Bandyopadhyay Sutapa, Singh Amarjeet
Department of Community Medicine, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh-160012.
Bull Indian Inst Hist Med Hyderabad. 2003 Jul-Dec;33(2):149-67.
In the history of mankind, there was a time when women dominated the world. In due course of time, as the patriarchal societies evolved, the status of women gradually declined. Sons were preferred to daughters. In India, the Brahmin community promoted such customs and rituals, which gave more and more importance to sons eg. Lighting the funeral pyre of the father was told to be a pre-condition for salvation of his spirit. Similarly, in western civilization also women were considered to be weak. In consonance with such a mind-set man has been trying various techniques for sex-selection since antiquity eg. for acquiring a son choosing a special day, time and posture for sexual intercourse, special diet, charms and amulet and prayers etc. In Vedas also punsavana karma has been described as a technique for acquiring a son. Apart from these techniques, female infanticide has also been used as a way to create a male dominated, son-worshipping society. On development of the technique of ultrasonography as an example of progress of science and technology, man has devised a new way of killing females in womb itself, which has resulted in continuous decline in female: male sex ratio in India. To stop this, Indian Govt. promulgated PNDT Act 1994. But considering the widely prevalent practice of use of various regimen of sex-pre-selection by people as well as unscrupulous medical practitioners, Govt. of India has amended this Act (2002). Still, as authors have found in one of their studies, sex-selection drugs are being used widely by north Indians for getting a son. Here, it should be noted that sex-selection methods are being used in west also. But the perspective is different. There, it is not used for female feticide or for acquiring a son. Rather, it is more an effort towards demonstrating the control of man over the NATURE.
在人类历史上，曾有一段时间女性主宰着世界。随着时间的推移，随着父权制社会的发展，女性的地位逐渐下降。重男轻女。在印度，婆罗门群体推崇此类习俗和仪式，越来越重视儿子，例如，据说点燃父亲的葬礼柴堆是其灵魂得救的先决条件。同样，在西方文明中，女性也被视为弱者。自古以来，人们就秉持着这种观念尝试各种性别选择技术，比如，为了生儿子选择特殊的日期、时间和性交姿势、特殊饮食、符咒和护身符以及祈祷等等。吠陀经中也将受孕仪式描述为一种生儿子的技术。除了这些技术，杀女婴也被用作创造男性主导、崇拜儿子的社会的一种方式。以超声检查技术的发展为例，随着科技进步，人们发明了一种在子宫内杀死女胎的新方法，这导致印度的男女比例持续下降。为了阻止这种情况，印度政府颁布了1994年的《产前诊断技术（监管与防止滥用法）法案》。但考虑到人们以及无良医生广泛使用各种性别选择方法的普遍做法，印度政府对该法案进行了修订（2002年）。尽管如此，正如作者在一项研究中发现的那样，印度北部的人们仍广泛使用性别选择药物来生儿子。在此需要指出的是，西方也在使用性别选择方法。但目的不同。在西方，它不是用于杀害女胎或生儿子。相反，更多的是为了展示人类对自然的掌控。
