate prostitution, including tax policies, licensing fees, zoning regulations, medical examinations, and police supervision. Her study of the newly erected local and provincial government regulatory regimes is a pathbreaking demonstration of how the regulation of gender roles was at the heart of state-building efforts in early twentieth-century China...

  15. Gene structure and expression of serotonin receptor HTR2C in hypothalamic samples from infanticidal and control sows

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    Quilter Claire R

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The serotonin pathways have been implicated in behavioural phenotypes in a number of species, including human, rat, mouse, dog and chicken. Components of the pathways, including the receptors, are major targets for drugs used to treat a variety of physiological and psychiatric conditions in humans. In our previous studies we have identified genetic loci potentially contributing to maternal infanticide in pigs, which includes a locus on the porcine X chromosome long arm. The serotonin receptor HTR2C maps to this region, and is therefore an attractive candidate for further study based on its function and its position in the genome. Results In this paper we describe the structure of the major transcripts produced from the porcine HTR2C locus using cDNA prepared from porcine hypothalamic and pooled total brain samples. We have confirmed conservation of sites altered by RNA editing in other mammalian species, and identified polymorphisms in the gene sequence. Finally, we have analysed expression and editing of HTR2C in hypothalamus samples from infanticidal and control animals. Conclusions The results confirm that although the expression of the long transcriptional variant of HTR2C is raised in infanticidal animals, the overall patterns of editing in the hypothalamus are similar between the two states. Sequences associated with the cDNA and genomic structures of HTR2C reported in this paper are deposited in GenBank under accession numbers FR720593, FR720594 and FR744452.

  16. Infanticide and within-clutch competition select for reproductive synchrony in a cooperative bird.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riehl, Christina

    2016-08-01

    Reproduction among members of social animal groups is often highly synchronized, but neither the selective advantages nor the proximate causes of synchrony are fully understood. Here I investigate the evolution of hatching synchrony in the Greater Ani (Crotophaga major), a communally nesting bird in which several unrelated females contribute eggs to a large, shared clutch. Hatching synchrony is variable, ranging from complete synchrony to moderate asynchrony, and is determined by the onset of incubation of the communal clutch. Data from a 10-year field study indicate that individual reproductive success is highest in synchronous groups, and that nestlings that hatch in the middle of the hatching sequence are most likely to survive. Nestling mortality is high in asynchronous clutches because early-hatching nestlings are more likely to be killed by adult group members, whereas late-hatching nestlings are more likely to starve due competition with their older nest-mates. Therefore, the timing of hatching appears to be under stabilizing selection from infanticide and resource competition acting in concert. These results provide empirical support for models predicting that synchrony may evolve as an adaptive counter-strategy to infanticide, and they highlight the importance of competition in shaping the timing of reproduction in social groups. © 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

  17. Despotism and risk of infanticide influence grizzly bear den-site selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Libal, Nathan S; Belant, Jerrold L; Leopold, Bruce D; Wang, Guiming; Owen, Patricia A

    2011-01-01

    Given documented social dominance and intraspecific predation in bear populations, the ideal despotic distribution model and sex hypothesis of sexual segregation predict adult female grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) will avoid areas occupied by adult males to reduce risk of infanticide. Under ideal despotic distribution, juveniles should similarly avoid adult males to reduce predation risk. Den-site selection and use is an important component of grizzly bear ecology and may be influenced by multiple factors, including risk from conspecifics. To test the role of predation risk and the sex hypothesis of sexual segregation, we compared adult female (n = 142), adult male (n = 36), and juvenile (n = 35) den locations in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, USA. We measured elevation, aspect, slope, and dominant land cover for each den site, and used maximum entropy modeling to determine which variables best predicted den sites. We identified the global model as the best-fitting model for adult female (area under curve (AUC) = 0.926) and elevation as the best predictive variable for adult male (AUC = 0.880) den sites. The model containing land cover and elevation best-predicted juvenile (AUC = 0.841) den sites. Adult females spatially segregated from adult males, with dens characterized by higher elevations (mean= 1,412 m, SE = 52) and steeper slopes (mean = 21.9°, SE = 1.1) than adult male (elevation: mean = 1,209 m, SE = 76; slope: mean = 15.6°, SE = 1.9) den sites. Juveniles used a broad range of landscape attributes but did not avoid adult male denning areas. Observed spatial segregation by adult females supports the sex hypothesis of sexual segregation and we suggest is a mechanism to reduce risk of infanticide. Den site selection of adult males is likely related to distribution of food resources during spring.

  18. Death before Birth : Negotiating Reproduction, Female Infanticide and Sex Selective Abortion in Tamil Nadu, South India

    OpenAIRE

    Perwez, Mohammad Shahid.

    2009-01-01

    This thesis deals with the cultural and political underpinnings of female infanticide and sex selective abortion in contemporary South India. Based on a fifteen months' ethnographic fieldwork in western parts of Salem district in Tamil Nadu, I explore the ideas and practices around deaths of (un)born children - particularly in the context of issues of gender-selective child survival, use and control over new reproductive technologies for sex selection, fertility and reproductio...

  19. Despotism and risk of infanticide influence grizzly bear den-site selection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nathan S Libal

    Full Text Available Given documented social dominance and intraspecific predation in bear populations, the ideal despotic distribution model and sex hypothesis of sexual segregation predict adult female grizzly bears (Ursus arctos will avoid areas occupied by adult males to reduce risk of infanticide. Under ideal despotic distribution, juveniles should similarly avoid adult males to reduce predation risk. Den-site selection and use is an important component of grizzly bear ecology and may be influenced by multiple factors, including risk from conspecifics. To test the role of predation risk and the sex hypothesis of sexual segregation, we compared adult female (n = 142, adult male (n = 36, and juvenile (n = 35 den locations in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, USA. We measured elevation, aspect, slope, and dominant land cover for each den site, and used maximum entropy modeling to determine which variables best predicted den sites. We identified the global model as the best-fitting model for adult female (area under curve (AUC = 0.926 and elevation as the best predictive variable for adult male (AUC = 0.880 den sites. The model containing land cover and elevation best-predicted juvenile (AUC = 0.841 den sites. Adult females spatially segregated from adult males, with dens characterized by higher elevations (mean= 1,412 m, SE = 52 and steeper slopes (mean = 21.9°, SE = 1.1 than adult male (elevation: mean = 1,209 m, SE = 76; slope: mean = 15.6°, SE = 1.9 den sites. Juveniles used a broad range of landscape attributes but did not avoid adult male denning areas. Observed spatial segregation by adult females supports the sex hypothesis of sexual segregation and we suggest is a mechanism to reduce risk of infanticide. Den site selection of adult males is likely related to distribution of food resources during spring.

  20. Are age and sex differences in brain oxytocin receptors related to maternal and infanticidal behavior in naïve mice?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olazábal, Daniel E; Alsina-Llanes, Marcela

    2016-01-01

    This article is part of a Special Issue "Parental Care". There is significant variability in the behavioral responses displayed by naïve young and adult mice when first exposed to pups. This variability has been associated with differences in the expression of oxytocin receptors (OXTRs) in the brain in several species. Experiment I investigated the behavioral responses of juvenile, adolescent, and adult CB57BL/6 males and females when first exposed to pups. We found an age increase in maternal females (11% of juveniles, 20% of adolescents, and 50% of young adults), and infanticidal males (0% of juveniles, 30% of adolescents, 44.5% of young adults, and 100% of older adults). Experiment II investigated OXTR density in the brain of juvenile and adult mice. Our results revealed an age decline in the density of OXTR in several brain regions, including the lateral septum, cingulated and posterior paraventricular thalamic nucleus in both males and females. Adult females had higher OXTR density in the ventromedial nucleus/postero-ventral hypothalamus (VMH) and the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB), but lower density in the ventral region of the lateral septum (LSv) than juveniles. Males had lower OXTR density in the anterior olfactory area (AOA) compared to juveniles. No age or sex differences were found in the medial preoptic area, and amygdaloid nuclei, among other brain regions. This study suggests that 1) maturation of parental and infanticidal behavioral responses is not reached until adulthood; 2) the pattern of development of OXTR in the mouse brain is unique, region specific, and differs from that observed in other rodents; 3) either up or down regulation of OXTR in a few brain regions (VMH/AOB/LSv/AOA) might contribute to age or sex differences in parental or infanticidal behavior. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Reflections on the care delivered in a suspected case of infanticide Reflexiones sobre la atención de un caso de sospecha de infanticidio Reflexões sobre a assistência de um caso de suspeita de infanticídio

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edson Arthur Scherer

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available This study resulted from the experience of supervising a suspected infanticide case hospitalized at a psychiatric ward. We aimed to find support in scientific literature about infanticide, point out an interdisciplinary health team's affliction and uncertainties when faced with this kind of case and suggest strategies for dealing with these feelings and their possible consequences in dealing with this case. Professionals involved in this case observed their discomfort about the situation and difficulties caused by feelings of guilt about the child's death, whether intentional or not. Specialists suggests that the relation between psychiatry and the law should be facilitated by demedicalizing the crime, including socioeconomic factors, comorbidities, domestic violence, cultural norms etc. The team must try and learn from these mothers, overcoming their anger or repulsion with compassion and courage to understand infanticide.El presente estudio resulta de la experiencia del trabajo de supervisión de un caso de una persona sospecha de haber cometido infanticidio internada en una Enfermería de Psiquiatría. El objetivo fue buscar respaldo en literatura científica sobre infanticidio, denotar las aflicciones e incertidumbre que un equipo psiquiátrico interdisciplinario puede encontrar cuando colocada frente al acompañamiento de un caso como este y sugerir estrategias para lidiar con tales sentimientos y sus posibles consecuencias en el manejo del caso. Profesionales envueltos en el atendimiento denotaran desaliento frente a la situación y dificultades con sentimientos relacionados a la culpabilidad en la muerte del niño, intencional o no. Estudiosos sugieren facilitar la relación entre psiquiatría y ley a través de la desmedicalización del delito, incluyendo factores socioeconómicos, comorbidad, violencias domesticas, normas culturales y otros. El equipo debe procurar aprender con estas madres, superando la rabia o la repulsa con compasi

  2. Missing girls in India: infanticide, feticide and made-to-order pregnancies? Insights from hospital-based sex-ratio-at-birth over the last century.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahni, Mohit; Verma, Neeraj; Narula, D; Varghese, Raji Mathew; Sreenivas, V; Puliyel, Jacob M

    2008-05-21

    There are 44 million missing women in India. Gender bias; neglect of girls, infanticides and feticides are responsible. The sex ratio at birth can be used to examine the influence of antenatal sex selection on the sex ratio. Records from 321,991 deliveries at one hospital over 11 decades were utilized. The middle year in each decade was taken as representative of the decade. Data from 33,524 deliveries were then analyzed. Data for each decade was combined with that of previous decades and compared to the data of subsequent decades to look for any change in the trend. Sex ratio in the second children against sex of the first child was studied separately. The mean sex ratio for the 110 years examined was 910 girls to 1000 boys (95% CI; 891 to 930). The sex ratio dropped significantly from 935 (CI: 905 to 967) before 1979, to 892 (CI: 868 to 918) after 1980 (P = 0.04). The sex ratio in the second child was significantly lower if the first child was a girl [716 (CI: 672 to 762] (Psex ratio fell significantly after 1980 when ultra sound machines for antenatal sex determination became available. The sex ratio in second children if the first was a girl was even lower. Sex selective abortions after antenatal sex determination are thus implicated. However data on second children especially the excess of girls born to mothers who have a previous boy seen in the decade before the advent of antenatal ultra sound machines, suggests that other means of sex selection are also used.

  3. Development-dependent behavioral change toward pups and synaptic transmission in the rhomboid nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amano, Taiju; Shindo, Sayaka; Yoshihara, Chihiro; Tsuneoka, Yousuke; Uki, Haruka; Minami, Masabumi; Kuroda, Kumi O

    2017-05-15

    Sexually naïve male C57BL/6 mice aggressively bite unfamiliar pups. This behavior, called infanticide, is considered an adaptive reproductive strategy of males of polygamous species. We recently found that the rhomboid nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTrh) is activated during infanticide and that the bilateral excitotoxic lesions of BSTrh suppress infanticidal behavior. Here we show that 3-week-old male C57BL/6 mice rarely engaged in infanticide and instead, provided parental care toward unfamiliar pups, consistent with observations in rats and other rodent species. This inhibition of infanticide at the periweaning period is functional because the next litter will be born at approximately the time of weaning of the previous litter through maternal postpartum ovulation. However, the mechanism of this age-dependent behavioral change is unknown. Therefore, we performed whole-cell patch clamp recordings of BSTrh and compared evoked neurotransmission in response to the stimulation of the stria terminalis of adult and 3-week-old male mice. Although we were unable to detect a significant difference in the amplitudes of inhibitory neurotransmission, the amplitudes and the paired-pulse ratio of evoked excitatory postsynaptic currents differed between adult and 3-week-old mice. These data suggest that maturation of the synaptic terminal in BSTrh that occurred later than 3 weeks after birth may mediate by the adaptive change from parental to infanticidal behavior in male mice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Missing Girls in India: Infanticide, Feticide and Made-to-Order Pregnancies? Insights from Hospital-Based Sex-Ratio-at-Birth over the Last Century

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahni, Mohit; Verma, Neeraj; Narula, D.; Varghese, Raji Mathew; Sreenivas, V.; Puliyel, Jacob M.

    2008-01-01

    Background There are 44 million missing women in India. Gender bias; neglect of girls, infanticides and feticides are responsible. The sex ratio at birth can be used to examine the influence of antenatal sex selection on the sex ratio. Materials and Methods Records from 321,991 deliveries at one hospital over 11 decades were utilized. The middle year in each decade was taken as representative of the decade. Data from 33,524 deliveries were then analyzed. Data for each decade was combined with that of previous decades and compared to the data of subsequent decades to look for any change in the trend. Sex ratio in the second children against sex of the first child was studied separately. Results The mean sex ratio for the 110 years examined was 910 girls to 1000 boys (95% CI; 891 to 930). The sex ratio dropped significantly from 935 (CI: 905 to 967) before 1979, to 892 (CI: 868 to 918) after 1980 (P = 0.04). The sex ratio in the second child was significantly lower if the first child was a girl [716 (CI: 672 to 762] (P<0.001). On the other hand, there was an excess of girls born to mothers whose first child was boy [1140 girls per 1000 boys (CI: 1072 to 1212 P<0.001)]. Conclusions The sex ratio fell significantly after 1980 when ultra sound machines for antenatal sex determination became available. The sex ratio in second children if the first was a girl was even lower. Sex selective abortions after antenatal sex determination are thus implicated. However data on second children especially the excess of girls born to mothers who have a previous boy seen in the decade before the advent of antenatal ultra sound machines, suggests that other means of sex selection are also used. PMID:18493614

  5. Infant Mortality Risk and Paternity Certainty Are Associated with Postnatal Maternal Behavior toward Adult Male Mountain Gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenbaum, Stacy; Hirwa, Jean Paul; Silk, Joan B.; Vigilant, Linda; Stoinski, Tara S.

    2016-01-01

    Sexually selected infanticide is an important source of infant mortality in many mammalian species. In species with long-term male-female associations, females may benefit from male protection against infanticidal outsiders. We tested whether mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) mothers in single and multi-male groups monitored by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s Karisoke Research Center actively facilitated interactions between their infants and a potentially protective male. We also evaluated the criteria mothers in multi-male groups used to choose a preferred male social partner. In single male groups, where infanticide risk and paternity certainty are high, females with infants <1 year old spent more time near and affiliated more with males than females without young infants. In multi-male groups, where infanticide rates and paternity certainty are lower, mothers with new infants exhibited few behavioral changes toward males. The sole notable change was that females with young infants proportionally increased their time near males they previously spent little time near when compared to males they had previously preferred, perhaps to encourage paternity uncertainty and deter aggression. Rank was a much better predictor of females’ social partner choice than paternity. Older infants (2–3 years) in multi-male groups mirrored their mothers’ preferences for individual male social partners; 89% spent the most time in close proximity to the male their mother had spent the most time near when they were <1 year old. Observed discrepancies between female behavior in single and multi-male groups likely reflect different levels of postpartum intersexual conflict; in groups where paternity certainty and infanticide risk are both high, male-female interests align and females behave accordingly. This highlights the importance of considering individual and group-level variation when evaluating intersexual conflict across the reproductive cycle. PMID:26863300

  6. Infant Mortality Risk and Paternity Certainty Are Associated with Postnatal Maternal Behavior toward Adult Male Mountain Gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stacy Rosenbaum

    Full Text Available Sexually selected infanticide is an important source of infant mortality in many mammalian species. In species with long-term male-female associations, females may benefit from male protection against infanticidal outsiders. We tested whether mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei mothers in single and multi-male groups monitored by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund's Karisoke Research Center actively facilitated interactions between their infants and a potentially protective male. We also evaluated the criteria mothers in multi-male groups used to choose a preferred male social partner. In single male groups, where infanticide risk and paternity certainty are high, females with infants <1 year old spent more time near and affiliated more with males than females without young infants. In multi-male groups, where infanticide rates and paternity certainty are lower, mothers with new infants exhibited few behavioral changes toward males. The sole notable change was that females with young infants proportionally increased their time near males they previously spent little time near when compared to males they had previously preferred, perhaps to encourage paternity uncertainty and deter aggression. Rank was a much better predictor of females' social partner choice than paternity. Older infants (2-3 years in multi-male groups mirrored their mothers' preferences for individual male social partners; 89% spent the most time in close proximity to the male their mother had spent the most time near when they were <1 year old. Observed discrepancies between female behavior in single and multi-male groups likely reflect different levels of postpartum intersexual conflict; in groups where paternity certainty and infanticide risk are both high, male-female interests align and females behave accordingly. This highlights the importance of considering individual and group-level variation when evaluating intersexual conflict across the reproductive cycle.

  7. Mate replacement and alloparental care in Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Datta, Shubham; Inselman, Will M.; Jenks, Jonathan A.; Jensen, Kent C.; Swanson, Christopher C.; Klaver, Robert W.; Sasmal, Indrani; Grovenburg, Troy W.

    2015-01-01

    Alloparental care (i.e., care for unrelated offspring) has been documented in various avian species (Maxson 1978, Smith et al. 1996, Tella et al. 1997, Lislevand et al. 2001, Literak and Mraz 2011). A male replacement mate that encounters existing broods has options, which include alloparental care or infanticide. Infanticide may be beneficial in some species (Rohwer 1986, Kermott et al. 1990), but in long-lived avian species, like the ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) that do not renest within a season, infanticide might be detrimental. Adoption and rearing success likely provide direct evidence of competence of replacement mates as potential parents for future seasons, a benefit that might outweigh the investment of time and effort associated with adoption and rearing (after Rohwer 1986). Anticipated mating opportunity at the cost of adoption (Gori et al. 1996, Rohwer et al. 1999) may explain step-parental benevolence and therefore, in such a scenario would enhance individual fitness through subsequent recruitment of related young.

  8. Sport hunting, predator control and conservation of large carnivores.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Craig Packer

    Full Text Available Sport hunting has provided important economic incentives for conserving large predators since the early 1970's, but wildlife managers also face substantial pressure to reduce depredation. Sport hunting is an inherently risky strategy for controlling predators as carnivore populations are difficult to monitor and some species show a propensity for infanticide that is exacerbated by removing adult males. Simulation models predict population declines from even moderate levels of hunting in infanticidal species, and harvest data suggest that African countries and U.S. states with the highest intensity of sport hunting have shown the steepest population declines in African lions and cougars over the past 25 yrs. Similar effects in African leopards may have been masked by mesopredator release owing to declines in sympatric lion populations, whereas there is no evidence of overhunting in non-infanticidal populations of American black bears. Effective conservation of these animals will require new harvest strategies and improved monitoring to counter demands for predator control by livestock producers and local communities.

  9. Tentativa de infanticídio por um macho dominante de Alouatta caraya (Humboldt (Primates, Atelidae em um infante extra-grupo devido a influência do observador Infanticide attempt by a dominant male of Alouatta caraya (Humboldt (Primates, Atelidae against an extra-group infant due to the influence of the observer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucas M. Aguiar

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available Este trabalho relata um caso de tentativa de infanticídio por um macho residente e dominante de um grupo de Alouatta caraya (Humboldt, 1812 em um infante extra-grupo, em ilha do rio Paraná, Paraná, Brasil. O encontro do par fêmea-infante com o macho residente foi propiciado pela interferência humana. Devido às circunstâncias em que ocorreu o fato e a posição hierárquica do agressor, a hipótese de patologia social pareceu plausível na explicação do comportamento.This work reports on an infanticide attempt by a dominant resident male in a group of Alouatta caraya (Humboldt, 1812 on an extra-group infant in an Island in the Paraná river, Paraná, Brazil. The encounter of an infant-female pair with a resident male was brought about by human interference. Give the circumstances in which the event ocurred and the hierarchical position of the agressor, the social pathology hypothesis seems the most plausible explanation for such behavior.

  10. Son Preference in China and India : Policy Interventions to address ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    ... form, at its most extreme shifting from female infanticide to sex-selective abortion. Both countries have enacted laws to combat gender-based discrimination in ... in China and India that have attempted to address discrimination against girls.

  11. Madagascar Conservation & Development

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    www.journalmcd.com

    2012-02-19

    Feb 19, 2012 ... MADAGASCAR CONSERVATION & DEVELOPMENT. VOLUME 7 ... die within a short period of time (e.g., infanticide) (Erhart and. Overdorff 1998 .... been as deep or may have healed by the time of examination. Falls during ...

  12. A dubious defense of 'after-birth abortion': A reply to Räsänen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaczor, Christopher

    2018-02-01

    Scholars have offered various critiques of Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva's controversial article, 'After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live?' My book The Ethics of Abortion: Women's Rights, Human Life, and the Question of Justice presents four such critiques. First, Giubilini and Minerva argue from the deeply controversial to the even more controversial. Second, they presuppose a false view of personal identity called body-self dualism. Third, their view cannot secure human equality. And fourth, their account of harm cannot account for harm found in some cases of murder. In the article, 'Pro-life arguments against infanticide and why they are not convincing', J. Räsänen examines and finds wanting these four critiques. This essay responds to Räsänen's defense of infanticide and argues that his responses to the four objections fail. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  13. Individual variation in paternal responses of virgin male California mice (Peromyscus californicus): behavioral and physiological correlates

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Jong, T.R.; Korosi, A.; Harris, B.N.; Perea-Rodriguez, J.P.; Saltzman, W.

    2012-01-01

    California mice Peromyscus californicus are a rodent species in which fathers provide extensive paternal care; however, behavioral responses of virgin males toward conspecific neonates vary from paternal behavior to tolerance to infanticide. Indirect evidence suggests that paternal responses might

  14. Intra-specific variation in social organization of gorillas: implications for their social evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamagiwa, Juichi; Kahekwa, John; Basabose, Augustin Kanyunyi

    2003-10-01

    We analysed intra-specific variation in the social organization of gorillas and ecological and social factors influencing them, based on recent data on diet, day journey length, home range size, group size and proportion of multi-male groups in three subspecies [western lowland gorillas (WLG); eastern lowland gorillas (ELG); mountain gorillas (MG)]. Median group size was similar across subspecies and across habitats, but the extraordinarily large group including >30 gorillas was only found in habitat with dense terrestrial herbaceous vegetation. Within-group competition may determine the upper limit of group size in frugivorous WLGs and ELGs in lowland habitats with scarce undergrowth. A frugivorous diet may be a causal factor of subgrouping in multi-male groups of WLGs and ELGs, while a folivorous diet may prevent subgrouping in multi-male groups of MGs. Social factors, rather than ecological factors, may play an important role in the formation of multi-male groups and their cohesiveness in MGs. High gregariousness of female gorillas and their prolonged association with a protector male are explained by their vulnerability to both infanticide (MGs) and predators (ELGs). Comparison of long-term changes in group composition and individual movements between ELGs in Kahuzi and MGs in the Virungas suggest that the occurrence of infanticide may promote kin-male association within a group. Threat of infanticide may stimulate MG females to transfer into multi-male groups to seek reliable protection and maturing MG males to stay in their natal groups after maturity. By contrast, the absence of infanticide may facilitate ELG females to associate with infants and other females at transfer and ELG males to establish large groups in a short period by taking females from their natal groups, by luring females from neighbouring groups, or by takeover of a widow group after the death of its leading male. These conditions may prevent ELG and WLG maturing males from remaining to

  15. Paternity testing and behavioral ecology: a case study of jaguars (Panthera onca in Emas National Park, Central Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thannya Nascimento Soares

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available We used microsatellite loci to test the paternity of two male jaguars involved in an infanticide event recorded during a long-term monitoring program of this species. Seven microsatellite primers originally developed for domestic cats and previously selected for Panthera onca were used. In order to deal with uncertainty in the mother's genotypes for some of the loci, 10000 values of W were derived by simulation procedures. The male that killed the two cubs was assigned as the true sire. Although the reasons for this behavior remain obscure, it shows, in principle, a low recognition of paternity and kinship in the species. Since the two cubs were not very young, one possibility is that the adult male did not recognize the cubs and killed them for simple territorial reasons. Thus, ecological stress in this local population becomes a very plausible explanation for this infanticide, without further sociobiological implications.

  16. A perspective on the PCPNDT Act

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A Murali Mohan Patnaik

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: An important modern diagnostic tool, used for monitoring pregnancy and genetic defects; the ultrasound machine, has also become a selective killer of the female child. The male child preference in India was responsible for female infanticides in the past. With easy availability and accessibility of USG, a shift has occurred from infanticide to feticide, although female infanticides still continue. In the process doctors are blamed as "merchants of death". Peeved and pressed by national and internal agencies for the declining female child ratio (0-6 years, the Government of India reacted by enacting a stringent PC-PNDT Act almost solely aimed at doctors to prevent them from advertising and disclosing the sex of the fetus to the pregnant woman or her relatives. Since the enactment, hundreds of cases have been launched against the doctors. Aims: 1. In order to stand up to the law important sections and rules of the PC-PNDT Act have been analyzed for the benefit of our colleagues. 2. The Indian legal system rests the "burden of proof" on the prosecution. In two sections of The Act, these have been done away with. Instead, the accused doctor has to prove himself innocent. Therefore a demand has been made to make suitable amendments to The Act in this regard. 3. The inclusion of column numbers 9-19 in the form ′F′ is not relevant for USG clinics/ imaging centers; inaccurate filling of which may attract a prison sentence of 3 years. This irrelevance has to be deleted. 4. Some suggestions.

  17. Language, History and Culture in Bessie Head's "a Question of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Through the interrelationship between language culture and history we have established homosexuality and other forms of perversions in Bessie Head's A Question of Power; Sethe's infanticide in Toni Morrison's Beloved, and Amoo's murder of his wife and his scarifying of his daughter in Sembéne Ousmane's Tribal Marks.

  18. Recent records of megalopae of the crab Varuna litterata· (Fabr ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    BERTRAM, B.C.R. 1975. Social factors influencing reproduction in wild lions. J. Zool., Lond. In: 463-482. BALFOUR, O. 1983. Infanticide in the Columbian ground squirrel, Spermophilus columbian us. Anim. BehtTV. 31: 949-950. HAMILTON, W.O. 1964. The genetical evolution of social behaviour. J. Theor. Bioi. 7: 1 - 52.

  19. China: An Unlikely Economic Hegemon

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Chinese cul- ture favors male offspring, leading to some female infanticide, or more commonly, sex - selective abortions . Therefore, “In about 20 or 25...Crisis.” 71. Ibid. 72. Meyer, China or Japan, 56. 73. Somnath Chatterji et al., “The Health of Aging Populations in China and India ,” Health Affairs 27

  20. Violence and injury mortality in the Cape Town metropole

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    mortality in a South African city and demonstrate the utility of secondary ... accidents (1 130 cases; 29% of all non-natural mortality), fire (295 .... Infanticide and fatal child abuse, according to police recOf'ds. Table Ill. .... 10 the USA, targets for the reduction of injury and violence mortality ... The Department of Health recently.

  1. Author Details

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Aneni, Monica Omoye. Vol 14, No 2 (2013) - Articles Interrogating Infanticide/ Child Euthanasia in the Roman Christian Era, Vis-À-Vis the Abuja Practice Abstract PDF. ISSN: 1595-1413. AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL... for Researchers · for Librarians · for Authors · FAQ's · More about AJOL · AJOL's ...

  2. Non-accidental dettol poisoning in a 3 day old neonate : a rare form ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2015-02-26

    Feb 26, 2015 ... non-accidental poisoning with dettol® in a neonate. This report presents ... health facility located in Kano city; pregnancy, labour and delivery .... risks undetected as it nearly happened in our index pa- tient. It is equally ... P O, Saliu R O, Adafalu M O. Infanticide in ... hood Non-food poisoning in. Aminu Kano ...

  3. Hakani e a campanha contra o infanticídio indígena: percepções contrastantes de humanidade e pessoa na Amazônia brasileira Hakani and the campaign against native infanticide: clashing perceptions of humanness and personhood in Brazilian Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Santos-Granero

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available O presente artigo examina o debate, desencadeado pela campanha da ONG ATINI-Voz pela Vida e travado tanto no ciberespaço quanto na mídia brasileira, a respeito do infanticídio na Amazônia. Argumenta que este debate foi levado adiante em termos ocidentais-o suposto isomorfismo entre as noções de "humanidade" e "pessoa"-e, como tal, contribui pouco para entender esta incomum prática indígena. Para evitar o duplo risco do "imperialismo cultural" e do "relativismo cultural", adota um ponto de vista indígena, sustentando que os indígenas amazônicos consideram humanidade e pessoa como "estados de existência" independentes. Explora esta percepção por meio da análise de uma série de "instantâneos" etnográficos, à luz dos recentes desenvolvimentos teóricos, e conclui que, ao invés de confirmar o "primitivismo" das sociedades indígenas da Amazônia, este debate expõe a fratura da noção ocidental de "humano/pessoa", bem como a profunda- embora potencialmente positiva- crise do "moderno" pensamento ocidental.This article examines the debate on native Amazonian infanticide triggered by the lobbying of the NGO ATINI-Voice for Life in both cyberspace and the Brazilian media. It argues that this debate has been carried out in Western terms- the supposed isomorphism between the notions of 'humanness' and 'personhood'- and, as such, contributes little to understanding this unusual indigenous practice. To avoid the dual peril of 'cultural imperialism' and 'cultural relativism,' the article adopts a native point of view. The article contends that native Amazonians consider humanness and personhood as independent 'states of being.' It explores this perception through the analysis of a series of ethnographic 'snapshots' in the light of recent theoretical developments. The author concludes that rather than confirming the 'primitiveness' of native Amazonian societies, this debate exposes the fracture of the Western notion of 'human/person,' as

  4. Homicidal abuse of young children: A historical perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Rudy J Castellani; Joyce L deJong; Carl J Schmidt

    2017-01-01

    The past 50 years has seen a heightened awareness of abusive injury patterns and increased concern for the plight of children victimized by their caregivers. Murder of the young, however, has been embedded in society since the beginning of recorded time. Indeed, nature provides abundant examples of infanticide in lower animals, raising the question of whether exploitation, apathy, and violence toward children are on some level evolutionarily conserved. In human antiquity, selective killing of...

  5. Changes in the differential treatment of Rajput girls in Khalapur: 1955-1975.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Minturn, L

    1984-01-01

    view of the extensive literature on the rare practice of female infanticide, it is somewhat surprising that indirect female infanticide from medical and nutritional neglect of girls, has received little attention, since indirect infanticide is probably more widespread and frequent.

  6. The 50 Million Missing Women

    OpenAIRE

    Allahbadia, Gautam N.

    2002-01-01

    The epidemic of gender selection is ravaging countries like India & China. Approximately fifty million women are “missing” in the Indian population. Generally three principle causes are given: female infanticide, better food and health care for boys and maternal death at childbirth. Prenatal sex determination and the abortion of female fetuses threatens to skew the sex ratio to new highs. Estimates of the number of female fetuses being destroyed every year in India vary from two million to fi...

  7. Homicides against infants, children and adolescents in Budapest (1960-2005).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Töro, Klára; Fehér, Szilvia; Farkas, Katalin; Dunay, György

    2010-11-01

    The objective of this study was to determine the characteristics and trends of fatal child abuse that would assist family doctors in detecting signs of maltreatment. There were 363 (193 males, 170 females) such cases autopsied at the Department of Forensic and Insurance Medicine at Budapest from 1960 to 2005. Information was collected from forensic autopsy records. Data were analyzed according to age, gender, type of abuse, injured body region, and seasonal distribution. The first detection of fatal injuries and death certification were usually done by GPs or ambulance at the scene of the homicide or hospital paediatricians in cases with survival period between the injuries and death. Our results suggest a definitive decrease in fatal child abuse cases during the investigated period. In the first part of study period suffocation of infants represent a great number of cases. Infanticide rapidly dropped after the mid 1970s. In this material 89.3% of fatal cases was detected and reported by family doctors. Rate of homicides against infants, children and adolescents reflect the effectiveness of the preventative strategies, the child protection policy and the unique primary health care system for youth. GPs have an important role in the investigation of infanticides and homicide cases against children and adolescents. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

  8. Violence against women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1995-04-01

    Domestic violence constitutes historical behavior in accord with patriarchal systems. Family and domestic violence includes female infanticide, higher female mortality, female genital mutilation, bride burning, rape, wife battering, and early marriage. These practices are commonly integrated into values and beliefs. Women accept domestic violence in violation of their basic human rights due to social prejudice and low self esteem. Mothers who perpetuate female genital mutilation believe that they are acting in the best interests of the child by adhering to centuries-long traditions. Women who allow female infanticide or female abortion are motivated to do so in order to maintain the security of their marriage. Women are in unequal power relationships and submit to their own detriment. Negative attitudes against women are perpetuated through incorrect interpretations of religious principles and myths. Economic self-reliance gives women the courage to stand up against domestic violence. Empowerment through education and appropriate and protective legislation also gives women the means to fight violence. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) at the national, regional, and international levels are active in creating awareness of domestic violence and influencing policy change. The NGO Working Group on Traditional Practices and the Inter-African Committee have a 10-year history of fighting against practices such as female genital mutilation. In order to bring about change, there must be cooperative and joint action among governmental and inter-governmental groups and NGOs.

  9. Mortality in children among the Aymara Indians of southern Peru.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Meer, K

    1988-01-01

    During the fieldwork on illness in children in an Aymara peasant community in Southern Peru, data was collected on child mortality. In 35 families surveyed in the village, the total child mortality rate was estimated diachronically at 380 per 1,000 live births. The majority of the child death in these families occurred in the first days after birth. These deaths were also counted as perinatal deaths, and thus the perinatal mortality rate was found to be high as well at 252 per 1,000 total births (99% confidence interval: 181-330 per 1,000). Congenital malformations incompatible with life, neonatal tetanus, and other neonatal disorders did not have an especially high frequency in the village. These disorders seem to explain only a part of the early neonatal deaths responsible for the high mortality rates in children. As perinatal deaths were concentrated in 13 of the 35 families in the survey (especially in those families with many total births and at least two living children), the possibility of infanticide was put forward to explain the high death rates in children in the first days of life. This hypothesis was supported by practices in the village concerning the baptism of dead children by which the cause of death was left unsanctioned. Infanticide could be important to curb recent and future population growth and the resulting pressure on the land.

  10. A newborn infant chimpanzee snatched and cannibalized immediately after birth: Implications for "maternity leave" in wild chimpanzee.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nishie, Hitonaru; Nakamura, Michio

    2018-01-01

    This study reports on the first observed case of a wild chimpanzee infant being snatched immediately after delivery and consequently cannibalized by an adult male in the Mahale Mountains, Tanzania. We demonstrate "maternity leave" from long-term data from the Mahale M group and suggest that it functions as a possible counterstrategy of mother chimpanzees against the risk of infanticide soon after delivery. The subjects of this study were the M group chimpanzees at Mahale Mountains, Tanzania. The case of cannibalism was observed on December 2, 2014. We used the long-term daily attendance record of the M group chimpanzees between 1990 and 2010 to calculate the lengths of "maternity leave," a perinatal period during which a mother chimpanzee tends to hide herself and gives birth alone. We observed a very rare case of delivery in a wild chimpanzee group. A female chimpanzee gave birth in front of other members, and an adult male snatched and cannibalized the newborn infant immediately after birth. Using the long-term data, we demonstrate that the length of "maternity leave" is longer than that of nonmaternity leave among adult and adolescent female chimpanzees. We argue that this cannibalism event immediately after birth occurred due to the complete lack of "maternity leave" of the mother chimpanzee of the victim, who might lack enough experience of delivery. We suggest that "maternity leave" taken by expecting mothers may function as a possible counterstrategy against infanticide soon after delivery. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. Educação e infanticídio Education and infanticide

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leandro de Lajonquière

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Problematiza-se a idéia corrente sobre o amor que os adultos de hoje professam a respeito das crianças, esclarecido graças à ciência. A diferença entre as figuras do estrangeiro, do selvagem e do extraterrestre, bem como o recurso ao raciocínio psicanalítico, permite ao autor elucidar os destinos possíveis que os adultos reservam fantasmaticamente às crianças. O destino de uma educação estaria, em parte, atrelado a cada uma dessas formas "adultas" de se receber uma criança no mundo.The current idea about the love adults nowadays express towards children enlightened by the scientific knowledge is questioned. The difference between the foreigner, the savage and the extraterrestrial figures besides the resources of the psychoanalytical thought allowed the author to elucidate the possible fates that adults phantasmatically reserve to children. The destiny of an education would be, in part, linked to each of these "adult" forms of receiving a child in the world.

  12. Tackling female infanticide and sex selection in Tamil Nadu a failure?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    S. Srinivasan (Sharada); A.S. Bedi (Arjun Singh)

    2012-01-01

    textabstractThis response to "Declining Child Sex Ratio and Sex Selection in India: A Demographic Epiphany"? (EPW, 18 August 2012) argues that contrary to the assertion in that article, state and non-governmental organisation interventions seem to have played an important role in reversing the

  13. An analysis of account holders acceptability and satisfaction towards Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY)

    OpenAIRE

    R., Venkatesh.

    2018-01-01

    The 15th census of India, carried out in the year 2011, states that the sex ratio of India is still 943 female per 1000 male population.  This data proves the existence of two important social evils, namely, female foeticide and female infanticide, which are rampant in the Indian society. Till late, there was great tendency among people in India to get the sex of the unborn child medically tested and get the pregnancy terminated if it was female.  Many were so cruel that they tend to kill the...

  14. The 50 million missing women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allahbadia, Gautam N

    2002-09-01

    The epidemic of gender selection is ravaging countries like India & China. Approximately fifty million women are "missing" in the Indian population. Generally three principle causes are given: female infanticide, better food and health care for boys and maternal death at childbirth. Prenatal sex determination and the abortion of female fetuses threatens to skew the sex ratio to new highs. Estimates of the number of female fetuses being destroyed every year in India vary from two million to five million. This review from India attempts to summarize all the currently available methods of sex selection and also highlights the current medical practice regards the subject in south-east Asia.

  15. Gender Differences in Homicide of Neonates, Infants, and Children under 5 y in South Africa: Results from the Cross-Sectional 2009 National Child Homicide Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abrahams, Naeemah; Mathews, Shanaaz; Martin, Lorna J; Lombard, Carl; Nannan, Nadine; Jewkes, Rachel

    2016-04-01

    Homicide of children is a global problem. The under-5-y age group is the second largest homicide age group after 15-19 y olds, but has received little research attention. Understanding age and gender patterns is important for assisting with developing prevention interventions. Here we present an age and gender analysis of homicides among children under 5 y in South Africa from a national study that included a focus on neonaticide and infanticide. A retrospective national cross-sectional study was conducted using a random sample of 38 medico-legal laboratories operating in 2009 to identify homicides of children under 5 y. Child data were abstracted from the mortuary files and autopsy reports, and both child and perpetrator data data were collected from police interviews. We erred towards applying a conservative definition of homicide and excluded sudden infant death syndrome cases. We estimated that 454 (95% CI 366, 541) children under the age of 5 y were killed in South Africa in 2009. More than half (53.2%; 95% CI 46.7%, 59.5%) were neonates (0-28 d), and 74.4% (95% CI 69.3%, 78.9%) were infants (under 1 y), giving a neonaticide rate of 19.6 per 100,000 live births and an infanticide rate of 28.4 per 100,000 live births. The majority of the neonates died in the early neonatal period (0-6 d), and abandonment accounted for 84.9% (95% CI 81.5%, 87.8%) of all the neonates killed. Distinct age and gender patterns were found, with significantly fewer boy children killed in rural settings compared to urban settings (odds ratio 0.6; 95% CI 0.4, 0.9; p = 0.015). Abuse-related killings and evidence of sexual assault were more common among older girls than in all other age and gender groups. Mothers were identified as the perpetrators in all of the neonaticides and were the most common perpetrators overall (71.0%; 95% CI 63.9%, 77.2%). Abandoned neonates were mainly term babies, with a mean gestational age of 38 wk. We did not have information on abandonment motives for all

  16. Gender Differences in Homicide of Neonates, Infants, and Children under 5 y in South Africa: Results from the Cross-Sectional 2009 National Child Homicide Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naeemah Abrahams

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Homicide of children is a global problem. The under-5-y age group is the second largest homicide age group after 15-19 y olds, but has received little research attention. Understanding age and gender patterns is important for assisting with developing prevention interventions. Here we present an age and gender analysis of homicides among children under 5 y in South Africa from a national study that included a focus on neonaticide and infanticide.A retrospective national cross-sectional study was conducted using a random sample of 38 medico-legal laboratories operating in 2009 to identify homicides of children under 5 y. Child data were abstracted from the mortuary files and autopsy reports, and both child and perpetrator data data were collected from police interviews. We erred towards applying a conservative definition of homicide and excluded sudden infant death syndrome cases. We estimated that 454 (95% CI 366, 541 children under the age of 5 y were killed in South Africa in 2009. More than half (53.2%; 95% CI 46.7%, 59.5% were neonates (0-28 d, and 74.4% (95% CI 69.3%, 78.9% were infants (under 1 y, giving a neonaticide rate of 19.6 per 100,000 live births and an infanticide rate of 28.4 per 100,000 live births. The majority of the neonates died in the early neonatal period (0-6 d, and abandonment accounted for 84.9% (95% CI 81.5%, 87.8% of all the neonates killed. Distinct age and gender patterns were found, with significantly fewer boy children killed in rural settings compared to urban settings (odds ratio 0.6; 95% CI 0.4, 0.9; p = 0.015. Abuse-related killings and evidence of sexual assault were more common among older girls than in all other age and gender groups. Mothers were identified as the perpetrators in all of the neonaticides and were the most common perpetrators overall (71.0%; 95% CI 63.9%, 77.2%. Abandoned neonates were mainly term babies, with a mean gestational age of 38 wk. We did not have information on abandonment

  17. Selective Reproductive Technologies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gammeltoft, Tine; Wahlberg, Ayo

    2014-01-01

    From a historical perspective, selective reproduction is nothing new. Infanticide, abandonment, and selective neglect of children have a long history, and the widespread deployment of sterilization and forced abortion in the twentieth century has been well documented. Yet in recent decades select......, discussing how selective reproduction engages with issues of long-standing theoretical concern in anthropology, such as politics, kinship, gender, religion, globalization, and inequality....... (ARTs), what we term selective reproductive technologies (SRTs) are of a more specific nature: Rather than aiming to overcome infertility, they are used to prevent or allow the birth of certain kinds of children. This review highlights anthropological research into SRTs in different parts of the world...

  18. Le massacre de la mariée

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bastiaan van der Velden

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Le Massacre des innocents a été pour Marcel Duchamp l’une de ses sources en composant Le Grand Verre. Ce ‘massacre’ est dans ce cas plus précisément une attraction foraine. D’autre part l’infanticide à Bethlehem constitue un sujet maintes fois représenté par différents peintres. Pour Alfred Jarry, auteur littéraire et de théâtre qui a plus particulièrement inspiré Duchamp, le tableau Le Massacre des innocents de Breughel l’Ancien était une pièce clé qui lui permettait de démontrer pourquoi il rejetait l’art historisant en peinture et dans le théâtre.

  19. [Anonymous birth and neonaticide in Tyrol].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danner, C; Pacher, M; Ambach, E; Brezinka, C

    2005-10-01

    In 2001 the Austrian government provided the legal means that formally enabled "anonymous birth": a woman can now give birth in any hospital in Austria without giving her name or insurance number, the baby is taken into care by social services and placed with adoptive parents. The cost of the hospital stay is covered from public funds. These measures were put into effect after some highly publicized cases of infant abandonment and neonaticide in Austria. In the mostly rural and small-town province of Tyrol province in western Austria (687,000 inhabitants, 7000 births per year) four cases of neonaticide were discovered in the years from 1996 to 2004. One child was abandoned inside a hospital. Since 2001 two women have made use of the "anonymous birth" option. Neither had had any pregnancy controls, both showed up at or near term with contractions. They delivered healthy infants that were then taken into care by local adoption services. Both women were extensively counselled by psychologists, social workers, medical and midwifery staff and both insisted on their original decision to remain anonymous. A few weeks later one of the women found herself at the centre of a criminal investigation for infanticide after anonymous letters were sent to family members insinuating she had done away with the child. Police stopped that investigation when hospital staff confirmed that the woman had had an "anonymous" delivery. Despite the option of legal "anonymous" birth free of charge in modern hospitals there are still cases of infant abandonment and neonaticide in Austria. It is proposed that the women who opt for anonymous birth may not be the women who would otherwise kill their babies. Instead, it appears that the women opted for anonymity to escape the probably well-intentioned but overbearing attention of their families and of social services. It is doubtful that the option of anonymous birth will lead to a complete disappearance of infanticide and infant abandonment in

  20. In defence of academic freedom: bioethics journals under siege.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schüklenk, Udo

    2013-05-01

    This article analyses, from a bioethics journal editor's perspective, the threats to academic freedom and freedom of expression that academic bioethicists and academic bioethics journals are subjected to by political activists applying pressure from outside of the academy. I defend bioethicists' academic freedom to reach and defend conclusions many find offensive and 'wrong'. However, I also support the view that academics arguing controversial matters such as, for instance, the moral legitimacy of infanticide should take clear responsibility for the views they defend and should not try to hide behind analytical philosophers' rationales such as wanting to test an argument for the sake of testing an argument. This article proposes that bioethics journals establish higher-quality requirements and more stringent mechanisms of peer review than usual for iconoclastic articles.

  1. The grand leap of the whale up the Niagara Falls: converting philosophical conclusions into policy prescriptions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holm, Søren

    2015-04-01

    This article analyzes a neat conjuring trick employed in bioethics, that is, the immediate conversion of a philosophical conclusion into a policy prescription, and compares it to the "grand leap of the whale up the Niagara Falls" mentioned by Benjamin Franklin. It is shown that there is no simple and easy way to achieve the conversion, by considering arguments falling under four headings: (1) reasonable disagreement about values and theories, (2) general jurisprudential arguments, (3) the differences between policymaking and philosophy, and (4) the messy world of implementation. The particular issue used to illustrate the difficulties in moving from philosophical conclusion to policy description is infanticide of healthy infants, but the analysis is general, and the conclusion that the immediate move to policy is illegitimate is quite general.

  2. Gender imbalance in infant mortality: a cross-national study of social structure and female infanticide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuse, Kana; Crenshaw, Edward M

    2006-01-01

    Sex differentials in infant mortality vary widely across nations. Because newborn girls are biologically advantaged in surviving to their first birthday, sex differentials in infant mortality typically arise from genetic factors that result in higher male infant mortality rates. Nonetheless, there are cases where mortality differentials arise from social or behavioral factors reflecting deliberate discrimination by adults in favor of boys over girls, resulting in atypical male to female infant mortality ratios. This cross-national study of 93 developed and developing countries uses such macro-social theories as modernization theory, gender perspectives, human ecology, and sociobiology/evolutionary psychology to predict gender differentials in infant mortality. We find strong evidence for modernization theory, human ecology, and the evolutionary psychology of group process, but mixed evidence for gender perspectives.

  3. Alpha male replacements in nonhuman primates: Variability in processes, outcomes, and terminology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teichroeb, Julie A; Jack, Katharine M

    2017-07-01

    Alpha male replacements occur in all primates displaying a dominance hierarchy but the process can be extremely variable. Here, we review the primate literature to document differences in patterns of alpha male replacements, showing that group composition and dispersal patterns account for a large proportion of this variability. We also examine the consequences of alpha male replacements in terms of sexual selection theory, infanticide, and group compositions. Though alpha male replacements are often called takeovers in the literature, this term masks much of the variation that is present in these processes. We argue for more concise terminology and provide a list of terms that we suggest more accurately define these events. Finally, we introduce the papers in this special issue on alpha male replacements in the American Journal of Primatology and discuss areas where data are still lacking. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  4. Should policy ethics come in two colours: green or white?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oswald, Malcolm

    2013-05-01

    When writing about policy, do you think in green or white? If not, I recommend that you do. I suggest that writers and journal editors should explicitly label every policy ethics paper either 'green' or 'white'. A green paper is an unconstrained exploration of a policy question. The controversial 'After-birth abortion' paper is an example. Had it been labelled as 'green', readers could have understood what Giubilini and Minerva explained later: that it was a discussion of philosophical ideas, and not a policy proposal advocating infanticide. A serious policy proposal should be labelled by writer(s) and editor(s) as 'white'. Its purpose should be to influence policy. In order to influence policy, I suggest three essential, and two desirable, characteristics of any white paper. Most importantly, a white paper should be set in the context in which the policy is to be made and applied.

  5. Gaby Temme, Christine Künzel (Hg.: Hat Strafrecht ein Geschlecht? Zur Deutung und Bedeutung der Kategorie Geschlecht in strafrechtlichen Diskursen vom 18. Jahrhundert bis heute. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag 2010.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monika Frommel

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Das moderne Strafrecht sollte informelle Geschlechternormen neutralisieren. Dies gelingt auch, kann aber bei der Strafzumessung unterlaufen werden. Wie der vorliegende Band in historisch ausgerichteten Einzelstudien zeigt, war das Strafrecht nie so objektivierend, wie es die Reformen seit den 1970er Jahren anstreben. Am Beispiel der Kindsmörderin wird nachgewiesen, dass der Verstoß gegen Geschlechtertugenden auch heute noch jederzeit mit harten Strafen sanktioniert werden kann.Modern criminal law should neutralize informal gender norms. This is by and large successful; however, it can be circumvented in the assessment of penalty. As shown by the historically orientated individual articles of this anthology, criminal law has never been as objectifying as the reforms since the 1970s are aspiring. Using the example of the female infanticide, the anthology proves that the violation of gender virtues can at all times still be sanctioned with severe penalties.

  6. Suicide During Perinatal Period: Epidemiology, Risk Factors and Clinical Correlates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Orsolini

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Perinatal period may pose a great challenge for the clinical management and treatment of psychiatric disorders in women. In fact, several mental illnesses can arise during pregnancy and/or following childbirth. Suicide and infanticide have been considered relatively rare events during the perinatal period. However, in some mental disorders (i.e. postpartum depression, bipolar disorder, postpartum psychosis, etc. have been reported a higher risk of suicidal ideation, suicide attempt or suicide. Therefore, a complete screening of mothers’ mental health should also take into account thoughts of suicide and thoughts about harming infants as well. Clinicians should carefully monitor and early identify related clinical manifestations, potential risk factors and alarm symptoms related to suicide. The present paper aims at providing a focused review about epidemiological data, risk and protective factors and an overview about the main clinical correlates associated with the suicidal behaviour during the pregnancy and postpartum period.

  7. Satanism, ritual abuse, and multiple personality disorder: a sociohistorical perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulhern, S

    1994-10-01

    During the past decade in North America, a growing number of mental health professionals have reported that between 25% and 50% of their patients in treatment for multiple personality disorder (MPD) have recovered early childhood traumatic memories of ritual torture, incestuous rape, sexual debauchery, sacrificial murder, infanticide, and cannibalism perpetrated by members of clandestine satanic cults. Although hundreds of local and federal police investigations have failed to corroborate patients' therapeutically constructed accounts, because the satanic etiology of MPD is logically coherent with the neodissociative, traumatic theory of psychopathology, conspiracy theory has emerged as the nucleus of a consistent pattern of contemporary clinical interpretation. Resolutely logical and thoroughly operational, ultrascientific psychodemonology remains paradoxically oblivious to its own irrational premises. When the hermetic logic of conspiracy theory is stripped away by historical and socio/psychological analysis, however, the hypothetical perpetrators of satanic ritual abuse simply disappear, leaving in their wake the very real human suffering of all those who have been caught up in the social delusion.

  8. Girl adoption in China-A less-known side of son preference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yuyu; Ebenstein, Avraham; Edlund, Lena; Li, Hongbin

    2015-01-01

    In 1987, 4 per cent of girls were adopted within China. Why? Unlike infanticide, abandonment rids parents of daughters while preserving the supply of potential brides. In fact, an erstwhile tradition common in Fujian and Jiangxi provinces had parents of sons adopting an infant girl to serve as a future daughter-in-law and household help. Analysing a nationally representative 1992 survey of children, we found that: (1) girl adoptions were concentrated in the above-mentioned provinces; (2) girls were predominantly adopted by families with sons; (3) adopted girls faced substantial disadvantage as measured by school attendance at ages 8-13. In the 1990s, as the sex ratio at birth climbed, were girls aborted rather than abandoned? Observing that in the 2000 census too many girls appear in families with older sons, we estimated that at least 1/25 girls were abandoned in the 1990s, a proportion that in Fujian and Jiangxi may have peaked at 1/10 in 1994.

  9. Violence against women: global scope and magnitude.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watts, Charlotte; Zimmerman, Cathy

    2002-04-06

    An increasing amount of research is beginning to offer a global overview of the extent of violence against women. In this paper we discuss the magnitude of some of the most common and most severe forms of violence against women: intimate partner violence; sexual abuse by non-intimate partners; trafficking, forced prostitution, exploitation of labour, and debt bondage of women and girls; physical and sexual violence against prostitutes; sex selective abortion, female infanticide, and the deliberate neglect of girls; and rape in war. There are many potential perpetrators, including spouses and partners, parents, other family members, neighbours, and men in positions of power or influence. Most forms of violence are not unique incidents but are ongoing, and can even continue for decades. Because of the sensitivity of the subject, violence is almost universally under-reported. Nevertheless, the prevalence of such violence suggests that globally, millions of women are experiencing violence or living with its consequences.

  10. The Changing View of Abortion: A Study of Friedrich Wolf's Cyankali and Arnold Zweig's Junge Frau von 1914

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sabine Schroeder-Krassnow

    1979-08-01

    Full Text Available With the end of the nineteenth century, women start becoming more independent, demanding more rights, making a place for themselves in society. The docile woman who is seduced by the socially higher male and in desperation commits infanticide begins to fade from literature. At the same time a new woman with a fresh vitality emerges and deals with the old problem of pregnancy and abortion. Two works which treat this type of woman are examined and the parallels as well as the differences between the portrayal are established. Although the heroines in Wolf's play and Zweig's novel come from different social backgrounds, they encounter almost identical problems in trying to have an abortion. Zweig's novel is more detailed in its account of the abortion than the play, and although it was written only two years after Wolf's play, Zweig takes the problem of the modern woman a big step further by not letting his heroine die as a result of the abortion.

  11. Ethical issues in the application of medical technology to paediatric intensive care: two views of the newborn.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wyatt, J S

    1996-04-01

    Recent advances in medical technology have led to a marked improvement in the chances of survival of sick or preterm infants, thereby stimulating renewed ethical debate on the status of the newborn. Two contradictory attitudes to the medical care of preterm or congenitally malformed newborn infants can be discerned in our pluralistic society. The two attitudes have their historical roots in the classical Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian ethical traditions respectively. The former views newborn infants as of potential value only whereas the latter emphasises the intrinsic worth and dignity of the individual made in God's image. Recent secular philosophical reflection has provided a rationale for infanticide of the sick or abnormal newborn. A Christian approach to the care of the newborn prohibits intentional killing yet may encompass the withdrawal of treatment that is inappropriate or unduly burdensome. Medical care should be based upon respect for the value of the individual, protection of the defenceless from abuse or exploitation, and wise stewardship of limited health-care resources.

  12. Time to take a stand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulley, S

    1996-03-15

    The president of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics has issued a statement denouncing gender violence manifested by selective abortion of female fetuses, female genital mutilation, and domestic violence. The practice of sex selection has led to an artificial reduction in the number of females in the world on the order of 60-100 million. Son preference is fueled by customs such as the son carrying on the family name, providing old-age security for his parents, and bringing a dowry into the family upon marriage. In parts of India, women are killed (most commonly in kitchen fires) if their dowries are not paid or if subsequent demands for more money are not met. Survey results indicate that 78% of obstetricians would perform prenatal sex tests and that parents who opted for such testing included upper middle class professionals. The law banning sex selection in India is unlikely to be implemented until late 1996. Upon implementation, unwanted baby girls will be at risk of infanticide or death through neglect.

  13. [The illegal market for gender-related drugs as portrayed in the Brazilian news media: the case of misoprostol and women].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diniz, Debora; Castro, Rosana

    2011-01-01

    This article analyzes how the Brazilian news media covers the illegal market for misoprostol, the main drug used to induce abortion. A total of 1,429 news stories were retrieved from 220 print and electronic media channels from 2004 to 2009. The analysis included 524 stories from 62 regional and national newspapers. Misoprostol appeared repeatedly in the news, but was usually approached from a criminal perspective, unlike abortion as a whole, which the Brazilian media routinely covers as a religious, political, and public health issue. Misoprostol is part of the illegal gender-related drug market, along with drugs for weight loss and erectile dysfunction and anabolic steroids. Sixty-four (12%) of the news stories told life histories of women who had aborted with misoprostol. The women's ages ranged from 13 to 46 years, and socioeconomic status was associated with different experiences with abortion. Three characters appeared in the women's abortion itineraries: girlfriends (confidantes), go-betweens, and physicians. Stories of late-stage abortion are confused with the criminal characterization of infanticide and provide the extreme cases in the media's narrative on abortion.

  14. Relationship between the tensile strengths and diameters of human umbilical cords.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernando, D M G; Gamage, S M K; Ranmohottige, S; Weerakkody, I; Abeyruwan, H; Parakrama, H

    2018-05-01

    Mothers of alleged infanticides might claim that umbilical cord broke during precipitate delivery causing injuries detected on baby at autopsy. There is paucity of evidence regarding this possibility. The objective of the study was to determine relationship between tensile strength and diameter or weight per unit length of cord. Diameters and weights per unit length of fresh umbilical cords were determined. Tensile strengths were measured by Hounsfield Testing Machine. Relationship between tensile strength versus cord diameter and weight per unit length were analyzed. Of 122 cords, average tensile strength, diameter and weight per centimeter were 50.4 N, 7.73 mm and 6.87 g respectively. The tensile strengths were directly proportional to diameter. There was no association between tensile strength and weight per centimeter. Measurement of the diameter of cord is important during autopsy to predict tensile strength and thereby to presume whether cord could have broken by the weight of the baby. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

  15. The recepetion of Peter singer´s theories in France

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    Emilie Dardenne

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1677-2954.2009v8n1p9 Peter Singer’s views on the status of animals, the sanctity of human life, and world poverty have attracted both attention and intense controversy in many Western countries, including the United States, Canada, and Germany. The reactions in France to his theories are less well-known. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of critical responses to Singer by French academics and thinkers. How have they received Singer’s contention that we must bring nonhuman animals within the sphere of moral concern? How has his claim been received according to which we must recognize that the worth of human life varies? Do French scholars agree with his utilitarian views on abortion, euthanasia, infanticide, his defi nition of the term “person”? Finally, is he considered in France as a brilliant and groundbreaking ethicist, as a dangerous extremist, or somewhere in between

  16. ‘One of the Best Fathers until He Went Out of His Mind’: Paternal Child-Murder, 1864–1900

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shepherd, Jade

    2013-01-01

    Current scholarship suggests that when a mother murdered her child in Victorian England she was treated sympathetically by the press and in the courtroom. It is argued that because the crime was considered antithetical to womanhood it was viewed as an indication of insanity. This article examines newspaper reports, trial transcripts, medical literature and popular works on fatherhood, in order to explore the cases of sixty men committed to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum between 1864 and 1900 for the murder of their children. It questions two assumptions of the literature on infanticide: first, the idea that it was only women who were thought to be going against nature if they killed their child; and second, that it was only women who regularly successfully pleaded insanity in such cases. The Broadmoor case studies not only demonstrate Victorian attitudes towards paternal child-murder but also provide valuable material illustrating affectionate models of Victorian fatherhood. In trial and press reports detailing the crimes it is clear that fathers were expected, and expected themselves, to be temperate, provide for, and protect their children. PMID:24764747

  17. WOMEN, CRIME AND THE SECULAR COURT IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CLUJ

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Fehér

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this presentation is to address the issue of female criminality in early modern Cluj, and to analyze women’s position before the law. Our investigation is based on the records of the secular Court from the town Cluj, where we have identified more than 250 cases of women accused of fornication, adultery, witchcraft, infanticide, theft and drunkenness, poisoning, swearing and slander. There were a significant number of female convictions during the century, from which most ended with light sentences, such as banishment, corporal punishments, stigmatizations with hot iron, mutilations and only occasionally death. We would like to analyze in detail the types of crime and their punishments presenting the legal background, the jurisdiction and the habitual practices of the Court. We would also like to underline the importance of the narrative strategies used in these inquisitorial trials, since our documents reveal female criminality from a male perspective, as in these times men ran the legal system, consequently the Court records, in our reading contain moral, legal and sexual elements of a male discourse on female crime.

  18. Male and female breeding strategies in a cooperative primate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamamoto, Maria Emilia; Araujo, Arrilton; Arruda, Maria de Fatima; Lima, Ana Karinne Moreira; Siqueira, Jose de Oliveira; Hattori, Wallisen Tadashi

    2014-11-01

    Marmosets are cooperative breeders organized as extended family groups, but breeding is generally restricted to a single pair. Breeding competition is fierce in female marmosets; males, on the other hand, show low levels of intragroup aggression. We investigated male and female breeding strategies and the resulting reproductive output in 9 wild groups. Reproductive output, tenure of breeding animals, identification of the breeding system, breeding position replacements, migration and infanticide were recorded; also, we recorded grooming and aggression. Replacement of the breeding male or female was observed on nine occasions. On four occasions, the son of the breeding male inherited the breeding post, but we never observed inheritance of a breeding post by a daughter. Mostly, females attained a breeding post by immigrating to a group that had a breeding vacancy. Our results showed that Callithrix jacchus males and females use different strategies to attain a breeding position and maintain it for as long as possible. These strategies prolong the tenure of the breeding position, which is the best way to produce a large number of offspring. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Neotropical Behaviour. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. From facultative to obligatory parental care: Interspecific variation in offspring dependency on post-hatching care in burying beetles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capodeanu-Nägler, Alexandra; Keppner, Eva M.; Vogel, Heiko; Ayasse, Manfred; Eggert, Anne-Katrin; Sakaluk, Scott K.; Steiger, Sandra

    2016-01-01

    Studies on the evolution of parental care have focused primarily on the costs and benefits of parental care and the life-history attributes that favour it. However, once care evolves, offspring in some taxa appear to become increasingly dependent on their parents. Although offspring dependency is a central theme in family life, the evolutionary dynamics leading to it are not fully understood. Beetles of the genus Nicrophorus are well known for their elaborate biparental care, including provisioning of their young. By manipulating the occurrence of pre- or post-hatching care, we show that the offspring of three burying beetle species, N. orbicollis, N. pustulatus, and N. vespilloides, show striking variation in their reliance on parental care. Our results demonstrate that this variation within one genus arises through a differential dependency of larvae on parental feeding, but not on pre-hatching care. In N. pustulatus, larvae appear to be nutritionally independent of their parents, but in N. orbicollis, larvae do not survive in the absence of parental feeding. We consider evolutionary scenarios by which nutritional dependency may have evolved, highlighting the role of brood size regulation via infanticide in this genus. PMID:27378180

  20. The ethics of sex selection and family balancing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macklin, Ruth

    2010-07-01

    Ethical concerns about the ethics of selecting the sex of a child predate current techniques of prenatal genetic diagnosis (PGD) and sperm sorting. The only methods previously available were highly problematic, as they involved infanticide or abortion of an unwanted sex. PGD is less problematic than the earlier methods, yet still troubling to some because it involves destruction of a healthy embryo and risks to women. The technique of sperm sorting, still in an experimental phase, is the least ethically problematic method, yet opponents argue that sex selection by any means involves sex discrimination and can have undesirable consequences. One such consequence is an imbalance in the sex ratio. This imbalance already exists in some Asian countries that favor male children, but is less likely in Western Europe and North America. There is increasing acceptance of family balancing as a reason for sex selection, but some people remain opposed to broadening the indications for sex selection of offspring beyond family balancing. Nevertheless, parents may have good reasons other than family balancing for choosing the sex of a future child. Such reasons may be justified by the principle of reproductive liberty. Thieme Medical Publishers.

  1. Euthanasia – a Contemporary Issue

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florentina PUSCĂ

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available The right to life is one of the fundamental rights of people that have to be respected and protected by each state’s legislation. The connection between the right to life and criminal law is a significant one, as the Criminal Code incriminates a few categories of crimes that can prejudice it. Although that as an object of crimes against life, a person’s life is recognized, the right to life remains a value that can suffer from criminal attempts. Often, in literature, the correlation or the relation between certain criminal acts is discussed, such as the genocide, illegal abortion, euthanasia, infanticide and the right to life, the possibility of mutual influence and their coexistence. Furthermore, the problem ofeuthanasia involves also the examination of practical and juridical connotations connected to the free accomplishment of the human fundamental rights and the right to life in particular. Can thecompatibility or the incompatibility of euthanasia with the right to law be decisive? The answer can only be an affirmative one, as through this approach the judicial statute and the scope of euthanasia can be determined.

  2. Of lion manes and human beards: some unusual effects of the interaction between aggression and sociality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Caroline Blanchard

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The function of manes in lions has been a topic of scientific interest since Darwin (1871 suggested that it provides protection in intraspecific fights. Recent experimental studies on wild lions have emphasized the role of female selection, but analyses of specific attack behaviors and targets, and the social consequences of manelessness for lions living in very hot climates suggest that male manes may indeed mitigate the outcomes of intraspecific male attack and thus serve a permissive function for multimale + female groups, facilitating protection of prides against takeovers and infanticide by nomadic males. Humans also have unusual structural protections for the head, face and neck, areas that are especially accessible during intraspecies attack, and highly vulnerable to damage. One of these, the beard, consists of coarse hairs that grow indefinitely, but only for males, and only during and following puberty; suggesting that it, like the lion’s mane, may serve as protection in intraspecies male fights. Such structural protections may reflect a specific combination of lethal weaponry and social lifestyle, particularly when these are developed so rapidly that they are not accompanied by the evolution of complex attack-inhibiting social behaviors.

  3. Survey of medico-legal investigation of homicide in the region of Epirus (Northwest Greece).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fragkouli, Kleio; Boumba, Vassiliki; Vougiouklakis, Theodore

    2016-01-01

    This study analyzed the forensic features of homicides in North-West Greece (Epirus) from 1998 to 2013, a borderland area between Greece and Albania. Although Greece is critically influenced by both the increasing flow of refugees and the current socioeconomic crisis, very little information has been published regarding the patterns of homicide in the country. Fifty-eight autopsied victims (36 males; 22 females) were investigated. The median age was 37 years old. The average annual homicide rate was 0.85 per 100,000 inhabitants and showed remarkable fluctuation, with largest increase during Greek financial downturn. Sixteen victims were not Greek citizens. The most common method of commitment was the use of firearm (40%). The main motives were economical causes (26%) and passion (14%). Four cases were categorized as matricide (7%), 3 as homicide-suicide (5%), 2 as patricide (3%) and 1 as infanticide (2%). Toxicological analysis proved negative for ethanol and other psychotropic substances in the majority of the victims (50%). There is an urgent need for public actions both in Epirus and in Greece, with the application of effective strategies against criminality. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

  4. Jewish views on abortion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jakobovits, I

    1968-01-01

    In Jewish law right and wrong, good and evil, are absolute values which transcend time, place, and environment. They defy definition by human intuition or expediency. Jewish law derives from the Divine revelation at Mount Sinai as expounded by sages faithful to, and authorized by, its writ. The Talmud rules that if a woman is in hard travail, and her life must be saved, the child must be aborted and extracted. The mother's life comes first. The fetus is not a human life until it is born. But 19th century Rabbinical works state that it is immoral to destroy a monster child. Modern rabbis are unanimous in condemning abortion, feticide, or infanticide as an unconscionable attack on human life. However, Jewish law allows abortion if the pregnancy will cause severe psychological damage to the mother. No civilized society could survive without laws which occasionally cause some suffering or personal anguish. One human life is worth a million lives, because each life is infinite in value. In cases of rape or incest Jewish law still does not sanction abortion. Man's procreative responsibilities are serious and carry rights and obligations which would be upset by liberalized abortion laws. If a person kills a person who is mortally wounded, the killer is guilty of a moral offense.

  5. Remaking the medico-legal scene: a social history of the late-Victorian coroner in Oxford.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hurren, Elizabeth T

    2010-04-01

    There have been wide-ranging debates about medicine and the law encapsulated in the figure of the coroner in Victorian England. Recently the historical literature on coroners has been enriched by macro-studies. Despite this important research, the social lives of coroners and their daily interactions remain relatively neglected in standard historical accounts. This article redresses that issue by examining the working life of the coroner for Oxford during the late-Victorian era. Edward Law Hussey kept very detailed records of his time in office as coroner. New research material makes it feasible to trace his professional background, from doctor of the sick poor, to hospital house surgeon and then busy coroner. His career trajectory, personal interactions, and professional disputes, provide an important historical prism illuminating contemporary debates that occupied coroners in their working lives. Hussey tried to improve his medico-legal reach and the public image of his coroner's office by reducing infanticide rates, converting a public mortuary, and acquiring a proper coroner's court. His campaigns had limited success because the social scene in which he worked was complicated by the dominance of health and welfare agencies that resented his role as an expanding arm of the Victorian information state.

  6. Sex selection: the systematic elimination of girls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oomman, Nandini; Ganatra, Bela R

    2002-05-01

    In strongly patriarchal societies, where the cultural and economic value of sons is at a premium, son preference manifests itself in many ways, ranging from differential allocation of household resources, medical care and neglect of girl children to female infanticide. With the increasing availability of ultrasound in the mid-1980s sex determination followed by sex-selective abortion began to become widespread as well. The following paper introduces this Roundtable and discusses the following questions: Is sex selection a part of women's right to free choice and control over their reproduction? What is the role of the medical profession? Are all manifestations of sex selection equally unethical? Are there solutions? Do the solutions themselves pose new ethical dilemmas? Following this paper, four respondents put different points of view on sex selection as a gender-based preference for a pregnancy; progress in getting the Supreme Court of India to implement a 1994 law regulating the use of antenatal diagnostic technology; why sex selection should be available as a form of reproductive choice; and why sex selection may be empowering for women and justify their actions in the short run, given the demands on them. All agree that only improved status for women and girls will reduce the demand for sex selection.

  7. A Hepatozoon species genetically distinct from H. canis infecting spotted hyenas in the Serengeti ecosystem, Tanzania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    East, Marion L; Wibbelt, Gudrun; Lieckfeldt, Dietmar; Ludwig, Arne; Goller, Katja; Wilhelm, Kerstin; Schares, Gereon; Thierer, Dagmar; Hofer, Heribert

    2008-01-01

    Health monitoring of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) in the Serengeti ecosystem, Tanzania, revealed Hepatozoon infection in all of 11 immature individuals examined following death from natural causes. Hepatozoon infection was probably an important factor contributing to mortality in two cases that exhibited clinical signs of ataxia, lethargy, ocular discharge, retching, and labored breathing before death. Whether Hepatozoon infection contributed to six deaths from fire, probable lion predation and unknown causes could not be determined. Four deaths from infanticide and starvation were unlikely to be associated with Hepatozoon infection. Histologic examination revealed lung tissue infected with cyst-like structures containing protozoan stages in all eight cases examined and interstitial pneumonia in most cases. Systemic spread of infection to several organs was found in three cases. Alignment of a 426 bp sequence from the parasite's 18s rRNA gene revealed a Hepatozoon species identical to that recently described from two domestic cats in Spain and only 7 bp substitutions when a 853 bp sequence was aligned to this cat Hepatozoon species. Previous reports of infection of wild carnivores in eastern and southern Africa with an unspecified Hepatozoon species similar in appearance to H. canis may have involved the species described in this study.

  8. Decline and recovery of a large carnivore: environmental change and long-term trends in an endangered brown bear population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martínez Cano, Isabel; Taboada, Fernando González; Naves, Javier; Fernández-Gil, Alberto; Wiegand, Thorsten

    2016-11-30

    Understanding what factors drive fluctuations in the abundance of endangered species is a difficult ecological problem but a major requirement to attain effective management and conservation success. The ecological traits of large mammals make this task even more complicated, calling for integrative approaches. We develop a framework combining individual-based modelling and statistical inference to assess alternative hypotheses on brown bear dynamics in the Cantabrian range (Iberian Peninsula). Models including the effect of environmental factors on mortality rates were able to reproduce three decades of variation in the number of females with cubs of the year (Fcoy), including the decline that put the population close to extinction in the mid-nineties, and the following increase in brown bear numbers. This external effect prevailed over density-dependent mechanisms (sexually selected infanticide and female reproductive suppression), with a major impact of climate driven changes in resource availability and a secondary role of changes in human pressure. Predicted changes in population structure revealed a nonlinear relationship between total abundance and the number of Fcoy, highlighting the risk of simple projections based on indirect abundance indices. This study demonstrates the advantages of integrative, mechanistic approaches and provides a widely applicable framework to improve our understanding of wildlife dynamics. © 2016 The Author(s).

  9. Variable postpartum responsiveness among humans and other primates with "cooperative breeding": A comparative and evolutionary perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hrdy, Sarah B

    2016-01-01

    This article is part of a Special Issue "Parental Care".Until recently, evolutionists reconstructing mother-infant bonding among human ancestors relied on nonhuman primate models characterized by exclusively maternal care, overlooking the highly variable responsiveness exhibited by mothers in species with obligate reliance on allomaternal care and provisioning. It is now increasingly recognized that apes as large-brained, slow maturing, and nutritionally dependent for so long as early humans were, could not have evolved unless "alloparents" (group members other than genetic parents), in addition to parents, had helped mothers to care for and provision offspring, a rearing system known as "cooperative breeding." Here I review situation-dependent maternal responses ranging from highly possessive to permissive, temporarily distancing, rejecting, or infanticidal, documented for a small subset of cooperatively breeding primates. As in many mammals, primate maternal responsiveness is influenced by physical condition, endocrinological priming, prior experience and local environments (especially related to security). But mothers among primates who evolved as cooperative breeders also appear unusually sensitive to cues of social support. In addition to more "sapient" or rational decision-making, humankind's deep history of cooperative breeding must be considered when trying to understand the extremely variable responsiveness of human mothers. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. The α-fetoprotein knock-out mouse model suggests that parental behavior is sexually differentiated under the influence of prenatal estradiol

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keller, Matthieu; Pawluski, Jodi L.; Brock, Olivier; Douhard, Quentin; Bakker, Julie

    2010-01-01

    In rodent species, sexual differentiation of the brain for many reproductive processes depends largely on estradiol. This was recently confirmed again by using the α-fetoprotein knockout (AFP-KO) mouse model, which lacks the protective actions of α-fetoprotein against maternal estradiol and as a result represents a good model to determine the contribution of prenatal estradiol to the sexual differentiation of the brain and behavior. Female AFP-KO mice were defeminized and masculinized with regard to their neuroendocrine responses as well as sexual behavior. Since parental behavior is also strongly sexually differentiated in mice, we used the AFP-KO mouse model here to ask whether parental responses are differentiated prenatally under the influence of estradiol. It was found that AFP-KO females showed longer latencies to retrieve pups to the nest and also exhibited lower levels of crouching over the pups in the nest in comparison to WT females. In fact, they resembled males (WT and AFP-KO). Other measures of maternal behavior, for example the incidence of infanticide, tended to be higher in AFP-KO females than in WT females but this increase failed to reach statistical significance. The deficits observed in parental behavior of AFP-KO females could not be explained by any changes in olfactory function, novelty recognition or anxiety. Thus our results suggest that prenatal estradiol defeminizes the parental brain in mice. PMID:20109458

  11. [The human meaning of life].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lejeune, J

    1989-01-01

    Technical development has produced a curious phenomenon, the ebbing of the moral imperative of reproduction. After 2000 years of fight against diseases and death, the respect for life has declined threatening the destruction of Western civilization and family by destroying unborn babies via abortion. Artificial in vitro experimentation can potentially lead to elimination of very young, old, or sick people. Dr. Bernard Nathanson in his book "Aborting America" called abortion infanticide, one of the most abominable crimes. The beginning of life start at conception as shown by recent extra-corporal, in vitro fertilization resulting in a viable fetus, as in the case of Luisa Brown who was conceived in a tube by Drs. Edwards' and Steptoe's technique. The creation of human embryo banks and experimentation on human embryos amount to biological pronography. Respect for the human species and reproduction should manifest itself in the fight against sterility and genetic diseases, such as muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, Down's syndrome, and Huntington's chorea. The fight against AIDS and the elimination of the risk of contracting it by contaminated blood is also a medical priority. In the end, the question still remains: can science itself save the world without moral imperatives, is not the dilemma of Faust and the vileness of Mephistopheles conjured with the nuclear experience and human experimentation.

  12. Characteristics of female mentally disordered offenders culpable under the new legislation in Japan: A gender comparison study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagata, Takako; Nakagawa, Atsuo; Matsumoto, Satoko; Shiina, Akihiro; Iyo, Masaomi; Hirabayashi, Naotsugu; Igarashi, Yoshito

    2016-02-01

    Although a substantial increase in the number of female offenders has drawn interest towards understanding their unique characteristics, few studies have investigated the characteristics of female mentally disordered offenders in Japan and none since the legislation enacted in 2005 in Japan, which provided for special services for them. The aim of this study is to identify those characteristics of people detained under this legislation, which distinguish the women from the men and may indicate special needs among the women. A retrospective records-based study of all patients admitted to one secure unit in the 8 years since its opening in July 2005 until a census date of 31 October 2013. Thirty-six (15%) of the patients were women. Marriage, mood disorders, past suicide attempts and homicide were more common among the women than the men. Six of the female offender-patients had committed filicides, of which four were infanticides. There appears to be a particularly vulnerable sub-group of women with severe mood disorders, a history of serious suicide attempts and young children at risk of harming those children. Our sample was small and from a single unit so, given the potential importance of improving understanding of who is at risk in such circumstances, extending our study nationally seems indicated. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  13. Clear and compelling evidence: the Polish tribunal on abortion rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Girard, Françoise; Nowicka, Wanda

    2002-05-01

    On 25 July 2001 the Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning organised a Tribunal on Abortion Rights in Warsaw, to publicize the negative consequences of the criminalization of abortion in Poland. A panel of Polish and foreign experts heard the testimonials of seven Polish women's experiences under the 1993 "Anti-Abortion Act". Only two of the seven women were able to tell their stories in person. One died in 2001, at the age of 21, of an unsafe abortion. One is legally blind after having carried her last pregnancy to term. One is in prison for infanticide, which in all likelihood was committed by her boyfriend. National and foreign journalists were in attendance, as well as observers from all walks of life--writers, students, mothers, activists, feminists, husbands. The evidence was clear and compelling. Restrictive abortion laws make abortion unsafe by pushing it underground, endanger women's health, create a climate where even those services that are allowed by law-become unavailable, and contravene standards set by international human rights law. The restrictive abortion law in Poland has not increased the number of births; it has only caused women and their families suffering. The Tribunal brought the issue of abortion into the media prior to an election campaign and galvanised Polish and other Eastern European women's groups to become more active in defence of abortion rights.

  14. Il corpo della madre schiava, i corpi dei figli. Forme di resistenza alla schiavitù nell’America del XIX secolo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irene Fattacciu

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Slavery represents the most evident form of appropriation and exploitation of the body, notably of the female body. This article focuses on motherhood as a place of oppression and resistance to slavery. The devastating consequences of slavery on the mother-child relation is exemplified, in many slave narratives, by the account of when a child, realizing that he does not belong to his/her parents, perceives him/herself as a slave for the first time. Female slaves suffered a double form of exploitation, both economic (as work force and sexual: besides being exposed to the sexual abuses by masters and overseers, after 1807 they became the only precious resource to “produce” new slaves. The impotence and disillusion felt by enslaved mothers shaped contradictory and contrasting definitions of motherhood. This ambiguity was the centre of women’s daily resistance to slavery: if slavery denied parental role, the refusal of motherhood became the most explicit form of denial of women’s role in the maintenance of the slave system. The author also looks at the reinterpretation of these stories in 20th century literature, shifting the focus from motherhood as an aspect of slavery to investigating slavery in order to understand the evolving definition and practices of motherhood in history.Keywords: schiave, corpo, famiglia, maternità, madri, figli, racconti di schiavitù, resistenza, sessualità, infanticidio; female slaves, body, family, motherhood, mothers, children, slave narratives, resistance, sexuality, infanticide.

  15. Postpartum Depression in Turkey: Prevalence and Related Factörs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmet Tevfik Sünter

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and the risk factors of postpartum depression (PPD a crosssectional study was conducted in Samsun, in Turkey.\tMETHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between March 1 and April 30, 2002 at the all of 20 primary health care centers in Samsun, Turkey. The study included 380 women, gave birth in January 1 - February 28, 2002. Each woman filled Edinburgh\tPostpartum Depression Scale by herself in eighth week postpartum and a syndromal depression point was assessed.\tResultts: The mean age of the participants was 26.9 ± 0.3 yr old and 88(23.1% mothers had PPD. There were statistically significant differences between depressed and non-depressed mothers in social insurance (p\tindependent variables, absence of social insurance [OR=2.0, (1.1-3.5], previous psychiatric disorder [OR=3.6, (1.6-7.9], and vaginal delivery [OR=2.0, (1.1-3.5] were found to be associated with development of PPD.\tCONCLUSION: Leaving depressed mothers untreated not only causes profound suffering, it may also bring about marital estrangement, absenteeism from work, child abuse, cognitive and emotional maldevelopment of the infants, and sometimes, suicides and infanticides. Universal screening for PPD using the EPDS can be successfully implemented in primary care practices and may be associated with a significant increase in the rate of recognition, diagnosis and treatment of PPD.

  16. Penal Code (Ordinance No. 12 of 1983), 1 July 1984.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1987-01-01

    This document contains provisions of the 1984 Penal Code of Montserrat relating to sexual offenses, abortion, offenses relating to marriage, homicide and other offenses against the person, and neglect endangering life or health. Part 8 of the Code holds that a man found guilty of raping a woman is liable to life imprisonment. Rape is deemed to involve unlawful (extramarital) sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent (this is determined if the rape involved force, threats, administration of drugs, or false representation). The Code also defines offenses in cases of incest, child abuse, prostitution, abduction, controlling the actions and finances of a prostitute, and having unlawful sexual intercourse with a mentally defective woman. Part 9 of the Code outlaws abortion unless it is conducted in an approved establishment after two medical practitioners have determined that continuing the pregnancy would risk the life or physical/mental health of the pregnant woman or if a substantial risk exists that the child would have serious abnormalities. Part 10 outlaws bigamy, and part 12 holds that infanticide performed by a mother suffering postpartum imbalances can be prosecuted as manslaughter. This part also outlaws concealment of the body of a newborn, whether that child died before, at, or after birth, and aggravated assault on any child not more than 14 years old. Part 12 makes it an offense to subject any child to neglect endangering its life or health.

  17. A brief history of the Quality of Life: its use in medicine and in philosophy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pennacchini, M; Bertolaso, M; Elvira, M M; De Marinis, M G

    2011-01-01

    The term Quality of Life (QoL) has been increasingly used in medical and philosophical literatures for the past four decades. The purpose of this article is to analyze how QoL is being used in medicine and in philosophy to understand its current status. In the 1960s and 1970s new technologies raised new questions for clinicians, so they used QoL as a parameter for making decisions in health issues. Consequently, researchers focused their interest on the construction and testing of instruments designed to measure health and QoL. However, all these instruments showed some conceptual and methodological problems that made the use of QoL in medicine difficult. While some researchers considered QoL an "idiosyncratic mystery", others believed that QoL was useful in implementing the patient's point of view into clinical practice and they suggested improving QoL's definition and methodology. In the 1980s, some consequentialist philosophers used QoL to formulate moral judgment, in particular they justified infanticide for some severely handicapped infants, and both euthanasia and suspension of life-sustaining treatment using QoL. In the 1990s, welfarist philosophers opened a new debate about QoL and they associated it with health and happiness. These philosophers developed QoL and those other concepts as subjectivist notions; consequently their definition and their measurements pose challenges. Afterwards researchers' interest in theoretical issues regarding QoL has fallen; nevertheless, physicians have continued to use QoL in clinical practice.

  18. Il corpo della madre schiava, i corpi dei figli. Forme di resistenza alla schiavitù nell’America del XIX secolo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irene Fattacciu

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available

    Slavery represents the most evident form of appropriation and exploitation of the body, notably of the female body. This article focuses on motherhood as a place of oppression and resistance to slavery. The devastating consequences of slavery on the mother-child relation is exemplified, in many slave narratives, by the account of when a child, realizing that he does not belong to his/her parents, perceives him/herself as a slave for the first time. Female slaves suffered a double form of exploitation, both economic (as work force and sexual: besides being exposed to the sexual abuses by masters and overseers, after 1807 they became the only precious resource to “produce” new slaves. The impotence and disillusion felt by enslaved mothers shaped contradictory and contrasting definitions of motherhood. This ambiguity was the centre of women’s daily resistance to slavery: if slavery denied parental role, the refusal of motherhood became the most explicit form of denial of women’s role in the maintenance of the slave system. The author also looks at the reinterpretation of these stories in 20th century literature, shifting the focus from motherhood as an aspect of slavery to investigating slavery in order to understand the evolving definition and practices of motherhood in history.

    Keywords: schiave, corpo, famiglia, maternità, madri, figli, racconti di schiavitù, resistenza, sessualità, infanticidio; female slaves, body, family, motherhood, mothers, children, slave narratives, resistance, sexuality, infanticide.

  19. The influence of male takeovers on female dispersal in Colobus vellerosus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sicotte, Pascale; Teichroeb, Julie A; Vayro, Josie V; Fox, Stephanie A; Bădescu, Iulia; Wikberg, Eva C

    2017-07-01

    Male takeovers affect male tenure, female mate choice and ultimately, individual reproductive success in group-living primates. In social systems with female philopatry and high male reproductive skew, male takeovers largely determine female mate choice, whereas in species with female dispersal, females have the option of deserting a new male. We focused on a species with facultative female dispersal to investigate which factors promote female desertion of males after takeover, using 15 cases (12 for which we have complete data on the takeover process and the female dispersal outcome). These cases took place in nine groups of Colobus vellerosus between 2001 and 2013 at the Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, Ghana. Quick takeovers were usually achieved by single adult males and were never followed by female dispersal. Slow takeovers involved several males, and these takeovers were regularly accompanied by female emigration. Infant attacks and infanticide by males occurred during both kinds of takeovers, but females with dependent offspring never dispersed, regardless of whether their infant was attacked or killed by the new male(s). Subadult females, who were not constrained by the presence of infants, dispersed more often after slow takeovers than after quick takeovers. Whether female dispersal post-takeover is an expression of female mate choice, or occurs to avoid the social upheaval surrounding slow takeovers, remains to be investigated. Am. J. Primatol. 79:e22436, 2017. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. Male or female, we will create them: the ethics of sex selection for non-medical reasons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heyd, David

    2003-01-01

    The article examines the arguments for and against the practice of sex selection for non-medical reasons (e.g. parental preferences, family balancing, religious reasons) in light of the new technology of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). It distinguishes between arguments about the risks to the future child, the mother and society, on the one hand, and the inherent wrongness of the practice as an illegitimate interference in the natural course of reproduction, on the other. The article tries to show that at least in the well defined context of sex selection by PGD, when IVF was performed for independent medical reasons, there is no danger to either the child or the mother and hence that the practice should be permitted. Furthermore, the alleged dangers to society are demonstrated to be mostly illusory. On the one hand, the demographic danger is usually overstated and lacks historical support. On the other hand, the feminist claim that sex selection is necessarily discriminatory is found to be both theoretically and empirically groundless. The article's conclusion is that despite widespread intuitive objection to the practice of sex selection, it can be justified in terms of parental autonomy and falls within the value of family planning. This liberal view does not, however, imply that having a child of the desired sex is the parents' right, nor does it apply to sex selection in later phases of gestation (abortions and obviously, infanticide).

  1. Opportunity knocks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, B D

    1990-01-01

    A preference for bearing sons has existed for centuries in some cultures. In India, for example, female infanticide, the neglect of daughters, and the abuse and deprivation of adult females have long been common practice and an integral part of society. Bearing and nurturing sons at the expense of daughters resulted in the creation of large local forces of males considered to be a normal and necessary factor in maintaining the economic and political strength of the family, lineage, and village. Daughters were the expendable offspring. Indeed, the neglect and murder of female offspring has led to a national population in which there are 20-30 million fewer females than males. This skewed sex ratio is real and increasing in India, especially in recent decades. Scattered information on imbalanced sex ratios favoring males exists for some parts of eastern and southern India. Most evidence, however, indicates the existence of a longstanding and pervasive culture limiting female survival in the northwestern plains, especially among propertied groups. On this issue, northern India therefore resembles neighboring districts in Pakistan, while eastern India resembles Bangladesh. The author notes that progress in improving female child health in the Punjab, a region in which daughter neglect has been extreme and pervasive, signals hope for the future. At Ludhiana Christian Medical College, the decentralized program of household visits, careful record-keeping, and maternal education have been making a difference in female child survival rates. That program can and should serve as a model for the rest of India, with appropriate modifications depending upon the social and economic context.

  2. An emergentist vs a linear approach to social change processes: a gender look in contemporary India between modernity and Hindu tradition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Condorelli, Rosalia

    2015-01-01

    Using Census of India data from 1901 to 2011 and national and international reports on women's condition in India, beginning with sex ratio trends according to regional distribution up to female infanticides and sex-selective abortions and dowry deaths, this study examines the sociological aspects of the gender imbalance in modern contemporary India. Gender inequality persistence in India proves that new values and structures do not necessarily lead to the disappearance of older forms, but they can co-exist with mutual adaptations and reinforcements. Data analysis suggests that these unexpected combinations are not comprehensible in light of a linear concept of social change which is founded, in turn, on a concept of social systems as linear interaction systems that relate to environmental perturbations according to proportional cause and effect relationships. From this perspective, in fact, behavioral attitudes and interaction relationships should be less and less proportionally regulated by traditional values and practices as exposure to modernizing influences increases. And progressive decreases should be found in rates of social indicators of gender inequality like dowry deaths (the inverse should be found in sex ratio trends). However, data does not confirm these trends. This finding leads to emphasize a new theoretical and methodological approach toward social systems study, namely the conception of social systems as complex adaptive systems and the consequential emergentist, nonlinear conception of social change processes. Within the framework of emergentist theory of social change is it possible to understand the lasting strength of the patriarchal tradition and its problematic consequences in the modern contemporary India.

  3. Mating-related behaviour of grizzly bears inhabiting marginal habitat at the periphery of their North American range.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Mark A; Derocher, Andrew E

    2015-02-01

    In comparison to core populations, peripheral populations have low density and recruitment, and are subject to different selective pressures, such as environmental conditions, food type and availability, predation, disease, etc., which may result in behavioural modifications to mating. We test the roam-to-mate hypothesis for a peripheral population of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) at the northern extent of their North American range, in Canada's Arctic. If bears are roaming-to-mate, we predicted greater range size and daily displacement, and more linear movements for receptive animals during the mating period compared to post-mating. In contrast to our predictions, we found that in general range size and displacement increased from mating to post-mating regardless of reproductive status. When considered across both periods, females with cubs-of-the-year had smaller range use metrics than other reproductive groups, which we attribute to a counter-strategy against sexually selected infanticide and the reduced mobility of cubs. Linearity of movements remained near zero during both periods across all groups, suggesting tortuous movements more characteristic of foraging than of mate-searching. We suggest that for this population, finding quality habitat takes precedence over mate-searching in this marginal Arctic landscape. Alternatively, a more monogamous mating system and sequestering behaviour may have obscured movement differences between the two periods. The behavioural differences in mating that we observed from what is typical of core populations may reflect local adaptation to marginal conditions and could benefit the species in the face of ongoing environmental change. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Sex selection and restricting abortion and sex determination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zilberberg, Julie

    2007-11-01

    Sex selection in India and China is fostered by a limiting social structure that disallows women from performing the roles that men perform, and relegates women to a lower status level. Individual parents and individual families benefit concretely from having a son born into the family, while society, and girls and women as a group, are harmed by the widespread practice of sex selection. Sex selection reinforces oppression of women and girls. Sex selection is best addressed by ameliorating the situations of women and girls, increasing their autonomy, and elevating their status in society. One might argue that restricting or prohibiting abortion, prohibiting sex selection, and prohibiting sex determination would eliminate sex selective abortion. But this decreases women's autonomy rather than increases it. Such practices will turn underground. Sex selective infanticide, and slower death by long term neglect, could increase. If abortion is restricted, the burden is placed on women seeking abortions to show that they have a legally acceptable or legitimate reason for a desired abortion, and this seriously limits women's autonomy. Instead of restricting abortion, banning sex selection, and sex determination, it is better to address the practice of sex selection by elevating the status of women and empowering women so that giving birth to a girl is a real and positive option, instead of a detriment to the parents and family as it is currently. But, if a ban on sex selective abortion or a ban on sex determination is indeed instituted, then wider social change promoting women's status in society should be instituted simultaneously.

  5. Sex ratio at birth: scenario from normal- and high-level natural radiation areas of Kerala coast in south-west India

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koya, P.K.M.; Jaikrishan, G.; Sudheer, K.R.; Madhusoodhanan, M.; Jagadeesan, C.K.; Das, Birajalaxmi; Andrews, V.J.

    2015-01-01

    Newborns were monitored for congenital malformations in four government hospitals located in high-level (ambient dose >1.5 mGy/year) and normal-level (≤1.5 mGy/year) natural radiation areas of Kerala, India, from August 1995 to December 2012. Sex ratio at birth (SRB) among live singleton newborns and among previous children, if any, of their mothers without history of any abortion, stillbirth or twins is reported here. In the absence of environmental stress or selective abortion of females, global average of SRB is about 1050 males to 1000 females. A total of 151,478 singleton, 1031 twins, 12 triplets and 1 quadruplet deliveries were monitored during the study period. Sex ratio among live singleton newborns was 1046 males (95 % CI 1036-1057) for 1000 females (77,153 males:73,730 females) and was comparable to the global average. It was similar in high-level and normal-level radiation areas of Kerala with SRB of 1050 and 1041, respectively. It was consistently more than 1000 and had no association with background radiation levels, maternal and paternal age at birth, parental age difference, gravida status, ethnicity, consanguinity or year of birth. Analysis of SRB of the children of 139,556 women whose reproductive histories were available suggested that couples having male child were likely to opt for more children and this, together with enhanced rate of males at all birth order, was skewing the overall SRB in favour of male children. Though preference for male child was apparent, extreme steps of sex-selective abortion or infanticide were not prevalent. (orig.)

  6. Girl child abuse: violation of her human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kapur, P

    1995-01-01

    The human rights of female children in India and elsewhere, even when protected on paper, are violated in practice. An equitable and egalitarian world order must be established. A comprehensive campaign is needed that combats gender-based inequalities, discrimination, exploitation, oppression, abuse, violence, inhuman values, and violations of human rights, particularly against female children. People must radically change their attitudes and actions towards female children. Female children are not a commodity or sex-object but "an equally worthy human being to be loved, respected, and cared for." Strategies that accomplish these ends include the promotion of human and spiritual values of love, compassion, and nonviolence, and discouragement of values of consumerism and materialism and worthlessness of human beings. Effective education and mass media should counter corruption, dishonesty, selfishness, and inhuman actions. Family structures need to strengthened and enriched. The abuse of female children occurs due to the following interrelated factors: entrenched patriarchal value systems, the perpetuation of traditions and practices that identify girls as inferior to boys, the gender-biased and discriminatory attitude that identifies girl children as a burden or liability and as a sex-object or commodity, and prevalent illiteracy, poverty, and negative parenting life style patterns. Other factors include the low status of women, the reduction in human and spiritual values, and the rise of consumerism and corruption. Girls are subjected to female infanticide, feticide, lack of social and economic development, burdensome domestic work, early marriage and childbearing, neglect and denial of healthy living conditions, sexual abuse and exploitation, prostitution, rape, and a denial of their right to protection.

  7. Homicide in the western family and background factors of a perpetrator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aho, Anna Liisa; Remahl, Anni; Paavilainen, Eija

    2017-07-01

    Familicide is a multiple-victim homicide incident in which the killer's spouse and one or more children are slain. A systematic review was conducted to reveal the background factors of western homicide perpetrators. The systematic search was performed in the Arto, Medic, Cinahl, Medline, EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier and Social Services abstracts databases. The keywords were familicide, family homicide, familicide-suicide, filicide-suicide, extended suicide, child, murder, family, filicide and infanticide. The searches revealed 4139 references from the databases. The references were filtered and 32 peer-reviewed research articles revealed in years 2004-2014 were selected as data. The articles were analysed using inductive content analysis, by finding all possible background factors related to homicide. The factors were described as percentages of the range. The background factors of familicide perpetrators were categorised as follows: perpetrators who had committed homicide of a child and intimate partner and possibly committed suicide; a father had who killed a child; a mother who had killed a child; a father who had committed a filicide-suicide; and a mother who had committed a filicide-suicide. Psychological instability, violence and crime were found in all these categories of familicides. Perpetrators who had committed a suicide in addition to the familicide had more often been diagnosed with depression, but they sought treatment for mental health problems less often and had violence and self-destructiveness less often in their background than in other familicide categories. Social and healthcare professionals should be more sensitive to emerging family problems and be prepared for intervention.

  8. Sex ratio at birth: scenario from normal- and high-level natural radiation areas of Kerala coast in south-west India

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Koya, P.K.M.; Jaikrishan, G.; Sudheer, K.R. [Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Low Level Radiation Research Laboratory, Low Level Radiation Research Section, Radiation Biology and Health Sciences Division, Bio-Science Group, Kollam (India); Madhusoodhanan, M. [Victoria Hospital, Department of Paediatrics, Kollam (India); Jagadeesan, C.K. [Directorate of Health Services, Thiruvananthapuram (India); Das, Birajalaxmi [Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Low Level Radiation Research Section, Radiation Biology and Health Sciences Division, Bio-Science Group, Mumbai (India); Andrews, V.J.

    2015-11-15

    Newborns were monitored for congenital malformations in four government hospitals located in high-level (ambient dose >1.5 mGy/year) and normal-level (≤1.5 mGy/year) natural radiation areas of Kerala, India, from August 1995 to December 2012. Sex ratio at birth (SRB) among live singleton newborns and among previous children, if any, of their mothers without history of any abortion, stillbirth or twins is reported here. In the absence of environmental stress or selective abortion of females, global average of SRB is about 1050 males to 1000 females. A total of 151,478 singleton, 1031 twins, 12 triplets and 1 quadruplet deliveries were monitored during the study period. Sex ratio among live singleton newborns was 1046 males (95 % CI 1036-1057) for 1000 females (77,153 males:73,730 females) and was comparable to the global average. It was similar in high-level and normal-level radiation areas of Kerala with SRB of 1050 and 1041, respectively. It was consistently more than 1000 and had no association with background radiation levels, maternal and paternal age at birth, parental age difference, gravida status, ethnicity, consanguinity or year of birth. Analysis of SRB of the children of 139,556 women whose reproductive histories were available suggested that couples having male child were likely to opt for more children and this, together with enhanced rate of males at all birth order, was skewing the overall SRB in favour of male children. Though preference for male child was apparent, extreme steps of sex-selective abortion or infanticide were not prevalent. (orig.)

  9. Medical and neuropsychiatric phenomena depicted in two Spanish medieval texts of Marian miracles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Assis Aquino Gondim, Francisco; Bastante, Pamela; Gondim, Wilcar Cavalcante; Filha, Joana Gurgel Holanda; Thomas, Florian P

    2018-03-01

    In the history of Christianity, veneration of the Virgin Mary reached its greatest intensity in the XIII century. Her perceived impact on daily life was tremendous and not surprisingly this extended to the spheres of disease and healing. The purpose of this study is to compare the medical and neuropsychiatric findings in two XIII century Spanish texts of Marian miracles, both examples of the popular Catholicism (vs. official catholic doctrine). We analyzed the medical and neuropsychiatric events in the Cantigas de Santa Maria (Canticles of St. Mary, CSM), composed at the court of Alfonso X and the Milagros de Nuestra Señora (The Miracles of Our Lady, MNS), written by Gonzalo de Berceo. Among the 25 miracles reported in the MNS, medically relevant facts were addressed in 19 miracles with a total of 23 recorded events (including resurrection or escape from death in five) and demonic possession in three (one with witchcraft/deicide). The most common medical subjects were ergotism, obstetric-gynecological, sudden death, intellectual disability/illiteracy, encephalopathy/alcohol intoxication, suicide (with self-mutilation/castration), infanticide, infections, and absence of body decomposition after death. The 427 canticles in the CSM contain 270 medically relevant facts. Neuropsychiatric conditions were alluded to in 98 songs. Blindness and dystonia/weakness/deformities were the most common phenomena. Illuminations detailed many of the medical facts in the CSM, but not in the MNS. Medically relevant facts were described in both texts, but with more details in the CSM. Neurological conditions were more often described in the CSM, psychiatric conditions in the MNS.

  10. Robert Alexy's Rules Ponderation and Narciso Baez's Theory Of Double Size of Human Rights in Analysis of Rights in Conflict Infanticide Concrete Case in Indigenous Villages

    OpenAIRE

    Rogério Gesta Leal; Fabio Biasi Pavão

    2015-01-01

    O presente artigo tem por objetivo analisar o tema da colisão de princípios e direitos fundamentais sob o prisma da teoria de Robert Alexy e de reflexões sobre a dupla dimensão dos direitos humanos de Narciso Leandro Xavier Baez. Para tanto, propõe uma análise dos conceitos elaborados por Robert Alexy sobre normas e princípios e situações de conflitos entre direitos. Alexy propõe regras de ponderação como alternativa à solução de conflitos entre princípios, proporcionando a prevalência de um ...

  11. The tribal girl child in Rajasthan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhanti, R

    1995-01-01

    This article describes the status of the girl child among tribes in India. Tribes have son preference but do not discriminate against girls by female infanticide or sex determination tests. Girls do not inherit land, but they are not abused, hated, or subjected to rigid social norms. Girls are not veiled and are free to participate in dancing and other recreational programs. There is no dowry on marriage. The father of the bridegroom pays a brideprice to the father of the girl. Widowed or divorced women are free to marry again. Daughters care for young children, perform housework, and work in the field with their brothers. In the tribal village of Choti Underi girls were not discriminated against in health and nutrition, but there was a gender gap in education. Both girls and boys were equally exposed to infection and undernourishment. Tribals experience high rates of infant and child mortality due to poverty and its related malnutrition. Child labor among tribals is a way of life for meeting the basic needs of the total household. A recent report on tribals in Rajasthan reveals that 15-20% of child labor involved work in mines that were dangerous to children's health. Girl children had no security provisions or minimum wages. Tribal children were exploited by human service agencies. Child laborers were raped. Government programs in tribal areas should focus on improving living conditions for children in general. Special programs for girls are needed for providing security in the workplace and increasing female educational levels. More information is needed on the work burden of tribal girls that may include wage employment as well as housework.

  12. Culture, political economy and gender marginalisation: a case of girl child in India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Punalekar, S P

    1995-01-01

    This article discusses female children and the impact of macro- and micro- economic and cultural aspects of gender neglect and marginalization. Although gender marginalization is a widely accepted theoretical concern, the explanations for women's vulnerability vary. One view holds that changes in relations of production and in the system of property relations will automatically resolve gender issues. Another view holds that cultural factors are responsible for entrenched female inequalities. This paper argues that culture is not one-dimensional. Culture affects the material activity of people and their ideas. Feminists over the past two decades have promoted a generalized consciousness about women and their strategic role in production and reproduction, especially female children. Research inadequately addresses issues affecting the female child. In the domestic or household sphere, evidence suggests that the female child experiences greater child mortality, infanticide, and sex-selective abortion, and lower health status. Female children have greater micronutrient deficiencies, growth retardation, and micronutrient deficiencies. In times of natural disasters or crises, girls were found to suffer more from malnutrition than boys. The enrollment and retention of girls in school is lower than boys. Cultural stereotyping and restrictions on movement subject girls to the authority and control of male children and adult males. Girls are socialized differently and are not encouraged to be autonomous or to use initiative. In the public sphere, girls are used by families to serve household and production needs of the family and other relatives. Working wages for girls are very low, and working conditions are oppressive. The economic status of the household determines allocation of work, access to education, and lifestyle.

  13. Hunting promotes sexual conflict in brown bears.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gosselin, Jacinthe; Leclerc, Martin; Zedrosser, Andreas; Steyaert, Sam M J G; Swenson, Jon E; Pelletier, Fanie

    2017-01-01

    The removal of individuals through hunting can destabilize social structure, potentially affecting population dynamics. Although previous studies have shown that hunting can indirectly reduce juvenile survival through increased sexually selected infanticide (SSI), very little is known about the spatiotemporal effects of male hunting on juvenile survival. Using detailed individual monitoring of a hunted population of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Sweden (1991-2011), we assessed the spatiotemporal effect of male removal on cub survival. We modelled cub survival before, during and after the mating season. We used three proxies to evaluate spatial and temporal variation in male turnover; distance and timing of the closest male killed and number of males that died around a female's home range centre. Male removal decreased cub survival only during the mating season, as expected in seasonal breeders with SSI. Cub survival increased with distance to the closest male killed within the previous 1·5 years, and it was lower when the closest male killed was removed 1·5 instead of 0·5 year earlier. We did not detect an effect of the number of males killed. Our results support the hypothesis that social restructuring due to hunting can reduce recruitment and suggest that the distribution of the male deaths might be more important than the overall number of males that die. As the removal of individuals through hunting is typically not homogenously distributed across the landscape, spatial heterogeneity in hunting pressure may cause source-sink dynamics, with lower recruitment in areas of high human-induced mortality. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.

  14. Predictable Medea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elisabetta Bertolino

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available By focusing on the tragedy of the 'unpredictable' infanticide perpetrated by Medea, the paper speculates on the possibility of a non-violent ontological subjectivity for women victims of gendered violence and whether it is possible to respond to violent actions in non-violent ways; it argues that Medea did not act in an unpredictable way, rather through the very predictable subject of resentment and violence. 'Medea' represents the story of all of us who require justice as retribution against any wrong. The presupposition is that the empowered female subjectivity of women’s rights contains the same desire of mastering others of the masculine current legal and philosophical subject. The subject of women’s rights is grounded on the emotions of resentment and retribution and refuses the categories of the private by appropriating those of the righteous, masculine and public subject. The essay opposes the essentialised stereotypes of the feminine and the maternal with an ontological approach of people as singular, corporeal, vulnerable and dependent. There is therefore an emphasis on the excluded categories of the private. Forgiveness is taken into account as a category of the private and a possibility of responding to violence with newness. A violent act is seen in relations to the community of human beings rather than through an isolated setting as in the case of the individual of human rights. In this context, forgiveness allows to risk again and being with. The result is also a rethinking of feminist actions, feminine subjectivity and of the maternal. Overall the paper opens up the Arendtian category of action and forgiveness and the Cavarerian unique and corporeal ontology of the selfhood beyond gendered stereotypes.

  15. Girl child and gender bias.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chowdhry, D P

    1995-01-01

    This article identifies gender bias against female children and youth in India. Gender bias is based on centuries-old religious beliefs and sayings from ancient times. Discrimination is reflected in denial or ignorance of female children's educational, health, nutrition, and recreational needs. Female infanticide and selective abortion of female fetuses are other forms of discrimination. The task of eliminating or reducing gender bias will involve legal, developmental, political, and administrative measures. Public awareness needs to be created. There is a need to reorient the education and health systems and to advocate for gender equality. The government of India set the following goals for the 1990s: to protect the survival of the girl child and practice safe motherhood; to develop the girl child in general; and to protect vulnerable girl children in different circumstances and in special groups. The Health Authorities should monitor the laws carefully to assure marriage after the minimum age, ban sex determination of the fetus, and monitor the health and nutrition of pre-school girls and nursing and pregnant mothers. Mothers need to be encouraged to breast feed, and to breast feed equally between genders. Every village and slum area needs a mini health center. Maternal mortality must decline. Primary health centers and hospitals need more women's wards. Education must be universally accessible. Enrollments should be increased by educating rural tribal and slum parents, reducing distances between home and school, making curriculum more relevant to girls, creating more female teachers, and providing facilities and incentives for meeting the needs of girl students. Supplementary income could be provided to families for sending girls to school. Recreational activities must be free of gender bias. Dowry, sati, and devdasi systems should be banned.

  16. La circoncision des femmes en Afrique : repenser les politiques de santé

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christiane Rochon

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Governor General Michaëlle Jean, while in Mali in November, said she supported the Maputo Protocol which “clearly states that the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM is a violation of basic human rights” and wished “ no more little girls would ever again be subjected to such a torture”. This has been the key message to African countries, i.e., that FGM is an act of violence against women and girls as a results of gender inequalities. FGM is associated with violent acts such as rape, human trafficking, forced abortion, and infanticide of baby girls, to name only a few. This feminist approach to the issue, however, does not take into account the full complexity of the cultural, emotional and cognitive aspects of the practice that has been documented in recent years. Health policies put forward to abolish the practice have been remarkably unilateral without any options for mediation or negotiation. Participation of health practitioners with FGM have also been strongly opposed. Not surprisingly then, interventions and health policies have proven mostly ineffective in diminishing the practice. But these policies remain unquestioned, as demonstrated by the Governor General’s recent speech. This “power focus” feminist approach to the problem of FGM has been mostly motivated by repulsion and can be seen as a form of moral and cultural imperialism. Meanwhile, few words are said about other traditional practices that also affect African children’s or about our own western practices. I argue that it is time to rethink FMG policies in a just and caring perspective, and evaluate more flexible approaches that have been proposed such as harm reduction and behaviour changing models.

  17. Girl child in rural India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devendra, K

    1995-01-01

    This article discusses the status of the girl child in rural India. Rural children lack the advantages of modern amenities and facilities, such as transportation, electricity, media, hygiene, health care, and access to education. A young girl's status is related to her mother's status. Women are valued the most when a son is born. Girl children are considered an economic liability in child care costs, dowry costs, and marriage support. Since the 1970s, dowry demands have increased. Daughters must meet the demands of prospective in-law for education and dowry even after marriage. The attitudes of parents, families, and society encourage sex-selective abortion, infanticide, abuse in childhood, and domestic violence in adulthood. It was reported in 1994 that a woman is molested every 26 minutes and raped every 52 minutes. The government of India developed an action plan in 1992 for developing the girl child. Rural girl children spend their time cooking, cleaning, fetching wood and water, caring for children, and working in the fields sowing, transplanting, and weeding. Girl children contribute over 20% of total work at home. The only advantage a girl child has in rural areas is visibility. The greatest disadvantage is that her mother, who faced neglect herself, discriminates against her. Increasingly girl children contribute income to their household from Beedi making, gem polishing, embroidering, or paper bag making. Sometimes girls and boys work in hazardous occupations. Gender disparity is evident in school enrollment, drop out rates, literacy, and employment. In 1994, India passed a universal female education bill that offers parents incentives for access and punishment for keeping a girl out of school. Communities need to create a demand for rural girl children's education.

  18. Dowry calculations: daughter's rights in her parental family.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kishwar, M

    1993-01-01

    The practice of dowry in India has become identified as the primary cause of women's oppression. It sets families apart in the fight over dowry payments and results in violence against daughters including infanticide. Daughter's get their share of inheritance at the time of marriage under traditional Hindu law. The Dowry Prohibition Act outlaws this practice. On the other hand, customary law allowed entitlements to women which Victorian norms bypassed, thereby paving the way for the disinheritance of women. The ownership of land was vested exclusively in men, and, as land became scarce and women's labor became devalued, women came to be treated as mere dependents and considered as a liability. With the entrance of men into government service as policemen and bank and postal clerks, their status increased, while women continued working in the peasant economy. Government job holders received the biggest dowries because of their access to economic opportunities. Under the Hindu Succession Act, fathers were allowed to will away property in whosoever's favor, which led to the disinheritance of daughters in favor of sons. Inheritance laws increasingly moved in favor of men and against women. Changing marriage patterns also emerged, as paying exorbitant dowries was perceived as a way of upward social mobility. The wife inherited everything at the expense of daughters, and widows automatically got a pension after the husband. Therefore, the wife's right had a stronger social sanction than the rights of daughters in parental property, especially the right to live in the parental home and take care of old parents, should be the solution to this injustice. Thus, parents would look at daughters in the same light as sons, and the culture of women's devaluation would come to an end.

  19. Female feticide in India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmad, Nehaluddin

    2010-01-01

    Women are murdered all over the world. But in India a most brutal form of killing females takes place regularly, even before they have the opportunity to be born. Female feticide--the selective abortion of female fetuses--is killing upwards of one million females in India annually with far-ranging and tragic consequences. In some areas, the sex ratio of females to males has dropped to less than 8000:1000. Females not only face inequality in this culture, they are even denied the right to be born. Why do so many families selectively abort baby daughters? In a word: economics. Aborting female fetuses is both practical and socially acceptable in India. Female feticide is driven by many factors, but primarily by the prospect of having to pay a dowry to the future bridegroom of a daughter. While sons offer security to their families in old age and can perform the rites for the souls of deceased parents and ancestors, daughters are perceived as a social and economic burden. Prenatal sex detection technologies have been misused, allowing the selective abortions of female offspring to proliferate. Legally, however, female feticide is a penal offence. Although female infanticide has long been committed in India, feticide is a relatively new practice, emerging concurrently with the advent of technological advancements in prenatal sex determination on a large scale in the 1990s. While abortion is legal in India, it is a crime to abort a pregnancy solely because the fetus is female. Strict laws and penalties are in place for violators. These laws, however, have not stemmed the tide of this abhorrent practice. This article will discuss the socio-legal conundrum female feticide presents, as well as the consequences of having too few women in Indian society.

  20. Recovery potential of a western lowland gorilla population following a major Ebola outbreak: results from a ten year study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genton, Céline; Cristescu, Romane; Gatti, Sylvain; Levréro, Florence; Bigot, Elodie; Caillaud, Damien; Pierre, Jean-Sébastien; Ménard, Nelly

    2012-01-01

    Investigating the recovery capacity of wildlife populations following demographic crashes is of great interest to ecologists and conservationists. Opportunities to study these aspects are rare due to the difficulty of monitoring populations both before and after a demographic crash. Ebola outbreaks in central Africa have killed up to 95% of the individuals in affected western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) populations. Assessing whether and how fast affected populations recover is essential for the conservation of this critically endangered taxon. The gorilla population visiting Lokoué forest clearing, Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Republic of the Congo, has been monitored before, two years after and six years after Ebola affected it in 2004. This allowed us to describe Ebola's short-term and long-term impacts on the structure of the population. The size of the population, which included around 380 gorillas before the Ebola outbreak, dropped to less than 40 individuals after the outbreak. It then remained stable for six years after the outbreak. However, the demographic structure of this small population has significantly changed. Although several solitary males have disappeared, the immigration of adult females, the formation of new breeding groups, and several birth events suggest that the population is showing potential to recover. During the outbreak, surviving adult and subadult females joined old solitary silverbacks. Those females were subsequently observed joining young silverbacks, forming new breeding groups where they later gave birth. Interestingly, some females were observed joining silverbacks that were unlikely to have sired their infant, but no infanticide was observed. The consequences of the Ebola outbreak on the population structure were different two years and six years after the outbreak. Therefore, our results could be used as demographic indicators to detect and date outbreaks that have happened in other, non-monitored gorilla

  1. Recovery potential of a western lowland gorilla population following a major Ebola outbreak: results from a ten year study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Céline Genton

    Full Text Available Investigating the recovery capacity of wildlife populations following demographic crashes is of great interest to ecologists and conservationists. Opportunities to study these aspects are rare due to the difficulty of monitoring populations both before and after a demographic crash. Ebola outbreaks in central Africa have killed up to 95% of the individuals in affected western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla populations. Assessing whether and how fast affected populations recover is essential for the conservation of this critically endangered taxon. The gorilla population visiting Lokoué forest clearing, Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Republic of the Congo, has been monitored before, two years after and six years after Ebola affected it in 2004. This allowed us to describe Ebola's short-term and long-term impacts on the structure of the population. The size of the population, which included around 380 gorillas before the Ebola outbreak, dropped to less than 40 individuals after the outbreak. It then remained stable for six years after the outbreak. However, the demographic structure of this small population has significantly changed. Although several solitary males have disappeared, the immigration of adult females, the formation of new breeding groups, and several birth events suggest that the population is showing potential to recover. During the outbreak, surviving adult and subadult females joined old solitary silverbacks. Those females were subsequently observed joining young silverbacks, forming new breeding groups where they later gave birth. Interestingly, some females were observed joining silverbacks that were unlikely to have sired their infant, but no infanticide was observed. The consequences of the Ebola outbreak on the population structure were different two years and six years after the outbreak. Therefore, our results could be used as demographic indicators to detect and date outbreaks that have happened in other, non

  2. [The adolescent manages fertility badly. Uncertainty and pursuit of self in a society in transition].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diadhiou, F

    1990-08-01

    incest. Prevention of unwanted pregnancies is the best means to prevent infanticide which is relatively common among youth leaving rural areas.

  3. Integrated health of the girl child.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghosh, S

    1995-01-01

    This article discusses factors that affect the well-being and health of female children in India: sex ratio, literacy, food intake, morbidity, mortality, early marriage, maternal mortality, nutrition, prenatal care and delivery, family planning responsibilities, and access to health services. India has recognized within its Constitution and other government documents and programs equality for women, but practices lag behind principles. A National Action Plan was formulated for the period 1991-2000 for the girl child. Women themselves must change their attitudes about themselves and their female children. Several pilot programs have demonstrated the potential to empower girls to be outspoken, vocal, and enthusiastic. Girls in India are disadvantaged even before their birth. Patriarchal norms reinforce the view of girls as a bad investment. Women are blamed for not bearing a son, despite the evidence that males carry the deciding gender-specific chromosome. Tamil Nadu districts are known for their female infanticide. The declining sex ratio is attributed to the higher death rate among females younger than 35 years. Females until recently had a lower life expectancy than males. Sex ratios vary between states. The only state with a positive female sex ratio is Kerala. Males outnumber females by almost 10% in most of the northern and eastern states. Illiteracy among women is high in about 100 districts. Female school enrollment is 50% less than male enrollment. Females suffer from higher rates of malnutrition, morbidity, and death. Girls' adolescent growth spurt is delayed until 18 years. Maternal mortality accounts for the largest proportion of deaths among women of reproductive age. The most common reason for abortion is "too many children." Lower socioeconomic status is associated with lower nutrition. Women do not have control over their fertility. Women are limited in their access to reproductive health care.

  4. Grandparental effects on reproductive strategizing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes data from the household registers for two villages in the Nôbi region of central Japan in the late Edo period (1717-1869 to assess how grandparents may have affected reproductive strategizing in stem families. The particulars of the family system fostered a culturally favored set of reproductive goals, in particular, a daughter as eldest child, followed by a son (and heir, coupled with gender alternation in subsequent reproduction and overall gender balance. This reproductive strategy was generally followed during the stem phase of the domestic cycle, when one or both grandparents were present, especially when the family head was in the senior generation. By contrast, a son-first strategy was favored when childbearing began in the conjugal phase of the cycle. This suggests grandparental influence on the junior couple's reproductive decisions in favor of the cultural ideal. I find that the senior couple's decision to marry the heir early or late strongly affects the reproductive strategies followed by him after marriage. I show that when a grandmother is present at the onset of childbearing, especially if she is relatively young, the junior couple ends up with more offspring on average. A controlled analysis of infanticiding behavior is interpreted in terms of conjugal power and coalition formation. It appears that a grandmother gets her way only when she and her son gang up on the daughter-in-law, but such a coalition is likely only when her son dominates the conjugal relationship (which in turn reflects the grandmother's success in binding the son tightly to her emotionally and in delaying his marriage. Otherwise, the grandmother may be shut out from reproductive decision-making by the solidary conjugal coalition.

  5. A review of research and nursing management of mental health problems in pregnancy and motherhood

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jarosinski JM

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Judith M Jarosinski,1 Jane A Fox21Nursing Department, Henson School of Science, Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD, 2School of Nursing, College of Health and Human Services, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USAAbstract: In this article, the authors explore the risks pregnant women experience due to mental illness and intimate partner violence (IPV and discuss the nursing role involved in the management of their care. For many women, pregnancy is a time of hopeful anticipation, yet for others, pregnancy reflects a new or an ongoing struggle with mental illness. The sequelae of untreated mental illness can be as severe as infanticide, maternal suicide, lack of maternal attachment, and inability to parent. Newborns whose mothers misuse alcohol and drugs are at risk of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and neonatal addiction syndrome. Women who live with IPV risk their physical and mental well-being as well as the safety of their newborn. Implications for practice include the use of assessment tools early and during the treatment trajectory; otherwise, mental illness and IPV in pregnancy would go undetected/untreated. Identifying postpartum depression early is key toward providing timely care for both the mother and infant; yet, few obstetric practices use a depression assessment tool such as the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. During the initial intake assessment, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale can provide the means of early treatment through targeted assessment. Further implications include specialized services for substance-misusing pregnant women whose issues are different and separate from those of men, integration of services to address their multifaceted needs, and educating nurses to the reality of comorbidity as the norm rather than the rare occurrence, with a truly holistic approach that diminishes stigma. Keywords: intimate partner violence, mental illness, pregnancy, serious mental illness, Women

  6. Homicidal abuse of young children: A historical perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rudy J Castellani

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The past 50 years has seen a heightened awareness of abusive injury patterns and increased concern for the plight of children victimized by their caregivers. Murder of the young, however, has been embedded in society since the beginning of recorded time. Indeed, nature provides abundant examples of infanticide in lower animals, raising the question of whether exploitation, apathy, and violence toward children are on some level evolutionarily conserved. In human antiquity, selective killing of females, the illegitimate, and the malformed, killing by ritualistic sacrifice or to conserve resources was carried out with impunity. The middle ages and later saw a decline in these practices albeit limited. One hundred years into the industrial revolution, with harsh child labor in public view, legal remedies were sought to protect children but with little effect. The domestic abuse of children was not addressed until a pivotal 19th-century case, in which the rights of animals were invoked to intervene on behalf of a child. In the 20th century, physicians began to look closely at anatomical findings; patterns due to trauma, especially inflicted trauma, began to emerge. “Battered child syndrome” was followed by “shaken baby syndrome,” the latter prompted by the recurrent findings of subdural hematoma, retinal hemorrhages, and brain injury with the absence of impact injuries and no plausible accidental or natural disease explanation. In the 21st century, high-quality studies and an emphasis on evidenced-based medicine substantiated the existence of injury patterns resulting from homicidal violence. However, progress has been uneven. A case of child abuse that reached the US Supreme Court resulted in an ill-cited dissent that seems to have amplified an already toxic medicolegal environment, perhaps unjustifiably. The difficulties in balancing the welfare of society with that of caregivers in the aftermath of homicidal abuse will no doubt continue.

  7. Mito, magia e iconografia. I sortilegi di Medea nelle stampe di Giovanni Antonio Rusconi per le Trasformationi di Lodovico Dolce / Myth, magic and iconography. Medea’s sorceries in the woodcuts by Giovanni Antonio Rusconi for Lodovico Dolce’s “Trasformationi”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giuseppe Capriotti

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Anche se dopo la famosa tragedia di Euripide fonti letterarie e iconografiche rappresentano Medea principalmente come madre infanticida, la Medea delle Metamorfosi di Ovidio è soprattutto una potente maga: una sapiente conoscitrice di erbe, con cui sa preparare efficaci pozioni magiche, e un’abile manipolatrice diricette prodigiose, che si attivano grazie all’aiuto di divinità infere, invocate con formule vocali nei suoi riti notturni. Allo stesso modo, nelle xilografie che decorano le edizioni rinascimentali delle Metamorfosi, in particolare in quelle di Giovanni Antonio Rusconi per le Trasformationi di Lodovico Dolce, Medea è raffigurata soprattutto come una avvenente maga, che compie i suoi sortilegi per amore o per vendetta. Specialmente nella stampa con Il ringiovanimento di Esone, Rusconi mescola i connotati della maga rinascimentale e quelli della strega nordica: Medea è ancora un’attraente e giovane donna, ma compie oramai operazioni magiche al limite della fattucchieria.   Even though after the famous tragedy of Euripides literary and iconographic sources represent Medea mainly as infanticide mother, the Medea of the Ovid’s Metamorphoses is above all a powerful sorceress: a wise expert of grasses, by which she prepares effective magic potions, and a skilled manipulator of prodigious recipes, that she activates thanks to the help of hellish divinities, invoked with vocal formulas in her nighttime rites. In the same way, in the woodcuts that decorate the Renaissance editions of the Metamorphoses, particularly in those of Giovanni Antonio Rusconi for the Lodovico Dolce’s Trasformationi, Medea is represented above all as a good-looking sorceress, that executes her sorceries for love or for revenge. Especially in the woodcut with The rejuvenation of Esone, Rusconi combines the characteristics of the Renaissance sorceress with those of the Northern witch: Medea is still an attractive and young woman, but she carry out, by now

  8. Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women, -- adopted at the Fifth Session of the Seventh National People's Congress on April 3, 1992.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1992-08-01

    The new law acts in accordance with the Constitution and the actual conditions of the country to protect women's lawful rights and interests, promote equality between men and women, and allow full play to women's role in socialist modernization in all aspects of political, economic, cultural, social, and family life. The state shall protect the special rights and interests enjoyed by women according to law and gradually perfect its social security system with respect to women. Women possess political rights equal with men, enjoy the right to vote and to stand for election, conduct state affairs, manage economic and cultural undertakings, and administer social affairs. Women are guaranteed the same rights with men with respect to culture and education for starting school, entering a higher school, job assignment upon graduation, conferring of academic degrees, and dispatch for study abroad. Guardians must ensure that female school age children receive compulsory education. The state shall guarantee that women enjoy the equal right with men to work, except where special types of work are unsuitable to women, and that women shall receive equal pay for equal work. Women shall be under special protection during their menstrual period, pregnancy, obstetrical period, and nursing period. Women shall enjoy equal rights with men to property and to their person. Drowning, abandoning, or infanticide in any manner of female babies shall be prohibited; discrimination against or maltreatment of women who give birth to female babies or women who are sterile shall be prohibited. Maltreatment or abandonment of aged women shall be prohibited. Women shall enjoy equal rights in marriage and family, and divorce. Women have the right to childbearing in accordance with relevant regulations and the freedom not to bear any child. When a woman's lawful rights are infringed, she has the right to request disposition or bring a lawsuit in a people's court.

  9. Philippine population policy: quo vadis?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carino, L V

    1994-06-01

    In the Philippines, debate engendered in 1994 by the introduction of a antiabortifacient bill written in such broad language that it would outlaw most contraceptives recalls earlier debates on population policy and shows that not much has changed on the surface: the US is still providing funds, the Catholic Church is still opposing program advocates, and the population is still growing. The history of family planning (FP) in the Philippines developed during five periods: 1) prior to 1969 FP was offered only by private organizations; 2) from 1969 to 1974, the government began to incorporate FP as a policy; 3) from 1974 to 1986, FP and population issues were considered part of total development; 4) from 1986-1992, FP was subsumed under maternal and child health; and 5) from 1992 to the present, policy was enacted to balance population concerns with resources and development. This newsletter considers the first two stages. The written code of one of the precolonization self-governing indigenous peoples linked the number of permitted wives to population size and limited (through infanticide) the number of children a poor couple could have. During the 1960s, the Ford Foundation created a Population Institute, a protestant group established a countrywide Planned Parenthood Movement, and a Catholic Family Planning Association was formed. The public sector became involved when the Health Department of Manila sponsored a training seminar on FP. During the second stage, President Marcos began increasingly to support a government policy facilitating FP. By 1970, FP was an announced policy of his government. The Population Commission was to suffer many administrative changes during the period, but the emphasis on fertility reduction remained within a basic framework of a policy which gave every couple the right to choose their method of FP. By the end of 1974, more than 20 organizations had become involved in FP and more than 2000 clinics provided services. (This survey is

  10. Demographic crisis and recovery: a case study of the Xavante of Pimentel Barbosa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flowers, N

    1994-03-01

    This case study of the Xavante of Pimentel Barbosa is an example of an Amazonian Indian group that, when exposed to White society, experienced the common history of diseases and social disruption, and then eventually, recovered from the demographic shock, increased fertility, and reduced mortality. Early contact for the Xavante was during the early 18th century in Goias state, Brazil; by the end of the 19th century the Xavante had migrated west into Mato Grosso in isolation. Brazilian government interests (1940s) and a research expeditionary group (1962) resulted in health posts and extensive genetic, epidemiologic, and demographic studies. The results showed good physical and nutritional status, but stress from epidemic disease and social disruption. Conditions had improved by 1976, and the battle was with encroaching ranchers. Strong indian political action led to the securing of boundaries within the Pimentel Barbosa reservation by 1977. The population doubled from 249 in 1977 to 411 in 1988, and increased to 3 villages. There was evidence of a return to more traditional practices. Data collection for this analysis occurred during 1976-77 and 1988 and 1990. Results were provided for recent demographic change, recent births and deaths, factors affecting fertility, fertility change, parity and infant mortality, life expectancy changes, infanticide, population growth, marriage patterns, and health changes. Fertility histories were collected from 71 women in 1971 and 109 women in 1990. Difficulties were encountered due to Xavante differences in enumeration of children. In the comparison of the surveys in 1977 and 1990, there was close correspondence of reported births, and discrepancies of 4-9 births and in age at death. The difficulties encountered were attributed to problems with interpreters. The demographic analysis showed evidence of introduced diseases, which increased infant mortality and threatened population replacement, followed by decreased infant

  11. Socio-cultural determinants of child mortality in southern Peru: including some methodological considerations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Meer, K; Bergman, R; Kusner, J S

    1993-02-01

    Among Amerindian children living at high altitude in the Andes in southern Peru, high child mortality rates have been reported in the literature, especially in the perinatal and neonatal period. We compared mortality rates in children calculated from retrospective survey data in 86 rural families from 2 Aymara and 3 Quechua peasant communities living at the same level of altitude (3825 m) in southern Peru. Relations between land tenure, socio-cultural factors and child mortality were studied, and methodological considerations in this field of interest are discussed. Checks on consistency of empirical data showed evidence for underreporting of neonatal female deaths with birth order 3 and more. Perinatal (124 vs 34 per 1000 births) and infant mortality (223 vs 111 per 1000 live births) was significantly higher in Aymara compared with Quechua children, but no difference was found after the first year of life. A short pregnancy interval was associated with an elevated perinatal and infant mortality rate, and a similar albeit insignificant association was found with increased maternal age. Amount of land owned and birth order were not related with child mortality. Although levels of maternal education are generally low in both cultures, a consistent decline in infant and child mortality was found with the amount of years mothers had attended school. However, the results suggest a U-shaped relationship between the amount of years of parental education and perinatal mortality in offspring. Late fetal and early neonatal mortality were particularly high in one Aymara community where mothers were found to have more years of education. Infanticide, a known phenomenon in the highlands of the Andes, is discussed in relation with the findings of the study. Although maternal and child health services are utilized by the majority of families in 4 of 5 study communities, 43 of 51 mothers under the age of 45 years reported that they delivered their last baby in the absence of

  12. Some important issues on population and sustainable development in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Y

    1994-12-01

    A workshop was held in October 1993, at which time the Director of the Institute of Population Research at Peking University proposed that basic education for Chinese children be promoted, that the social, economic, and family status of Chinese women be improved, and that the social security of the elderly be improved. Sustainable development would be dependent upon the accomplishment of these three objectives. The evidence from 1982 and 1990 censuses showed that fertility was higher by as much as 2.4 times among women with no education compared to women with just a primary education. The education law should be strictly implemented. Rural families still disrupt their children's schooling in order to increase farming production. Theoretical support is insufficient. Many rural women still maintain son preference, which has increased fertility and contributed to an imbalanced sex ratio. In 1989 the male/female sex ratio was 113.8:100 compared to the normal ratio of 106:100. Undercounting of female births has accounted for 50% to 75% of the difference between the reported and the expected values. The high sex ratio of births delivered at hospitals is accounted for by prenatal selective screening and sex-selective abortion. A change in son preference ideology could be achieved by promoting the principle of equity between men and women and practicing economic policies that protect the rights of women and children. Regulations prohibiting sex-selective screening prenatally for nonmedical reasons should be enforced. Laws against infanticide and abandonment and neglect of females should be enforced. Family planning should emphasize good counseling and service delivery on a fully voluntary basis. The quality of data collection should be improved. The issues relating to prenatal sex determination should be researched and addressed with appropriate policy. China will continue to undergo rapid population aging. The old age security program currently operating in 700 counties

  13. Empowering women and health care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shiva, M

    1993-02-01

    Women health workers have made great contributions to the health of their community for many years. In India, women physicians have established some hospitals, e.g., Christian Medical Colleges in Ludhiana and Vellore. Some such hospitals operate in remote areas to serve the poor and the suffering. Women health workers of Jamkhed, Deen Bandhu of Pachod, have proved that village women can improve the health status of their community, particularly that of women and children, if they receive encouragement to learn health care skills In India, community health care lies mainly with women (e.g., nursing personnel and in rural areas). Yet, despite their competence and experience, few become physicians, health project directors, and administrators because the society continues to be patriarchal and discriminates against females. Women need to become empowered to ensure equal opportunities for training and promotion and equal wages for equal work. In Bangladesh, use of bicycles to visit houses allows women paramedical workers from Gonasasthya Kendra, Sawar, freedom and imparts confidence. People must identify customs, practices, laws, attitudes, religious misrepresentations, and policies that discriminate against women and then oppose them. They should set these changes in motion at home, in villages, and from district to national, and even global levels. In India, society blames the mother for having a girl, but the man donates the chromosome determining sex. In Gandhigram, a woman physician and her peers have effected an apparent change in attitude toward the birth of a girl. Now the people confer equal happiness to her birth as they do to a boy's birth. Yet, female infanticides still occur in some villages of Salem District of Tamil Nadu. Sex determination tests often lead to abortion of female fetuses. Once a woman marries she has no right to her maternal home and often suffers from domestic violence. Many people resist legislation to grant women more rights, e

  14. Population and women's health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abernethy, V

    1994-01-01

    Explanations of cultural patterns can be found in the economic context (carrying capacity) in which they develop. Population pressure explains the abuse of women throughout history and in modern times because overpopulation leads to devaluation of women's reproductive capacity. A cultural response to overpopulation includes practices that limit the numbers of women of reproductive age. Such practices foster son preference, which results in selective abortion, female infanticide, neglect and overwork of girls, dowry deaths, and discrimination against widows. The results of these practices are manifest in sex ratios that are culturally rather than naturally controlled and in demographic facts such as the calculation that 60 million females are missing in Asia alone (and perhaps more than 100 million worldwide). Women are also removed from a reproductive setting by being kidnapped or sold into prostitution or by being forced to adopt prostitution for economic survival. In cases where survival is threatened by environmental degradation and population growth, the most harsh cultural practices will emerge to adapt the population to the resources at hand. This situation creates an ethical dilemma posed by the problem of imposing Western values on a culture that is undertaking adaptive practices to insure its very survival. Ways to help women in these situation include limiting population growth humanely through family planning, provision of paid work to women, and creation of an environment that supports a small family ideal. Prosperity itself, through modernization, sometimes causes family sizes to increase. The most important intervention appears to be the provision of paid employment outside the home for women. On the other hand, large-scale wealth transfers and liberal immigration policies simply send signals that population pressure is a regional problem that can be alleviated by the international community. Increasing immigration to developed countries will place

  15. China's "missing girls": prospects and policy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riley, N E

    1996-02-01

    Women's conditions in China are viewed as deteriorating. The reduction in government control over urban factories and other places of employment has resulted in fewer women being hired. This leaves women in positions with low wages, poor working conditions, and discrimination based on sex, age, and marital status. The shift from rural state-controlled agricultural collectives to patriarchal family controls resulted in land distribution that gave men preference. The rapid growth in the economy and higher standards of living placed women at risk. Although the pressures to kill girl babies have relaxed, there is growing interest in making money from abducting and selling women for prostitution, marriage, and slavery. Women gained in recent decades greater participation in the labor force and higher educational levels. Women's access to health care is better. Female life expectancy is 72 years compared to 69 years for men. Maternal mortality is 95 deaths per 100,000 live births. Yet women hold subordinate positions to men in their jobs, and women are segregated in the textile and service industries. Women in rural areas have primarily access to agricultural jobs, which can be combined with child care. Women are less likely to be promoted and are retired 5 years earlier than men. Women carry a double burden of domestic labor and paid or unpaid labor. Women still have higher illiteracy rates than men, and the gender gap in higher education has remained stable since the 1970s. The imbalanced sex ratio is increasing. In some provinces it is 114 males for every 100 females, when the normal ratio is 105-106 males per 100 females. An estimated 12% of females are unaccounted for each year. The reasons for the missing children are identified as sex-selective abortion, infanticide, or underreporting. The next five-year plan holds the hope for improvement in women's status and an end to abuses against women and children.

  16. Women's rights advocates achieve victories as UN conference concludes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1995-09-29

    On September 15, 1995, government delegations finished the Platform for Action of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. In this historic document, individual governments and the international community committed themselves to the advancement of women worldwide. Human rights issues (violence against women and female children, and reproductive freedom and health) were discussed and affirmed. Paragraph 2 of the human rights section states that "the human rights of women and the girl child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights." Paragraph 9 adds "full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of all women is essential for the empowerment of women." Acknowledging "the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds," the document still calls for "states, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms." The human rights section "reaffirms that [reproductive rights] rest on the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing, and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. It also includes their right to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence, as expressed in human rights documents." The platform recognizes violence against women and girls in all societies (physical, psychological, and sexual abuse that includes murder; systematic rape; forced pregnancy, sterilization, contraception, and abortion; female infanticide; battering; and trafficking in women that is perpetrated by state and nonstate actors). The section on women and armed conflict declares that "rape in the conduct of armed conflict constitutes a war crime and under

  17. Incidence and biomarkers of pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, and neonatal loss during an environmental stressor: Implications for female reproductive suppression in the cooperatively breeding meerkat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dimac-Stohl, Kristin A; Davies, Charli S; Grebe, Nicholas M; Stonehill, Alexandra C; Greene, Lydia K; Mitchell, Jessica; Clutton-Brock, Tim; Drea, Christine M

    2018-05-02

    Meerkats are group-living, insectivorous herpestids in which subordinate members provide extensive care for the dominant female's young. In contrast to some cooperative breeders, subordinate female meerkats are physiologically able to reproduce and occasionally do so successfully; their attempts are more frequently 'suppressed' via eviction or infanticide by the dominant female. Spontaneous abortion and neonatal loss occur with some regularity, further negatively impacting reproductive success. Here, we compared the reproductive outcomes and endocrine profiles, including of serum progesterone (P 4 ), serum estradiol (E 2 ), and fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCm), of dominant and subordinate dams residing within their clans in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa. Our study spanned years of drought, which reduced insect abundance and represented a substantial environmental stressor. Meerkat pregnancies were identified at mid-term and culminated either in spontaneous abortions or full-term deliveries, after which pups were either lost prior to emergence from the natal den (usually within 2days of birth) or emerged at 2-3weeks. Neonatal loss exceeded fetal loss for all females, and contributed to narrowing the status-related disparity in female reproductive output seen during less arid periods. Although E 2 concentrations were significantly lower in subordinate than dominant females, they were sufficient to support gestation. Absolute E 2 concentrations may owe to androgenic precursors that also attain highest concentrations in dominant dams and may mediate aggression underlying female reproductive skew. Pregnancies terminating in fetal loss were marked by significantly lower P 4 concentrations in mid-gestation and modestly lower E 2 concentrations overall. Consistently high fGCm concentrations further increased across trimesters, particularly (but not consistently) in subordinates and in aborted pregnancies. Environmental stressors may modulate reproductive

  18. INFRACŢIUNEA DE PRUNCUCIDERE ÎN DREPTUL PENAL SUBSTANŢIAL PRIN PRISMA NOILOR ABORDĂRI CONCEPTUALE ŞI A DECIZIILOR JUDECĂTOREŞTI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lilia GÎRLA

    2016-03-01

    n prevederile ce vizează infracţiunea în cauză pentru a se evita interpretările eronate şi pentru a asigura o aplicare uniformă şi corectă a practicii judiciare. THE CRIMINAL OFFENCE OF NEONATICIDE IN THE SUBSTANTIVE CRIMINAL LAW THROUGH THE NEW SCIENTIFIC APPROACH AND JUDICIAL DECISIONSThe crime of infanticide (also known as: neonaticide, the assassination of a new-born child reveals great importance, because it is considered to be a very old phenomenon which unfortunately is present nowadays especially in over­populated countries that are suffering from poverty. To defend the mother that is murdering her new-born child in the following conditions from a way too harsh punishment, it was considered necessary to interleave a distinct criminal act of manslaughter different from the criminal offence of intentional murder. This crime was created due to the objective and subjective factors proving that the wrongdoing provided in article 147 from the Criminal code of the Republic Moldova, is offence of murder but with extenuating circumstances and with particular differences from the other crimes against the life and health of the human being. The authors of this study have offered a great number of opinions, legal provisions and law-suits, which finally induced to creation of extremely comprehensive penal doctrine concerning the crime of neonaticide. The authors of this article have offered the characteristics of each element of the crime and have offered certain examples to reveal the essence of this crime. Taking it in consideration the articles and monographic studies regarding infanticide, written by Lilia Gîrla in 2004-2005, we will be using the word of neonaticide which is also identical to inanticide. The authors of this research have also been exposed conclusions and explications meant to contribute to a better understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects concerning the assassination of a new-born. We consider this article as an impulse for the

  19. Violência doméstica infantil: abordagem da enfermagem - doi: 10.4025/actascihealthsci.v34i1.9268 Domestic violence child: approach to nursing - doi: 10.4025/actascihealthsci.v34i1.9268

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria da Graça Corso da Motta

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Este estudo visa aprofundar a discussão sobre a violência doméstica contra crianças e adolescentes. Trata-se de uma revisão sistemática da literatura na perspectiva de caracterizar a produção do conhecimento e identificar os fatores de vulnerabilidade para maus-tratos infantis, bem como conhecer quais são as estratégias utilizadas pelo enfermeiro (a na consulta de Enfermagem à família em situação de violência infantil. Através da bibliografia consultada, verificou-se que crianças e adolescentes do sexo feminino são submetidas a situações de violência com maior freqüência quando comparadas as do sexo masculino; elas ainda apresentam maior risco para o infanticídio, abuso sexual, violência física e nutricional, negligência bem como, para a prostituição forçada. A literatura nacional não permitiu identificar as estratégias utilizadas pelo enfermeiro (a na consulta ao familiar da criança e adolescente vítima de violência doméstica pela ausência de publicações a respeito desta temática, conforme a metodologia utilizada neste estudo.This study aims to deepen the discussion about domestic violence against children and adolescents. This is a systematic review of literature from the perspective of characterizing the production of knowledge and identify the factors of vulnerability to abuse from children and know what are the strategies employed by nurses in Nursing consultation to family under situation of child abuse. Through the literature, we found that children and adolescent girls are submitted to situations of violence more frequently when compared to males; they still have a higher risk for infanticide, sexual abuse, physical and nutritional violence, and negligence as well as for forced prostitution. The national literature failed to identify the strategies used by nurses when consulting the family of the child and adolescent victims of domestic violence by the absence of publications on this subject

  20. Violência doméstica infantil: abordagem da enfermagem = Domestic violence child: approach to nursing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernanda Lise

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Este estudo visa aprofundar a discussão sobre a violência doméstica contra crianças e adolescentes. Trata-se de uma revisão sistemática da literatura na perspectiva de caracterizar a produção do conhecimento e identificar os fatores de vulnerabilidade para maus-tratos infantis, bem como conhecer quais são as estratégias utilizadas pelo enfermeiro (a na consulta de Enfermagem à família em situação de violência infantil. Através da bibliografia consultada, verificou-se que crianças e adolescentes do sexo feminino são submetidas a situações de violência com maior freqüência quando comparadas as do sexo masculino; elas ainda apresentam maior risco para o infanticídio, abuso sexual, violência física e nutricional, negligência bem como, para a prostituição forçada. A literatura nacional não permitiu identificar as estratégias utilizadas pelo enfermeiro (a na consulta ao familiar da criança e adolescente vítima de violência doméstica pela ausência de publicações a respeito desta temática, conforme a metodologia utilizada neste estudo.This study aims to deepen the discussion about domestic violence against children and adolescents. This is a systematic review of literature from the perspective of characterizing the production of knowledge and identify the factors of vulnerability to abuse from children and know what are the strategies employed by nurses in Nursing consultation to family under situation of child abuse. Through the literature, we found that children and adolescent girls are submitted to situations of violence more frequently when compared to males; they still have a higher risk for infanticide, sexual abuse, physical and nutritional violence, and negligence as well as for forced prostitution. The national literature failed to identify the strategies used by nurses when consulting the family of the child and adolescent victims of domestic violence by the absence of publications on this subject

  1. Summit surprises.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, N

    1994-01-01

    A New Delhi Population Summit, organized by the Royal Society, the US National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the Indian National Science Academy, was convened with representation of 120 (only 10% women) scientists from 50 countries and about 12 disciplines and 43 national scientific academies. Despite the common assumption that scientists never agree, a 3000 word statement was signed by 50 prominent national figures and supported by 25 professional papers on diverse subjects. The statement proclaimed that stable world population and "prodigious planning efforts" are required for dealing with global social, economic, and environmental problems. The target should be zero population growth by the next generation. The statement, although containing many uncompromising assertions, was not as strong as a statement by the Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences released last year: that, in the future, science and technology may not be able to prevent "irreversible degradation of the environment and continued poverty," and that the capacity to sustain life on the planet may be permanently jeopardized. The Delhi statement was backed by professional papers highlighting several important issues. Dr Mahmoud Fathalla of the Rockefeller Foundation claimed that the 500,000 annual maternal deaths worldwide, of which perhaps 33% are due to "coathanger" abortions, are given far less attention than a one-day political event of 500 deaths would receive. Although biologically women have been given a greater survival advantage, which is associated with their reproductive capacity, socially disadvantaged females are relegated to low status. There is poorer nutrition and overall health care for females, female infanticide, and female fetuses are increasingly aborted in China, India, and other countries. The sex ratio in developed countries is 95-97 males to every 100 females, but in developing Asian countries the ratio is 105 males to 100

  2. Involuntary euthanasia of severely ill newborns: is the Groningen Protocol really dangerous?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voultsos, P; Chatzinikolaou, F

    2014-01-01

    Advances in medicine can reduce active euthanasia of newborns with severe anomalies or unusual prematurity, but they cannot eliminate it. In the Netherlands, voluntary active euthanasia among adults and adolescents has been allowed since 2002, when the so-called Groningen Protocol (GP) was formulated as an extension of the law on extremely premature and severely ill newborns. It is maintained that, at bioethical level, it serves the principle of beneficence. Other European countries do not accept the GP, including Belgium. Admissibility of active euthanasia is a necessary, though inadequate, condition for acceptance of the GP. Greece generally prohibits euthanasia, although the legal doctrine considers some of the forms of euthanasia permissible, but not active or involuntary euthanasia. The wide acceptance of passive newborns euthanasia, especially when the gestational age of the newborns is 22-25 weeks ("grey zone"), admissibility of practices within the limits between active and passive euthanasia (e.g., withholding/withdrawing), of "indirect active euthanasia" and abortion of the late fetus, the tendency to accept after-birth-abortion (infanticide) in the bioethical theory, the lower threshold for application of withdrawing in neonatal intensive care units compared with pediatric intensive care units, all the above advocate wider acceptance of the GP. However, the GP paves the way for a wide application of involuntary (or pseudo-voluntary) euthanasia (slippery slope) and contains some ambiguous concepts and requirements (e.g., "unbearable suffering"). It is suggested that the approach to the sensitive and controversial ethical dilemmas concerning the severely ill newborns is done not through the GP, but rather, through a combination of virtue bioethics (especially in the countries of the so-called "Mediterranean bioethical zone") and of the principles of principlism which is enriched, however, with the "principle of mutuality" (enhancement of all values and

  3. Dying like rabbits: general determinants of spatio-temporal variability in survival.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tablado, Zulima; Revilla, Eloy; Palomares, Francisco

    2012-01-01

    1. Identifying general patterns of how and why survival rates vary across space and time is necessary to truly understand population dynamics of a species. However, this is not an easy task given the complexity and interactions of processes involved, and the interpopulation differences in main survival determinants. 2. Here, using European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) as a model and information from local studies, we investigated whether we could make inferences about trends and drivers of survival of a species that are generalizable to large spatio-temporal scales. To do this, we first focused on overall survival and then examined cause-specific mortalities, mainly predation and diseases, which may lead to those patterns. 3. Our results show that within the large-scale variability in rabbit survival, there exist general patterns that are explained by the integration of factors previously known to be important at the local level (i.e. age, climate, diseases, predation or density dependence). We found that both inter- and intrastudy survival rates increased in magnitude and decreased in variability as rabbits grow old, although this tendency was less pronounced in populations with epidemic diseases. Some causes leading to these higher mortalities in young rabbits could be the stronger effect of rainfall at those ages, as well as, other death sources like malnutrition or infanticide. 4. Predation is also greater for newborns and juveniles, especially in population without diseases. Apart from the effect of diseases, predation patterns also depended on factors, such as, density, season, and type and density of predators. Finally, we observed that infectious diseases also showed general relationships with climate, breeding (i.e. new susceptible rabbits) and age, although the association type varied between myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease. 5. In conclusion, large-scale patterns of spatio-temporal variability in rabbit survival emerge from the combination

  4. Modeling the impacts of hunting on the population dynamics of red howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiederholt, Ruscena; Fernandez-Duque, Eduardo; Diefenbach, Duane R.; Rudran, Rasanayagam

    2010-01-01

    Overexploitation of wildlife populations occurs across the humid tropics and is a significant threat to the long-term survival of large-bodied primates. To investigate the impacts of hunting on primates and ways to mitigate them, we developed a spatially explicit, individual-based model for a landscape that included hunted and un-hunted areas. We used the large-bodied neotropical red howler monkey (Alouatta seniculus) as our case study species because its life history characteristics make it vulnerable to hunting. We modeled the influence of different rates of harvest and proportions of landscape dedicated to un-hunted reserves on population persistence, population size, social dynamics, and hunting yields of red howler monkeys. In most scenarios, the un-hunted populations maintained a constant density regardless of hunting pressure elsewhere, and allowed the overall population to persist. Therefore, the overall population was quite resilient to extinction; only in scenarios without any un-hunted areas did the population go extinct. However, the total and hunted populations did experience large declines over 100 years under moderate and high hunting pressure. In addition, when reserve area decreased, population losses and losses per unit area increased disproportionately. Furthermore, hunting disrupted the social structure of troops. The number of male turnovers and infanticides increased in hunted populations, while birth rates decreased and exacerbated population losses due to hunting. Finally, our results indicated that when more than 55% of the landscape was harvested at high (30%) rates, hunting yields, as measured by kilograms of biomass, were less than those obtained from moderate harvest rates. Additionally, hunting yields, expressed as the number of individuals hunted/year/km2, increased in proximity to un-hunted areas, and suggested that dispersal from un-hunted areas may have contributed to hunting sustainability. These results indicate that un

  5. Impact of rearing mangement on health in domestic rabbits: a review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wolfgang Schlolaut

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available High mortality in rabbit rearing is not only an economical problem but also an animal welfare issue.  Without doubt, certain common rearing practices are the main reasons for the high mortality rates.  In this review, we point out different and commonly used management practices, which neither represent adequate housing conditions for the animals’ behavioural requirements nor correspond to their nutritional needs, and discuss possibilities to reduce the risk of disease. (1  Usually the doe is forced to build the nursery nest in the cage or in a box with a permanently open entrance, often not protected from the light.  This can lead to perinatal mortality due to disturbed maternal behaviour, such as failure to build a proper nest, depositing the kits outside the nest, or infanticide. (2  Continuous housing of the doe with the kits does not conform to this species’ pattern of unusually limited maternal care. Stimulated by olfactory and acoustic signals emanating from the nest, the doe disturbs the inactivity of the kits by her frequent entries to the nest or attempts to close the entrance. Cooling of the kits caused by maladaptive maternal behaviour under such unnatural conditions is one of the most important causes of mortality and morbidity during the nursing period. (3  When the doe is left to nurse the kits for longer than four weeks, which does not conform to the reproductive biology of the rabbit, kit morbidity is caused by the following factors: (a Prolonged mother-offspring contact increases the risk of the kits becoming infected with pathogens such as coccidiosis, EPEC and pasteurellosis persisting in the doe. (b Pre-disposition of the kits to bacterial enteropathies is encouraged by the retarded development of the enzymatic system, delayed establishment of a stable gut flora (due to the use of wood shavings or straw as nest material and by consumption of the doe’s feed. (c The increased energy demands of lactation as well as

  6. O comércio de medicamentos de gênero na mídia impressa brasileira: misoprostol e mulheres The illegal market for gender-related drugs as portrayed in the Brazilian news media: the case of misoprostol and women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Debora Diniz

    2011-01-01

    socioeconomic status was associated with different experiences with abortion. Three characters appeared in the women's abortion itineraries: girlfriends (confidantes, go-betweens, and physicians. Stories of late-stage abortion are confused with the criminal characterization of infanticide and provide the extreme cases in the media's narrative on abortion.

  7. China (country/area statements).

    Science.gov (United States)

    1985-09-01

    , education, and provision of contraceptive services. Incentive and disincentive measures have been adopted in accordance with the specific conditions in different localities. Families with 2 or more children must pay fees to the public welfare fund to lighten the burden on society, and must space them properly. Instances of coercion occurring in some places were not caused by government policy but were in violation of the basic principle of integrating the government's guidance with the masses' voluntary acceptance. The female infanticide reported in the Chinese media reflected traditional feudal ideals left over from the old society. The offenders were duly punished by law, demonstrating the determination and capability of the government to overcome abuses. Among problems confronting the family planning program are a shortage of professionally trained demographers and family planning workers, weak data collection, analysis, and information services, and insufficient supplies of safe and effective contraceptives. UN funds have helped train personnel.

  8. Transtornos psiquiátricos no pós-parto Postpartum psychiatric disorders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amaury Cantilino

    2010-01-01

    classically associated to the postpartum. Anxiety disorders have also recently been associated to this period. METHOD: The present article reports a review of the literature on postpartum psychiatric disorders based on articles found on the PubMed and SciELO databases, published between 2000 and 2009. Relevant books, theses and other articles cited in the articles found were also included in this review. RESULTS: Puerperal dysphoria occurs in 50% to 85% of women following childbirth and is typically mild and transient in nature and requires no treatment. Postpartum depression has a prevalence rate of around 13% and can have negative repercussions on mother-infant interaction and other life events and must therefore be treated. Postpartum psychosis is rare, occurring in approximately 0.2% of puerperium cases. This condition is severe with psychotic and affective symptoms as well as risk of suicide and infanticide. Postpartum psychosis patients generally require hospital treatment. Anxiety disorders may be exacerbated or precipitated during the postpartum, particularly generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and compulsive-obsessive disorder. DISCUSSION: Although not recognized as distinct diagnostic entities under current classification systems, mental disorders during the puerperium present clinical features which warrant the attention of clinicians and researchers.

  9. The otherness of a Barbarianess: Euripides’ Medea and Medea by Velimir Lukić

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    Šijaković Đurđina

    2014-01-01

    Euripides’ tragedy and Greek myth. Euripides’ Medea influenced on the tradition of this famous barbarian woman from Colchis, passionate and cruel sorceress, more than any other text did. If this writer didn’t make up Medea’s infanticide (performed in order to punish her unfaithful husband on his own, then it was him who gave a fixed form to this variant of the myth. She is a refugee from her own home and country, a newcomer in Greece on the other side; she is a dangerous foreigner, a barbarian, passionate woman and sorceress; a threat and an ill omen to the manliness and male principle (and ambiguously a potential help to it. In order to avenge to her infidel husband, Greek Jason, this Colchian woman becomes a murderer of her own (two male! children in the Euripides’ tragedy. The bloody epilogue of love between Greek and Colchian is described by Velimir Lukić as well. In his radio-drama Medea, eternal and varible, male and female, Greek and barbarian (in a particular aspect are juxtaposed. Lukić constantly has in mind an abyss that gapes between hellenic and barbarian world, a gap that (in his interpretation is so terrific that Medea will murder her own offspring saying: „So that I prevent my sons from becoming Greek, / To prevent them to reject their barbarian mother…”

  10. ANONIMATO DEL PROGENITOR Y DERECHO A LA IDENTIDAD DEL HIJO: DECISIONES JUDICIALES ENCONTRADAS SOBRE RESERVA DE IDENTIDAD EN LOS CASOS DE MADRE SOLTERA Y DONANTE DE ESPERMA Anonymity of genetic parents and the children's right to know own biological identity: Opossed judicial decisions about the secrecy of identity in the cases of single mother and sperm donors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramón Duran Rivacoba

    2010-01-01

    faculty to the anonymity of genetic parents and the children's right to know own biological identity, appear confronted. We will contrast a decision of the Supreme Tribunal who declared unconstitutional the norms which allow the unwed mother to refuse the child and protect the secrecy of her identity, with the Constitutional Tribunal's decision (issued a few months earlier which legitimates the anonymity of the sperm donor in the context of an assisted reproduction proceeding. We argue, against both solutions, that in the first one, maternal anonymity seeks not to protect the mother, but to protect the child before a possible abortion or infanticide so the right to the identity must be limited. To illustrate the convenience and viability of this argument we analyze the "Odiévre" case, in which the European Human Rights Court concluded that the Trench system (that reserves the identity of the mother was not contrary to the European Covenant. On the other hand, we criticize the Constitutional Tribunal's decision regarding the sperm donor because it overstate the right of privacy of the progenitor against the child's best interest. This contrast exercise shows that the mother, who used to have certain means that could jeopardize the child's life, loses them; however the father (that since 1981 reform that allowed free paternity investigation, benefits with the same dispense that the mother nowadays lack.

  11. Uzm Dr Sebahattin Okumuş 05-09-1937 - 14-03-2003

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Veli Özdemir

    2003-12-01

    . Dr. Cengiz YEGİNALTAY kahvehanesiydi. Zaten yaşamının son saatlerini orada tamamladı. Sebahattin OKUMUŞ'un Biyografisi: Uz. Dr. Sebahattin OKUMUŞ, 05.09.1937 yılında Bitlis'te doğdu; ilk ve orta öğrenimini bu ilde tamamladı. Aymyıl kazandığı Tıp Fakültesine kaydım yaptırmak için geldiği İstanbul'da geçim sıkıntısı ve diğer nedenlerden dolayı üniversite öğrenimini yarıda bırakarak bir ilaç firmasında mümessil olarak çalışmaya başladı. Yıllar soma yeniden okuluna dönerek mezun oldu. Adli Tıp Mtiessesesi'nin 10.10.1980 tarihinde açtığı sınavda başarılı olarak Adli Tıp Asistanı olmaya hak kazandı. 17.03.1981 tarihinde S.S.K. Cibali Dispanserinden naklen tayin olarak bu görevine başladı. “Çocuk Öldürme (Infanticide Metodları ve Çocuk Öldürme İlgili Adli Tıp Sorunları” konulu teziyle 24.10.1983 tarihinde 4 asistan arkadaşıyla birlikte girdiği uzmanlık sınavını (diğerleri: Dr. Uğur Kaya GÜNDÜZ, Dr. Şerife Bilge KIRANGİL, Dr. Yaşar TIRAŞÇI ve Dr. Uğur TANAÇAN vererek Adli Tıp Uzmam oldu. (Jüri üyeleri: Prof.Dr. M. Şemsi Gök, Prof.Dr. Talia Bali Akyan, Doç. Dr. R. Özdemir Kolusaym, Uz. Dr. Vakur Sağmen ve Uz. Dr. Cahide Müdüroğlu. Bir süre Kurumda çalıştıktan soma Adli Tıp Kurumu'nun Türkiye'de teşkilatlanması politikası doğrultusunda Erzurum'da açılan Şube Müdürlüğü'nde görevlendirildi, 09.05.1984 tarihinde bu görevine başlayarak Erzurum'un ilk adli tıp uzmanı oldu. Yaklaşık 8 yıl burada görev yaptıktan soma İstanbul'a geri çağrılarak 10.02.1992 tarihinde Başkan Yar-dımcıkğı'nda görevlendirildi. Ardından kısa bir süre Bakırköy Şube Müdürü olarak çalıştı. 01.06.1993 tarihinden itibaren Fatih Şube Müdürü (kadrosunu 09.01.1998 tarihinde aldı olarak görev yaptı. 06.09.2002\ttarihinde yaş haddinden emekli oldu. 14.03.2003\tCuma günü akşamüstü idi, bir tıp bayramında aramızdan ayrıldı... Dr. Veli ÖZDEMİR

  12. [Development of forensic thanatology through the prism of analysis of postmortem protocols collected at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Jagiellonian University].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Konopka, Tomasz

    2011-01-01

    resulted in dubious opinions on strangling by blocking the respiratory orifices of the victim, especially in cases of infanticides. Another erroneous theory, which was obligatory in forensic thanatology, was the theory of thymolymphatic state, which used thymic hypertrophy to explain deaths of young individuals resulting from a small injury or even strong emotion. Statistical tests and development of general medicine allowed for disproving the theory. In the diagnostics management of death from hypothermia, despite the fact that its most important features--Wischnewski spots and the loss of liver glycogen--had been known for a long time, they were regarded useless for several score years. At this time, cases of death from hypothermia were included into the category of "heart palsy". Despite several changes of the authorities, a review of autopsy protocols prepared in the Krakow Department of Forensic Medicine provided the author with a wealth of information of significant historical value. Protocols dating back to the period of Nazi occupation allowed for documenting and analyzing the types of torture employed by the Gestapo, but also for discovering a surprisingly large number of postmortem examinations of bodies of occupation functionaries who were sentenced to death by the Polish Underground State. After World War II, the Department examined numerous victims originating from both sides of skirmishes fought at the time by the then authorities and the armed underground movement, or even individuals murdered in the course of interrogations. The archives of autopsy protocols became a valuable source helpful in estimating the number of victims of the Soviet Army that was stationed in Poland, and later provided the only supply of information needed for evaluation of the number of fatal accidents among the builders of the Krakow district of Nowa Huta. Based on the autopsy protocols it may be concluded that the number of victims of anti-Jewish riots that sparked off in Krakow