Eighth.

We're reading an article in my anthropology class about "Female Infanticide and Child Neglect in Rural North India". It talks about female selective abortion and female infanticide. The main idea of the article is that females in rural Northern India are "too expensive" and "too much of a liability" for their families. The article specifically says that the pride of upper castes and tribes in India pushes them to murder female infants rather than give them away to more dominant groups AND that the families don't want to have to pay the expensive dowry that goes along with marrying off a daughter to another family.

Anthropologically speaking, SCIENTIFICALLY speaking, I accept what infanticide is. If you don't have to economic resources, or the space, or the food to feed a child, then infanticide is "appropriate". I feel terrible for saying that though! From a human perspective, infanticide is wrong. Its murder. There is absolutely no reason why a child's life should be taken, regardless if you have the economic means or not. Adoption agencies exist for a reason. The foster care system in the United States is awful, and from what little I know about the adoption process, its a really rough thing, especially on the kids. I don't even know what kind of system exists for abandoned children. But infanticide is murder.

The article goes on to talk about "female selective abortion". Pregnant women who follow the practice of female infanticide will request an amniocentesis and upon finding the sex of the baby, will request an abortion if it is female. Now most clinics in India don't offer amniocentesis testing for this very reason, so female selective abortion can't occur at these clinics. BUT IT STILL HAPPENS. I don't get it.

The particular people we are studying right now are Orthodox Jains, a particular culture in Northern India. Jainism supports NONVIOLENCE TOWARD ALL LIFE FORMS! These people will wear cloths over their mouths when the sleep so they don't swallow flies. They don't plow into the earth because they're afraid the'll cut a worm in half. I'm not exaggerating, these seem to be the most peaceful people on the planet. BUT a Jain woman is willing to abort a female fetus in the sixth month of gestation because the cultural disfavor toward the birth of daughters is so strong. It makes me sick.

We're supposed to take an objective approach in anthropology, especially when it comes down to studying other cultures. But I don't know that I can be objective about something as disturbing as female infanticide and female selective abortion. I can be objective about marriage customs, food preferences, gender roles in society, but not this. If accepting that other cultures view female infanticide, ANY form of infanticide, as appropriate and acceptable, then I'm not cut out for anthropology. I can not accept that in the world it is socially and culturally acceptable to murder a child or abort a fetus simply because of their gender.

My whole desire to be an anthropologist comes from my desire to bring new levels of understanding between vastly different cultures that have had differences in the past or are still at odds with one another. I don't know how I'm going to be able to accomplish that when I can't even grasp this situation.

At some point, later in life, when I'm married and have somewhat figured out my life (although that may never happen), I would like to have children. I love children of all ages. I love watching them grow up. I love being with them. I absolutely love everything about them, even the hard/messy/rough/difficult things about them. I have two of the greatest parents anyone could ever ask for and I know that because of them and the wonderful job they have done and are doing raising me and helping me grow into an adult, I will be able to be the same kind of parent to a child some day. I'll make mistakes like everyone else, but I will be a good mother whether I have sons or daughters or both. Even thinking about having children some day, I can't comprehend what it would be like to decide to end one of their lives. I couldn't and I WOULDN'T do it. There is absolutely no reason to. And this is where I struggle with drawing the line between my culture and the cultures of the rest of the world.