PREVALENCE, PATTERN, AND DETERMINANT OF SEX PREFERENCE IN INDIA: EVIDENCE FROM INDIA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SURVEY-II (2011-12)

Sex preference is highly dominated in India and its adjacent South Asian countries. The present study examines the pattern, prevalence, and determinants of sex preference for an extra child at India's national and regional levels. For this study, we have utilized the secondary data of the Indian Human Development Survey-II. Bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were carried out to understand the difference of sex preference for an extra child by selected background variable- prevalence of sex preference almost 40% in India. Sex preference is higher among women who have three alive children, where the son's preference is more who have at least four living children. Son preference is decreasing with the increase of women's educational levels. On the contrary, sex preference is more among lower age at marriage. The odds of sex preference are higher among those above bachelor's degrees than those with no formal education. On the contrary, sons' preference is higher who completed their primary education than those who have no education. Sex preference, especially son's preference, directly or indirectly affects on sex ratio. Therefore, Government should focus on an awareness program and make some policies for a venerable woman identified in this study.

Komposisi jenis kelamin anak, program Keluarga Berencana dan fertilitas

The number and sex composition of children are important for some married couples in Indonesia. Having sons in the family is considered as a must since they are argued to be the successor of the family lineage. The presence of daughters is expected to help with household chores and care for their elderly parents. The sex preference for children by the married couples can affect their number of children. This study aims to assess the relationship between the number and sex composition of children, contraceptive use, and the desire to have more children among women in Indonesia. The study employed the data from the 2017 Indonesian Demography and Health Survey (IDHS), with the unit of analysis of currently married women aged 15-49 who have at least one living children. The results show that women with two or more children of the same sex had a higher tendency to have additional children and no use of contraceptives. The Family Planning program's campaign of similar values shared between son and daughter is still hardly accepted, hence, sex preference still exists. It is necessary to reformulate an effective concept for proper socialization of these values as an effort to control the fertility rate in Indonesia.

Examining the Influence of Intimate Partner Violence on Fertility Planning Status of Couples: Evidence from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is associated with women’s poor reproductive health outcomes. This study examined the influence of IPV on couples’ fertility planning status (FPS). Couples’ data from Nigeria’s Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) conducted in 2018 were used. A weighted sample of 4,650 couples was analyzed from the domestic violence module of the NDHS. Complementary log-log (cloglog) models were fitted to estimate the effects on FPS. The results showed that in marital relationships where husbands were older than wives, there was a 28% higher likelihood of planned fertility than couples where husbands were younger or within the same age range (Exp.B.=1.28; CI=1.10, 1.50). Couples who practiced the same religion had a 25% higher likelihood of planning their fertility than those practicing different religions (Exp.B.=1.25; CI=1.07, 1.47). Couples with no IPV had a 13% higher likelihood of planning their fertility (Exp.B.=1.13; CI=1.04, 1.24). IPV, poverty, and child sex preference had significant negative influences on couples’ FPS. Couples should be advised against all forms of IPV, and they should be made to understand that IPV jeopardizes their reproductive intentions. Specific enlightenment programs dissuading child sex preference may also be targeted at them.

Homosexuality in K. Sello Duiker’s The Quiet Violence of Dreams: Demythologising the Imaginings and Universalising the Reality

Sello Duiker’s The Quiet Violence of Dreams offers an extensive treatment of homosexuality, a preoccupation which, until recently, is rare in black African fiction. On this account, as well as its depth and openness, the work has attracted some critical attention. It has been read from a masculinity perspective, as a coming-out novel, as a national allegory, as a work that challenges the notion of fixed sexuality, as a work that normalises same-sex sexuality, and so forth. Unlike these studies, this article examines the representation and disquisition around same-sex preference in the novel, with a view to demonstrating how some myths about homosexuality are exploded in the groundbreaking work, and showing that the narrative could also be apprehended as intellectual advocacy for the right to same-sex orientation.

Young chicks quickly lose their spontaneous preference to aggregate with females

It is not clear when and how animals start to discriminate between male and female conspecifics and how this distinction drives their social behaviour. A recent study on pheasants found that one-week-old chicks (Phasianus colchicus) preferentially aggregated with same-sex peers and this trend became more pronounced through development, suggesting that sexual segregation increases during ontogeny. However, it remains unclear whether this ability depends on experience or develops spontaneously. Using a similar experimental protocol, we investigated whether sex discrimination is present at birth in domestic chickens (Gallus gallus) by testing the aggregation preferences of young chicks with clutch mates. We measured the amount of time spent close to male and female conspecifics in visually inexperienced chicks. Soon after hatching, both males and females preferentially aggregated with females. To clarify whether the experience with conspecifics modifies the initial preference for females we used an imprinting procedure. We exposed chicks to conspecifics of the same sex, different sex or both sexes for three days and then tested their preferences to aggregate with males or females. No sex preference was observed after three days of imprinting exposure. The disappearance of the initial sex preference shows that, although chicks can discriminate between conspecifics of different sex, sex segregation does not influence aggregation in the first week of life. We suggest that the absence of sexual assortment in the first week of age can enhance the social cohesion of the flock.