TEXTO:
China’s sex factor
Over the years, China’s one-child policy has been
tied to a range of social ills, such as rising prostitution
and delayed marriage. Now it may be producing yet
another ugly side effect: a spike in crime. Even as rates
[5] have dropped in most Western countries, official statistics
show that China is becoming a more dangerous place,
with murder, robbery, and rape rates now surpassing
those in many European countries.
Blame men. In January the Chinese Academy of
[10] Social Sciences found that the male-female birth ratio in
China has hit 119 males to 100 females, a new high,
and reaches 130:100 in some provinces. (That’s 10 to
20 percent higher than the average for industrialized
countries.) Some experts link this gap to the surge in
[15] violence. In an April 2009 paper, Columbia University’s
Lena Edlund suggested that the sex gap accounts for
up to one sixth of China’s crime increase between 1988
and 2004. Edlund points the finger at lower marriage
rates, noting that unmarried men are a destabilizing factor
[20] in society.
Not everyone agrees that the gender gap is a bad
thing; a Columbia Business School study says it
encourages families to save cash to better position sons
in the spouse hunt. This increase in savings may serve
[25] to improve social stability and balance the sex gap’s
negative aspects. The crime increase has also been
attributed to the country’s growing underclass of migrant
workers, and it’s often unclear where the pressures of
work and courtship intersect to drive men to crime. But
[30] as China rises, it may unfortunately find it’s overtaking
the U.S. in crime as well.
FISH, Isaac Stone. China’s sex factor. Newsweek, New York, March 1, 2010 p. 9.
“Blame men” (l. 9)
Considering China’s present situation in relation to crime, this sentence means that Chinese men are
